I. ˈwāt, usu -ād.+V noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English weght, wight, from Old English wiht; akin to Middle High German ge wiht weight, Old Norse vætt weight, Old English wegan to weigh — more at weigh
1.
a. : the often specified amount that a thing weighs : quantity of heaviness
a basketball player with a playing weight of 215 pounds
two hundred and fifty pounds is considered the most desirable weight for butchering … hogs — F.J.Haskin
a diamond of five carats weight
gross weight
net weight
— see legal weight
b.
(1) : the standard or established amount that a given thing should weigh — see short weight
(2) : one of the classes into which contestants in a sports event (as a boxing or wrestling match) or other contest are divided according to their body weight
preliminary bouts in several weights
learnt when to stand and fight at his own weight — H.A.Sinclair
— see featherweight ; compare catchweight
(3) : the poundage including that of the jockey, equipment, and any added lead that is necessary to make up the total required to be carried by a horse in a handicap race according to its rated ability
(4) : basis weight
2.
a. : a quantity or thing weighing a fixed and usually specified amount
equal weight of water and air
the necessary weight of cold water is placed in a large steam-jacketed cooking kettle — Bindery Glues
b. : a heavy object (as a ball of metal) that is thrown, put, or lifted as an athletic game or exercise — compare hammer 4, shot 2b
c. : one of the iron disks used in playing the game of shuffleboard
3.
a. : a unit of weight or mass
table of weights
— see measure table, metric system table
b. : a piece of metal, glass, wood, or other material having an exact specified weight for use in weighing other articles (as in a scale)
c. dialect : a customary local unit for a particular commodity
d. : a system of related units of weight
avoirdupois weight
troy weight
e. Australia : pennyweight
4.
a. : a ponderous mass : something heavy : load
a heavy weight to carry so far
b. : a heavy contrivance or object to hold or press something down or to counterbalance: as
(1) : a piece of lead or other relatively heavy material attached to a fishing line to cause it to sink
(2) : paperweight
a collection of very good-looking weights — New Yorker
(3) : a piece of lead sewed into a hem (as of a coat or curtain) to keep it hanging straight
drapery weight
(4) : a heavy metal object used to drive a clock
c. : the heaviness of overlying material (as rock over a mine shaft)
d. : corpulence
had grown portly with the years, but carried his weight well — F.J.Mather
5.
a. : burden , pressure
could force a rescue by sheer weight of numbers — T.B.Costain
hangs like some guilty weight of dark, unfathomed remembrances upon my energies — Thomas De Quincey
never thought her poor brain could stand the weight of such a secret — Kathleen Freeman
the weight of the sky and stone seemed to slow the pace of the Sunday walkers — Kay Boyle
b. : ponderousness
empire fell to pieces of its own weight , largely because it had never been able to build any system of government except a simple tyranny — C.S.Forester
6.
a. : relative heaviness : ponderability regarded as a property of matter
weight is a quality of material substances
b. : the force with which a body is attracted toward the earth or a celestial body by gravitation and which is a quantity dependent on the place where it is determined : the product of the mass of a body by the local gravitational acceleration expressed in any of the units (as pound, ounce, newton, or dyne) by which force is measured
7.
a. : the relatively great importance or authority accorded something
had a great reputation in the parish for sober living and weight in business — Mary Deasy
discussion of the merits and demerits of toll roads produced a debate of considerable weight — New York Times
b. : measurable influence especially in determining the acts of others
throw one's weight behind a candidate
the professor had a lot of weight to throw around the campus — Bennett Cerf
c. : power to influence the judgment
their opinions always carried weight — A.W.Long
gives some weight to his assertion that the act was sudden and unpremeditated — E.L.Pearson
these replies lend weight to the generally-expressed view — Wall Street Journal
8. : something acting with heavy or overpowering force
principles and rules … have petrified with the accumulated weight of precedent on precedent — B.N.Cardozo
futile to think of escape from the weight of global responsibilities — Oscar Handlin
having first justified with a weight of scholarship my unscholarly assumption — F.R.Leavis
9. : the pull required to draw a bow to the full extent and measured in pounds
10. : the quality (as lightness or heaviness) that makes a fabric or garment suitable or adaptable for a particular use or season — often used in combination
dress- weight
11. : atomic weight
12. : the degree of thickness of the strokes of a type character
13. : stress value, quantity, or general sonority in individual sounds, syllables, and units of rhythmic structure in verse
14.
a. : a relative value assigned to an item in a group or series under consideration
the use of some system of weights for differences in skills is difficult — W.E.Moore
few data are available on the relative weight of various emotions — J.E.Anderson
if you have five problems … allot your time proportionately unless a weight is given — W.F.Crum
the most useful direct source was given a weight of ten, the second most useful, a weight of nine — Saul Herner
b.
(1) : the frequency of an item in a frequency distribution
(2) : a number assigned to express the relative importance of such an item
(3) : the factor by which the value of such an item is multiplied in forming the weighted average of the values of the various items
Synonyms: see importance , influence
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II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1.
a. : to load or make heavy with or as if with a weight
weight the head of a golf club with lead
sat next to a dame who was weighted with jewels — H.J.Laski
never had he dreamed that words could be so weighted with unfamiliar meaning — Christine Weston
— often used with down
a coarse net is thrown over the roof and weighted down — L.D.Stamp
b. : to increase in heaviness by adding an inferior ingredient
tea that has been weighted
c. : to make (yarn or cloth) heavier by adding any of various substances (as sizing, clay, or flock) ; especially : to pass (silk) through baths of tin salts
d. : to make thicker
with the camera lens, type can be reduced, enlarged, weighted, slanted — Book Production
2. : to oppress with a burden (as sorrow, dejection, or discouragement) — often used with down
was weighted down with many cares
3.
a. : weigh 1
test tubes and crucibles … and scales that weighted your signature — Thomas Wood †1950
b. : to feel the weight of : heft
weight a stone
4.
a. : to assign a value expressing the relative importance of (a thing) as the result of a measurement or judgment
b. : to attach factors indicative of their relative frequency or importance (to the various items of a frequency distribution)
the prices thus obtained were weighted according to the net sales of each type of store — Experiment Station Record
5. : to arrange, bias, or incline in a particular direction by manipulation
the tax structure … which was weighted so heavily in favor of the upper classes — A.S.Link
legislatures create vested and sentimental interests which weight national policy in the direction of patchwork rather than mosiac — H.D.Lasswell
6. : to assign a handicap weight to (a racehorse)
7. : to shift the burden of weight upon
weight the inside ski
Synonyms: see burden
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English wheit, wehit, weght, akin to Old English wiht weight — more at weight I
: a leather-covered hoop like a sieve but without holes used for winnowing grain