middleweight

[mid-l-weyt]

noun

a boxer or other contestant intermediate in weight between a welterweight and a light heavyweight, especially a professional boxer weighing up to 160 pounds (72.5 kg).

adjective

Boxing. of or relating to middleweights: the middleweight division.

(of a horse, especially a hunter) able to carry up to 185 pounds (83.9 kg).

Origin of middleweight

First recorded in 1870–75; middle + weight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for middleweight

Historical Examples of middleweight

He looked like Pollyanna, after eight or ten shots at the middleweight title.
Occasion for Disaster
Gordon Randall Garrett
The middleweight thought that it was a joke on him, and was careful not to hit hard.
Famous Flyers
David Goodger (goodger@python.org)
And he knocked out the second middleweight, and the third middleweight.
Famous Flyers
David Goodger (goodger@python.org)
Montoya was built like a middleweight fighter, and his white uniform was spotless.
The Flaming Mountain
Harold Leland Goodwin
But he was good enough to do all manner of things to dozens of fairly good men in the rank and file of the middleweight army.
Buff: A Collie and other dog-stories
Albert Payson Terhune

British Dictionary definitions for middleweight

middleweight

noun

a professional boxer weighing 154–160 pounds (70–72.5 kg)
an amateur boxer weighing 71–75 kg (157–165 pounds)
(as modifier)a middleweight contest

a wrestler in a similar weight category (usually 172–192 pounds (78–87 kg))

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 middleweight

also middle weight, 1842, from middle + weight.