(of clothes) made to be worn for exercise, sports, or other physical activity.
made of the absorbent fabric used for such clothes: sweat dresses.
of, for, or associated with such clothes: the sweat look in sportswear.
Verb Phrases
sweat out, Informal.
to await anxiously the outcome of; endure apprehensively: The accused sweated out the jury's deliberation.
to work arduously at or toward: The director sweated out a camera angle with the cinematographer.
Idioms
no sweat, Informal. with no difficulty or problem.
sweat blood, Informal.
to be under a strain; work strenuously.
to wait anxiously; worry: He was sweating blood while his friend was being questioned by the police.
sweat bullets, Informal.
to sweat profusely.
to be apprehensive; worry.
sweat it, Informal.
to wait anxiously; endure the best way one can: There was no news of survivors, so all we could do was sweat it.
to worry; be apprehensive: You'll do OK, so don't sweat it.
Origin of sweat
before 900;1970–75for def 6; (v.) Middle Englishsweten,Old Englishswǣtan to sweat, derivative of swāt (noun) (> obsolete Englishswote); (noun) Middle English, alteration of swote, influenced by the v.; cognate with Dutchzweet,GermanSchweiss,Old Norsesveiti,Sanskritsvedas; akin to Latinsūdor,Greekhidrṓs
Related formssweat·less, adjectivenon·sweat·ing, adjectiveun·sweat·ing, adjective
(of workers, etc) forced to work in poor conditions for low pay
sweat
noun
the secretion from the sweat glands, esp when profuse and visible, as during strenuous activity, from excessive heat, etc; commonly also called perspirationRelated adjectives: sudatory, sudorific
the act or process of secreting this fluid
the act of inducing the exudation of moisture
drops of moisture given forth or gathered on the surface of something
informala state or condition of worry or eagerness (esp in the phrase in a sweat)
slangdrudgery or hard labourmowing lawns is a real sweat!
mainlyUSan exercise gallop given to a horse, esp on the day of a race
slang, mainlyBritisha soldier, esp one who is old and experienced
no sweat!(interjection)slangan expression suggesting that something can be done without problems or difficulty
verbsweats, sweating, sweatorsweated
to secrete (sweat) through the pores of the skin, esp profusely
(tr)to make wet or stain with sweat
to give forth or cause to give forth (moisture) in dropletsa sweating cheese; the maple sweats sap
(intr)to collect and condense moisture on an outer surfacea glass of beer sweating in the sun
(intr)(of a liquid) to pass through a porous surface in droplets
(of tobacco leaves, cut and dried hay, etc) to exude moisture and, sometimes, begin to ferment or to cause (tobacco leaves, etc) to exude moisture
(tr)to heat (food, esp vegetables) slowly in butter in a tightly closed saucepan
(tr)to join (pieces of metal) by pressing together and heating
(tr)to heat (solder) until it melts
(tr)to heat (a partially fused metal) to extract an easily fusible constituent
to shake together (coins, esp gold coins) so as to remove particles for illegal use
informalto suffer anxiety, impatience, or distress
informalto overwork or be overworked
(tr)informalto employ at very low wages and under bad conditions
(tr)informalto extort, esp by tortureto sweat information out of a captive
(intr)informalto suffer punishmentyou'll sweat for this!
Old English swætan "perspire, work hard," from the source of sweat (n.). Meaning "to be worried, vexed" is recorded from c.1400. Related: Sweated; sweating. Colloquial no sweat "no problem" attested from 1963.
sweat
n.
Old English swat "sweat," which became Middle English swote, but altered under the influence of the verb, from Proto-Germanic *swaita (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian swet, Old Norse sveiti, Danish sved "sweat," Swedish svett, Middle Dutch sweet, Dutch zweet, Old High German sweiz, German Schweiß), from PIE *sweid-/*swoid- (cf. Sanskrit svedah "sweat," Avestan xvaeda- "sweat," Greek hidros "sweat, perspiration," Latin sudor, Lettish swiedri, Welsh chwys "sweat"). Sweat equity is from 1968.
