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Weight   /weɪt/   Listen
noun
Weight  n.  
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."
3.
Hence, pressure; burden; as, the weight of care or business. "The weight of this said time." "For the public all this weight he bears." "(He) who singly bore the world's sad weight."
4.
Importance; power; influence; efficacy; consequence; moment; impressiveness; as, a consideration of vast weight. "In such a point of weight, so near mine honor."
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."
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.) 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.
Synonyms: Ponderousness; gravity; heaviness; pressure; burden; load; importance; power; influence; efficacy; consequence; moment; impressiveness.


verb
Weight  v. t.  (past & past part. weighted; pres. part. 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."
2.
(Astron. & Physics) To assign a weight to; to express by a number the probable accuracy of, as an observation. See Weight of observations, under Weight.
3.
(Dyeing) To load (fabrics) as with barite, to increase the weight, etc.
4.
(Math.) To assign a numerical value expressing relative importance to (a measurement), to be multiplied by the value of the measurement in determining averages or other aggregate quantities; as, they weighted part one of the test twice as heavily as part 2.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Weight" Quotes from Famous Books



... sleep," I said, "or if it is, she will never wake. Look!" And, taking the hand once more in mine, I let it fall in its stone weight ...
— The Leavenworth Case • Anna Katharine Green
... supposed necessaries of camp life, put in by loving hands at home, a salve for this, a medicine for that, a keepsake from one and another, some the dearest of earth's treasures, each insignificant in itself, yet all taking room and adding weight to over-burdened shoulders. At the mid-day halt, on the first day knapsacks being off for rest, they came open and the sorting began. It was sad, yet comical withal, to notice the things that went out. ...
— War from the Inside • Frederick L. (Frederick Lyman) Hitchcock
... maintenance of Protestantism in Western Europe, on the Continent as well as in Britain, was effected by the united powers of both. To bring out clearly this alternate action, it would not be advisable to lay weight on every temporary foreign relation, on every step of the home administration, and to search out men's personal motives in them; a shorter sketch may be best suited to show the chief characters, as well as the main purport of the events in ...
— A History of England Principally in the Seventeenth Century, Volume I (of 6) • Leopold von Ranke
... were still seated as before. One man brought the kangaroo, and a second carried some brushwood, besides having one or two flowering shrubs stuck through his nose, and both seemed to stagger under the weight of their burdens. Stalking and limping, they at last reached the feet of the youthful hunters, and placed before them the prize of the chase, after which they went away, as though entirely wearied out. By this rite was given the power of killing the kangaroo, and the brushwood, most likely, ...
— Australia, its history and present condition • William Pridden
... manners; in doing which I did not consider it necessary to give word for word, but I have preserved the character and energy of the language throughout. For I did not consider that my duty was to render to the reader the precise number of words, but rather to give him all their weight. And this labour of mine will have this result, that by it our countrymen may understand what to require of those who wish to be accounted Attic speakers, and that they may recal them to, as it were, ...
— The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 • Cicero


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