weight

English Online Dictionary. What means weight‎? What does weight mean?

English

Alternative forms

• waight (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English weight, weiȝte, weght, wight, from Old English wiht, ġewiht (“weight”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz ("weight"; compare *weganą (“to move”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move; pull; draw; drive”). Equivalent to weigh +‎ -th.

Cognate with Scots wecht, weicht (“weight”), Saterland Frisian Wächte (“scale”), Gewicht (“weight”), West Frisian gewicht (“weight”), Dutch gewicht (“weight”), German Low German Wicht, Gewicht (“weight”), German Wucht (“massiveness, force”), Gewicht (“weight”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wāt, IPA^(key): /weɪt/
• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: wait

Noun

weight (countable and uncountable, plural weights)

1. The downwards force an object experiences due to gravity.
2. An object used to make something heavier.
3. A standardized block of metal used in a balance to measure the mass of another object.
4. (figurative) Importance or influence.
   • 1907 Alonso de Espinosa, Hakluyt Society & Sir Clements Robert Markham, The Guanches of Tenerife: the holy image of Our Lady of Candelaria, and the Spanish conquest and settlement, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, p116

     Another knight came to settle on the island, a man of much weight and position, on whom the Adelantados of all the island relied, and who was made a magistrate.
5. (weightlifting) An object, such as a weight plate or barbell, used for strength training.

6. (lubricants) Viscosity rating.
8. (physics) Mass (atomic weight, molecular weight, etc.) (in restricted circumstances)
9. (physics, proscribed) Synonym of mass (in general circumstances)
10. (measurement) Mass (net weight, troy weight, carat weight, etc.).
11. (statistics) A variable which multiplies a value for ease of statistical manipulation.
12. (topology) The smallest cardinality of a base.
13. (typography) The boldness of a font; the relative thickness of its strokes.

    font weight

14. (visual art) The relative thickness of a drawn rule or painted brushstroke, line weight.
15. (visual art) The illusion of mass.
16. (visual art) The thickness and opacity of paint.
17. (figurative) Pressure; burden.
18. The resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it.
19. (slang, uncountable) Shipments of (often illegal) drugs.
20. (slang, countable) One pound of drugs, especially cannabis.
21. (criminal slang, dated) Money.
22. Weight class
23. (especially in computing) Emphasis applied to a given criterion.

Alternative forms

• wt. (abbreviation)

Coordinate terms

• mass
• inertial mass
• gravitational mass

Derived terms

Related terms

• weigh

Descendants

• Belizean Creole: wayt
• → Japanese: ウエイト (ueito)
• → Burmese: ဝိတ် (wit)

Translations

Verb

weight (third-person singular simple present weights, present participle weighting, simple past and past participle weighted)

1. (transitive) To add weight to something; to make something heavier.
   1. (transitive, dyeing) To load (fabrics) with barite, etc. to increase the weight.
2. (transitive) To load, burden or oppress someone.
3. (transitive, mathematics) To assign weights to individual statistics.
4. (transitive) To bias something; to slant.
5. (transitive, horse racing) To handicap a horse with a specified weight.
6. (transitive, sports) To give a certain amount of force to a throw, kick, hit, etc.

Translations