WEIGHT

weight

(noun) an artifact that is heavy

weight, free weight, exercising weight

(noun) sports equipment used in calisthenic exercises and weightlifting; it is not attached to anything and is raised and lowered by use of the hands and arms

weight

(noun) the vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity

weight, weightiness

(noun) the relative importance granted to something; “his opinion carries great weight”; “the progression implied an increasing weightiness of the items listed”

weight

(noun) an oppressive feeling of heavy force; “bowed down by the weight of responsibility”

weight, weighting

(noun) (statistics) a coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance

slant, angle, weight

(verb) present with a bias; “He biased his presentation so as to please the share holders”

burden, burthen, weight, weight down

(verb) weight down with a load

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

weight (countable and uncountable, plural weights)

The force on an object due to the gravitational attraction between it and the Earth (or whatever astronomical object it is primarily influenced by).

An object used to make something heavier.

A standardized block of metal used in a balance to measure the mass of another object.

Importance or influence.

(weightlifting) An object, such as a weight plate or barbell, used for strength training.

(lubricants) viscosity rating.

(physics) Mass (atomic weight, molecular weight, etc.) (in restricted circumstances)

(physics, proscribed) synonym of mass (in general circumstances)

(measurement) Mass (net weight, troy weight, carat weight, etc.).

(statistics) A variable which multiplies a value for ease of statistical manipulation.

(topology) The smallest cardinality of a base.

(typography) The boldness of a font; the relative thickness of its strokes.

(visual art) The relative thickness of a drawn rule or painted brushstroke, line weight.

(visual art) The illusion of mass.

(visual art) The thickness and opacity of paint.

Pressure; burden.

The resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it.

(slang, uncountable) Shipments of (often illegal) drugs.

(slang, countable) One pound (1 lb) of drugs, especially cannabis.

Coordinate terms

• mass

• inertial mass

• gravitational mass

Verb

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

(transitive) To add weight to something; to make something heavier.

(transitive, dyeing) To load (fabrics) with barite, etc. to increase the weight.

(transitive) To load, burden or oppress someone.

(transitive, mathematics) To assign weights to individual statistics.

(transitive) To bias something; to slant.

(transitive, horse racing) To handicap a horse with a specified weight.

(transitive, sport) To give a certain amount of force to a throw, kick, hit, etc.

Proper noun

Weight (plural Weights)

A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Weight is the 13034th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2356 individuals. Weight is most common among White (78.74%) and Black/African American (15.79%) individuals.

Source: Wiktionary


Weight, n. Etym: [OE. weght, wight, AS. gewiht; akin to D. gewigt, G. gewicht, Icel. vætt, Sw. vigt, Dan. vægt. See Weigh, v. t.]

1. The quality of being heavy; that property of bodies by which they tend toward the center of the earth; the effect of gravitative force, especially when expressed in certain units or standards, as pounds, grams, etc.

Note: Weight differs from gravity in being the effect of gravity, or the downward pressure of a body under the influence of gravity; hence, it constitutes a measure of the force of gravity, and being the resultant of all the forces exerted by gravity upon the different particles of the body, it is proportional to the quantity of matter in the body.

2. The quantity of heaviness; comparative tendency to the center of the earth; the quantity of matter as estimated by the balance, or expressed numerically with reference to some standard unit; as, a mass of stone having the weight of five hundred pounds. For sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell, Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes. Shak.

3. Hence, pressure; burden; as, the weight of care or business. "The weight of this said time." Shak. For the public all this weight he bears. Milton. [He] who singly bore the world's sad weight. Keble.

4. Importance; power; influence; efficacy; consequence; moment; impressiveness; as, a consideration of vast weight. In such a point of weight, so near mine honor. Shak.

5. A scale, or graduated standard, of heaviness; a mode of estimating weight; as, avoirdupois weight; troy weight; apothecaries' weight.

6. A ponderous mass; something heavy; as, a clock weight; a paper weight. A man leapeth better with weights in his hands. Bacon.

7. A definite mass of iron, lead, brass, or other metal, to be used for ascertaining the weight of other bodies; as, an ounce weight.

8. (Mech.)

Definition: The resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it. [Obs.] Atomic weight. (Chem.) See under Atomic, and cf. Element.

– Dead weight, Feather weight, Heavy weight, Light weight, etc. See under Dead, Feather, etc.

– Weight of observation (Astron. & Physics), a number expressing the most probable relative value of each observation in determining the result of a series of observations of the same kind.

Syn.

– Ponderousness; gravity; heaviness; pressure; burden; load; importance; power; influence; efficacy; consequence; moment; impressiveness.

Weight, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Weighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Weighting.]

1. To load with a weight or weights; to load down; to make heavy; to attach weights to; as, to weight a horse or a jockey at a race; to weight a whip handle. The arrows of satire, . . . weighted with sense. Coleridge.

2. (Astron. & Physics)

Definition: To assign a weight to; to express by a number the probable accuracy of, as an observation. See Weight of observations, under Weight.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 April 2024

POLYGENIC

(adjective) of or relating to an inheritable character that is controlled by several genes at once; of or related to or determined by polygenes


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The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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