weight definition

English

Etymology

From Middle English weight, weiȝte, weght, wight, from Old English wiht, ġewiht (“weight”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz ("weight"; compare *weganą (“to move”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move; pull; draw; drive”).

Cognate with Scots wecht, weicht (“weight”), Saterland Frisian Wächte (“scale”) and Gewicht (“weight”), West Frisian gewicht (“weight”), Dutch gewicht (“weight”), German Low German Wicht, Gewicht (“weight”) and German Gewicht (“weight”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wāt, IPA^(key): /weɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: wait

Noun

weight (countable and uncountable, plural weights)

1. The force on an object due to the gravitational attraction between it and the Earth (or whatever astronomical object it is primarily influenced by).
2. An object used to make something heavier.
3. A standardized block of metal used in a balance to measure the mass of another object.
4. Importance or influence.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

   • 1907 Alonso de Espinosa, Hakluyt Society & Sir Clements Robert Markham, The Guanches of Tenerife: the holy image of Our Lady of Candelaria, and the Spanish conquest and settlement, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, p116

     Another knight came to settle on the island, a man of much weight and position, on whom the Adelantados of all the island relied, and who was made a magistrate.

   • 1945 Mikia Pezas, The price of liberty, I. Washburn, Inc., p11

     "You surely are a man of some weight around here," I said.

5. (weightlifting) An object, such as a weight plate or barbell, used for strength training.

   He's working out with weights.

6. (lubricants) viscosity rating.
8. (physics) Mass (atomic weight, molecular weight, etc.) (in restricted circumstances)
9. (physics, proscribed) Synonym of mass (in general circumstances)
10. (measurement) Mass (net weight, troy weight, carat weight, etc.).
11. (statistics) A variable which multiplies a value for ease of statistical manipulation.
12. (topology) The smallest cardinality of a base.
13. (typography) The boldness of a font; the relative thickness of its strokes.
14. (visual art) The relative thickness of a drawn rule or painted brushstroke, line weight.
15. (visual art) The illusion of mass.
16. (visual art) The thickness and opacity of paint.
17. Pressure; burden.

    the weight of care or business

    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii]:

      The weight of this sad time.

    • 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398:

      For the public all this weight he bears.

18. The resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it.
19. (slang, uncountable) Shipments of (often illegal) drugs.

    He was pushing weight.

20. (slang, countable) One pound of drugs, especially cannabis.
    • 2002, Nicholas Dorn, Karim Murji, Nigel South, Traffickers: Drug Markets and Law Enforcement (page 5)

      [I was] doing a weight [1 lb. at that time] a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.

    • 2009, Martina Cole, The Ladykiller:

      The ones the CIB should be looking out for, to her mind, were the officers who raided a flat, found a couple of weights of cannabis and stashed half of it before they made the collar. The cannabis would make its way back on to the street […]

21. (criminal slang, dated) Money.
    • 1974, Martin R. Haskell, ‎Lewis Yablonsky, Crime and Delinquency (page 96)

      No matter how much money he makes, he is still a soldier, but he has the weight.

22. Weight class
    • 1848 November – 1850 December​, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume 19, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], OCLC 2057953:

      You’re no match for ’em. You ain’t up to their weight. It’s like little Black Strap standing up to Tom Spring,—the Black’s a pretty fighter but, Law bless you, his arm ain’t long enough to touch Tom,—and I tell you, you’re going it with fellers beyond your weight.

Alternative forms

• wt. (abbreviation)

Derived terms

Related terms

• weigh

Coordinate terms

• mass
• inertial mass
• gravitational mass

Descendants

• → Japanese: ウエイト (ueito)
• → Burmese: ဝိတ် (wit)

Translations

Verb

weight (third-person singular simple present weights, present participle weighting, simple past and past participle weighted)

1. (transitive) To add weight to something; to make something heavier.
   1. (transitive, dyeing) To load (fabrics) with barite, etc. to increase the weight.
2. (transitive) To load, burden or oppress someone.
3. (transitive, mathematics) To assign weights to individual statistics.
4. (transitive) To bias something; to slant.
   • 2020 March 19, Marcus Ashworth, “Cheap Sterling Has Reasons to Be Cheaper”, in The Washington Post‎^[1]:

     The U.K. economy is heavily weighted towards the service sector and the coronavirus pandemic could lead to a 10% fall in gross domestic product in the second quarter, according to economists at Jefferies.

5. (transitive, horse racing) To handicap a horse with a specified weight.
6. (transitive, sports) To give a certain amount of force to a throw, kick, hit, etc.
   • 2008, Tom Valenta, Remember Me, Mrs V?: Caring for My Wife: Her Alzheimer's and Others' Stories‎^[2], ReadHowYouWant:

     With good peripheral vision he spots his teammate, Ray Evans, lurking in the scoring zone and sweeps a perfectly weighted pass to him.

Translations