freight
[freyt]
- goods, cargo, or lading transported for pay, whether by water, land, or air.
- the ordinary conveyance or means of transport of goods provided by common carriers (distinguished from express): Shipping by freight is less expensive.
- the charges, fee, or compensation paid for such transportation: We pay the freight.
- (especially in Britain) the cargo, or any part of the cargo, of a vessel; merchandise transported by water.
- Chiefly British. transportation of goods by water.
- freight train.
- Slang. cost or price, especially when high: I'd like a larger house, but can't afford the freight.
Show More
- to load; burden: a story heavily freighted with private meaning.
- to load with goods or merchandise for transportation: It took all night to freight the ship.
- to transport as freight; send by freight.
Show More
Origin of freight
1350–1400; Middle English freyght (noun) < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vrecht, variant of vracht. See fraught
Synonyms
See more synonyms for freight on Thesaurus.com1. Freight, cargo, shipment refer to goods being transported from place to place. Freight is the general term for goods transported from one place to another by any means: to send freight from New York to New Orleans. Cargo is the term generally used for goods carried by ship or plane: to send a cargo to Europe. Shipment is a quantity of goods destined for a particular place, no matter how sent: a shipment of potatoes. 3. freightage, haulage. 8. charge.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for freight
Contemporary Examples
Up in the tower, Bucca was joined by Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, who had managed to get a freight elevator to bring him part way.
Toledo is a tough city, a factory town, a freight train junction, a lake steamer port.
The danger is a bigger fire in an under-floor baggage or freight hold.
Historical Examples
She was to receive a freight of flour, for Cowes and a market.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
"My name is 'Dennis,' if I don't beat that freight," she retorted curtly.
Good IndianB. M. Bower
He had come at twenty-two, beating his way on freight trains.
The HarborErnest Poole
There are long lines of freight cars here and snorting locomotives.
The HarborErnest Poole
Some of them did not unload, but others dumped piles of freight by the docks.
The HarborErnest Poole
freight
- commercial transport that is slower and cheaper than express
- the price charged for such transport
- goods transported by this means
- (as modifier)freight transport
- mainly British a ship's cargo or part of it
Show More
- to load with goods for transport
- mainly US and Canadian to convey commercially as or by freight
- to load or burden; charge
Show More
Word Origin
C16: from Middle Dutch vrecht; related to French fret, Spanish flete, Portuguese frete
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for freight
n.
early 13c., fraght, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht, meaning originally "cost of transport" and probably from a lost Old Frisian word, from Proto-Germanic *fra-aihtiz "absolute possession, property" (cf. Old High German freht "earnings"), from *fra-, intensive prefix, + *aik "to be master of, possess," from PIE *aik- (see owe). Meaning "transporting of goods or passengers for money" is from late 14c. Danish fragt, Swedish frakt apparently also are from Frisian. As a verb, from late 14c.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper