/ swet; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
LIQUID ON SKIN
1.
[ U ] drops of liquid that appear on the surface of your skin when you are hot, ill / sick or afraid
SYN perspiration :
beads of sweat
She wiped the sweat from her face.
By the end of the match, the sweat was pouring off him.
—see also sweaty
2.
[ usually sing. ] the state of being covered with sweat :
I woke up in a sweat.
She completed the routine without even working up a sweat .
He breaks out in a sweat just at the thought of flying.
He started having night sweats.
—see also cold sweat
HARD WORK
3.
[ U ] hard work or effort :
( informal )
Growing your own vegetables sounds like a lot of sweat.
( literary )
She achieved success by the sweat of her brow (= by working very hard) .
CLOTHES
4.
sweats [ pl. ] ( informal , especially NAmE ) a sweatsuit or sweatpants :
I hung around the house all day in my sweats.
•
IDIOMS
- be / get in a sweat (about sth)
- break sweat
- no sweat
—more at blood noun
■ verb
PRODUCE LIQUID ON SKIN / SURFACE
1.
when you sweat , drops of liquid appear on the surface of your skin, for example when you are hot, ill / sick or afraid
SYN perspire :
[ v ]
to sweat heavily
[ vn ]
He was sweating buckets (= a lot) .
2.
[ v ] if sth sweats , the liquid that is contained in it appears on its surface :
The cheese was beginning to sweat.
WORK HARD
3.
[ v ] sweat (over sth) to work hard at sth :
Are you still sweating over that report?
WORRY
4.
[ v ] ( informal ) to worry or feel anxious about sth :
They really made me sweat during the interview.
HEAT FOOD
5.
[ vn , v ] ( BrE ) if you sweat meat or vegetables or let them sweat , you heat them slowly with a little fat in a pan that is covered with a lid
•
IDIOMS
- don't sweat it
- don't sweat the small stuff
- sweat blood
—more at gut noun
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- sweat sth off
- sweat it out
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English swāt (noun), swǣtan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zweet and German Schweiss , from an Indo-European root shared by Latin sudor .