paperweight

[ pey-per-weyt ]

noun
  1. a small, heavy object of glass, metal, etc., placed on papers to keep them from scattering.

Origin of paperweight

1
First recorded in 1855–60; paper + weight

Words Nearby paperweight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use paperweight in a sentence

  • Next to it were several sheets of blank paper and a small traveling clock sat on them as a paperweight.

    Unwise Child | Gordon Randall Garrett
  • Even an odd stone he had found on the desert and brought into the Wigwam one day, she used now as a paperweight.

    Mary Ware's Promised Land | Annie Fellows Johnston
  • Kerk picked up a length of steel pipe from the desk, that he used as a paperweight, and toyed with it as he thought.

    Deathworld | Harry Harrison
  • A paperweight representing a ragged little dog and an entomological photograph of the common ant.

    Suppers | Paul Pierce

British Dictionary definitions for paperweight

paperweight

/ (ˈpeɪpəˌweɪt) /


noun
  1. a small heavy object placed on loose papers to prevent them from scattering

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