weight

plural weights · alternative wt. · alternative obsolete waight

1. countableuncountableThe downwards force an object experiences due to gravity.
2. countableuncountableAn object used to make something heavier.
3. countableuncountableA standardized block of metal used in a balance to measure the mass of another object.
4. countablefigurativelyuncountableImportance or influence.

   "You surely are a man of some weight around here," I said.

   1945, Mikia Pezas, The price of liberty, I. Washburn, Inc., page 11

   2 more examples

   I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   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.

   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

5. countableuncountableexerciseAn object, such as a weight plate or barbell, used for strength training.

   He's working out with weights. Weight-bearing exercise is now understood to be just as important as cardio.

   1. abbreviationcountableellipsissometimesspecificallyuncountableexerciseEllipsis of free weight, as contrasted with the weights inside an exercise machine.

      I prefer weights over machines.

      Synonyms: black iron

6. countableuncountableengineeringViscosity rating.
7. countableuncountablenatural sciencesMass (atomic weight, molecular weight, etc.) (in restricted circumstances).
8. countableproscribeduncountablenatural sciencesSynonym of mass (in general circumstances).

   Synonyms: mass

9. countableuncountablemeasurementMass (net weight, troy weight, carat weight, etc.).

   I'm the same weight as I was ten years ago.

10. Ellipsis of weight function.
    1. countableuncountablemathematical analysisA variable which multiplies a value for ease of statistical manipulation.
    2. countableespeciallyuncountablemachine learningmathematical analysisEmphasis applied to a given criterion.

       “Logits” are the vectors of weights.

       2024, Laura Masbruch, Pasta Land

       1 more example

       Even though it's got its two features of color and hardness, it doesn't know how much importance or, as computer scientists say, weight to place on each of them.

       2017, Up and Atom, Machine Learning Explained in 5 Minutes

11. countableuncountablemathematicsThe smallest cardinality of a base.
12. countableuncountablemediaThe boldness of a font; the relative thickness of its strokes.

    font weight

13. countableuncountableartsThe relative thickness of a drawn rule or painted brushstroke, line weight.
14. countableuncountableartsThe illusion of mass.
15. countableuncountableartsThe thickness and opacity of paint.
16. countableuncountableThe thickness of yarn.

    If you'd like to use a different weight of yarn, just check the label for the recommended crochet hook size and use that.

    2011 August 23, Carmen Heffernan, “How to make colourful crocheted flowers”, in The Guardian

    1 more example

    The weight of the finished thread also varies with the spinner, although the general aim is laceweight singles for weaving.

    2026, Elise Young, “Yagaa: Reviving Sericulture in Southern Mexico”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 16

17. countablefigurativelyuncountablePressure; burden.

    the weight of care or business

    2 more examples

    The waight of this ſad time we muſt obey[…]

    c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 309, column 2

    For the public all this weight he bears.

    1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

18. countableuncountableThe resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it.
19. slanguncountableShipments of (often illegal) drugs.

    He was pushing weight.

    1 more example

    The three of us were hanging out rapping in Hamilton projects with some niggahs Pimp had got tight with on Rikers Island. Them fools had done a push-in and took over some old lady's apartment, and they were in there cutting crack and mixing weight.

    2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 103

20. countableslangOne pound of drugs, especially cannabis.

    [I was] doing a weight [1 lb. at that time] a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.

    2002, Nicholas Dorn, Karim Murji, Nigel South, Traffickers: Drug Markets and Law Enforcement, page 5

    1 more example

    The ones the CIB should be looking out for, to her mind, were the officers who raided a flat, found a couple of weights of cannabis and stashed half of it before they made the collar. The cannabis would make its way back on to the street […]

    2009, Martina Cole, The Ladykiller

21. countabledateduncountablecrime slangMoney.

    No matter how much money he makes, he is still a soldier, but he has the weight.

    1974, Martin R. Haskell, Lewis Yablonsky, Crime and Delinquency, page 96

22. countableuncountablegovernmentWeight class.

    You’re no match for ’em. You ain’t up to their weight. It’s like little Black Strap standing up to Tom Spring,—the Black’s a pretty fighter but, Law bless you, his arm ain’t long enough to touch Tom,—and I tell you, you’re going it with fellers beyond your weight.

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

    1. countableuncountablegovernmentUsed as part of compound words for weight class titles, e.g. heavyweight, flyweight.

present singular third person weights · participle present weighting · participle past weighted · past weighted · alternative obsolete waight

1. transitiveTo add weight to something; to make something heavier.
   1. transitivebusinessTo load (fabrics) with barite, etc. to increase the weight.
2. transitiveTo load, burden or oppress someone.
3. transitivemathematicsTo assign weights to individual statistics.
4. transitiveTo bias something; to slant.

   The criteria governing the choice of candidate were heavily weighted in his favor.

   1 more example

   The U.K. economy is heavily weighted towards the service sector and the coronavirus pandemic could lead to a 10% fall in gross domestic product in the second quarter, according to economists at Jefferies.

   2020 March 19, Marcus Ashworth, “Cheap Sterling Has Reasons to Be Cheaper”, in The Washington Post

5. transitivehobbiesTo handicap a horse with a specified weight.
6. transitivehobbiesTo give a certain amount of force to a throw, kick, hit, etc.

   With good peripheral vision he spots his teammate, Ray Evans, lurking in the scoring zone and sweeps a perfectly weighted pass to him.

   2008, Tom Valenta, Remember Me, Mrs V?: Caring for My Wife: Her Alzheimer's and Others' Stories, ReadHowYouWant

plural Weights

1. A surname.