weight

[ weyt ]

noun

1. the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass; amount a thing weighs.
2. Physics. the force that gravitation exerts upon a body, equal to the mass of the body times the local acceleration of gravity: commonly taken, in a region of constant gravitational acceleration, as a measure of mass.
3. a system of units for expressing heaviness or mass:

   avoirdupois weight.

4. a unit of heaviness or mass:

   The pound is a common weight in English-speaking countries.

5. a body of determinate mass, as of metal, for using on a balance or scale in weighing objects, substances, etc.
6. a specific quantity of a substance that is determined by weighing or that weighs a fixed amount:

   a half-ounce weight of gold dust.

7. any heavy load, mass, or object:

   Put down that weight and rest your arms.

8. an object used or useful solely because of its heaviness:

   the weights of a clock.

9. a mental or moral burden, as of care, sorrow, or responsibility:

   Knowing you are safe takes a weight off my mind.

10. importance, moment, consequence, or effective influence:

    an opinion of great weight.

    Synonyms: significance, import, efficacy, power, effect

11. Statistics. a measure of the relative importance of an item in a statistical population.
12. (of clothing, textiles, etc.)
    1. relative heaviness or thickness as related to warmth or to seasonal use (often used in combination):

       a winter-weight jacket.

    2. relative heaviness or thickness as related to use:

       a bolt of coat-weight woolen cloth.

13. Printing. (of type) the degree of blackness or boldness.
14. (especially in boxing) a division or class to which a contestant belongs according to how much he weighs:

    two brothers who fight professionally in the same weight.

15. the total amount the jockey, saddle, and leads must weigh on a racehorse during a race, according to the conditions of the race:

    Jacinto has a weight of 122 pounds in the seventh race.

16. the stress or accent value given a sound, syllable, or word.

verb (used with object)

1. to add weight to; load with additional weight:

   to weight sacks before dumping them overboard.

2. to load (fabrics, threads, etc.) with mineral or other matter to increase the weight or bulk.
3. to burden with or as if with weight (often followed by down ):

   Financial worries have weighted that family down for years.

   Synonyms: load, saddle, encumber, oppress

4. Statistics. to give a statistical weight to.
5. to bias or slant toward a particular goal or direction; manipulate:

   The teacher weighted the test so students who had read both books would make the highest marks.

6. to assign (a racehorse) a specific weight to carry in a race:

   The handicapper weighted Dapper Dan with 128 pounds.

weight

/ weɪt /

noun

1. a measure of the heaviness of an object; the amount anything weighs
2. physics the vertical force experienced by a mass as a result of gravitation. It equals the mass of the body multiplied by the acceleration of free fall. Its units are units of force (such as newtons or poundals) but is often given as a mass unit (kilogram or pound) W
3. a system of units used to express the weight of a substance

   troy weight

4. a unit used to measure weight

   the kilogram is the weight used in the metric system

5. any mass or heavy object used to exert pressure or weigh down
6. an oppressive force

   the weight of cares

7. any heavy load

   the bag was such a weight

8. the main or greatest force: preponderance

   the weight of evidence

9. importance, influence, or consequence

   his opinion carries weight

10. statistics one of a set of coefficients assigned to items of a frequency distribution that are analysed in order to represent the relative importance of the different items
11. printing the apparent blackness of a printed typeface
12. slang.
    a pound of a drug, esp cannabis
13. pull one's weight informal.
    pull one's weight to do one's full or proper share of a task
14. throw one's weight around informal.
    throw one's weight around to act in an overauthoritarian or aggressive manner

verb

1. to add weight to
2. to burden or oppress
3. to add importance, value, etc, to one side rather than another; bias; favour

   a law weighted towards landlords

4. statistics to attach a weight or weights to
5. to make (fabric, threads, etc) heavier by treating with mineral substances, etc

weight

/ wāt /

1. The force with which an object near the Earth or another celestial body is attracted toward the center of the body by gravity. An object's weight depends on its mass and the strength of the gravitational pull. The weight of an object in an aircraft flying at high altitude is less than its weight at sea level, since the strength of gravity decreases with increasing distance from the Earth's surface. The SI unit of weight is the newton, though units of mass such as grams or kilograms are used more informally to denote the weight of some mass, understood as the force acting on it in a gravitational field with a strength of one G. The pound is also still used as a unit of weight.
2. A system of such measures, such as avoirdupois weight or troy weight.

weight

1. The force exerted on any object by gravity .

Derived Forms

• ˈweighter, noun

Other Words From

• weighter noun
• self-weight noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of weight¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English wiht (cognate with Dutch wicht, German Gewicht ); weigh ¹, -th ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of weight¹

Old English wiht; related to Old Frisian, Middle Dutch wicht, Old Norse vētt, German Gewicht

Usage

Although most hand-held calculators can translate pounds into kilograms, an absolute conversion factor between these two units is not technically sound. A pound is a unit of force, and a kilogram is a unit of mass. When the unit pound is used to indicate the force that a gravitational field exerts on a mass, the pound is a unit of weight. Mistaking weight for mass is tantamount to confusing the electric charges on two objects with the forces of attraction (or repulsion) between them. Like charge, the mass of an object is an intrinsic property of that object: electrons have a unique mass, protons have a unique mass, and some particles, such as photons, have no mass. Weight, on the other hand, is a force due to the gravitational attraction between two bodies. For example, one's weight on the Moon is 1 6 of one's weight on Earth. Nevertheless, one's mass on the Moon is identical to one's mass on Earth. The reason that hand-held calculators can translate between units of weight and units of mass is that the majority of us use calculators on the planet Earth at sea level, where the conversion factor is constant for all practical purposes.

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. by weight, according to measurement of heaviness or mass:

   Rates are determined by weight.

2. carry weight, to have importance or significance; influence:

   Her opinion is certain to carry weight.

3. pull one's weight, to contribute one's rightful share of work to a project or job: Also pull one's own weight.

   We will finish in time if we each pull our weight.

4. throw one's weight around / about, to use one's power and influence, especially beyond the bounds of propriety, to secure some personal gain.

More idioms and phrases containing weight

see by weight ; carry weight ; dead weight ; pull one's weight ; put on weight ; throw one's weight around ; worth one's weight in gold ;

Example Sentences

If your body weight is drastically different from your partner’s, you could end up sleeping under a blanket that inhibits your mobility.

From Popular-Science

This water would help support any astronauts during their stay, cutting down on the weight we'd have to shift out of Earth orbit.

From Ars Technica

Though these wool mittens aren’t waterproof, they will absorb 30 percent of their weight before they start to feel damp.

From Popular-Science

The weight of the keyboard may not matter if it will be mostly stationary, but if you’ll be transporting it or using it on your lap, you’ll want to be sure it’s not dragging you down.

From Popular-Science

The new study of silk-based weight lifting strikes Symone Alexander, a chemical engineer with wide-ranging interests at Auburn University in Alabama, as “very cool.”

From Science News

A lot of people ring in the New Year with vows to lose weight and exercise.

From The Daily Beast

Yet we keep doing the cleanses, buying the meal replacement bars, and joining Weight Watchers.

From The Daily Beast

The problem, says UC Davis physiologist and nutritionist Linda Bacon, is that very few people can lose weight and keep it off.

From The Daily Beast

Then the commercial weight loss behemoths Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig joined this crowded field.

From The Daily Beast

The rule of law, you see, buckles, bends and sometimes crumbles under the weight of racism, sexism, and classism.

From The Daily Beast

Of course, considerations of weight have to be taken into account, but the more mould round the roots the better.

From Project Gutenberg

Results are in terms of bulk of precipitate, which must not be confused with percentage by weight.

From Project Gutenberg

The weight percentage can be found by referring to Purdy's tables, given later.

From Project Gutenberg

But for the most part even industry and endowment were powerless against the inertia of custom and the dead-weight of environment.

From Project Gutenberg

All the eight planets added together only make one-seven-hundredth part of his weight.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• clout
• consequence
• emphasis
• impact
• influence
• magnitude
• power
• prestige
• significance
• substance
• value