noun
- a portion or quantity weighing a definite or specified amount: ten pounds weight of lead
- heaviness as a quality of things
- Physics the force of gravity acting on a body, equal to the mass of the body multiplied by the acceleration of gravity
- quantity or amount of heaviness; how much a thing weighs
- the amount a specified thing should weigh
- any unit of heaviness or mass
- any system of such units: troy weight, avoirdupois weight
- a piece, as of metal, of a specific standard heaviness, used on a balance or scale in weighing
- any block or mass of material used for its heaviness; specif.,
- one used to hold light things down or in position: a paperweight
- one used to drive a mechanism: the weights in a clock
- one used to maintain balance: weights placed on an automobile wheel
- one of a particular heaviness, lifted as an athletic exercise
- any heavy thing or load
- a burden or oppressiveness, as of responsibility or sorrow
- importance or consequence: a matter of great weight
- influence, power, or authority: to throw one's weight to the losing side
- the relative thickness or heaviness of a fabric or an article of clothing as proper to a particular season, use, etc.: a suit of summer weight
- Printing the relative thickness of the lines in type fonts
- Sports
- any of the several classifications into which boxers and wrestlers are placed according to how much they weigh
- the number of pounds a horse is required to carry for a particular race, including the weight of the jockey, the saddle, and, often, added lead weights
- Statistics a constant assigned to a single item in a frequency distribution, indicative of the item's relative importance
Origin:
ME weiht, altered (infl. by weien, weigh) < OE wiht < wegan: see weigh