Library / English Dictionary

WEIGHT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An artifact that is heavy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "weight"):

bob (a hanging weight, especially a metal ball on a string)

balance; counterbalance; counterpoise; counterweight; equaliser; equalizer (a weight that balances another weight)

burden; load; loading (weight to be borne or conveyed)

makeweight (a weight added to the scale to reach a required weight)

paperweight (a weight used to hold down a stack of papers)

sinker (a weight that sinks (as to hold nets or fishing lines under water))

Derivation:

weight (weight down with a load)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

exercising weight; free weight; weight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

sports equipment (equipment needed to participate in a particular sport)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "weight"):

barbell (a bar to which heavy discs are attached at each end; used in weightlifting)

dumbbell (an exercising weight; two spheres connected by a short bar that serves as a handle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

physical property (any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions)

Attribute:

heavy (of comparatively great physical weight or density)

light (of comparatively little physical weight or density)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "weight"):

lightness; weightlessness (the property of being comparatively small in weight)

throw-weight (the weight of the payload of a missile (not including the weight of the rocket))

tare (the weight of a motor vehicle, railroad car, or aircraft without its fuel or cargo)

poundage (weight expressed in pounds)

heaviness; weightiness (the property of being comparatively great in weight)

dead weight (a heavy motionless weight)

body weight (the weight of a person's body)

Derivation:

weighty (having relatively great weight; heavy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The relative importance granted to something

Example:

the progression implied an increasing weightiness of the items listed

Synonyms:

weight; weightiness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Derivation:

weighty (of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An oppressive feeling of heavy force

Example:

bowed down by the weight of responsibility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

oppression; oppressiveness (a feeling of being oppressed)

Derivation:

weighty (weighing heavily on the spirit; causing anxiety or worry)

Sense 6

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

weight; weighting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

coefficient (a constant number that serves as a measure of some property or characteristic)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Derivation:

weight (present with a bias)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A unit used to measure weight

Example:

he placed two weights in the scale pan

Synonyms:

weight; weight unit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

unit; unit of measurement (any division of quantity accepted as a standard of measurement or exchange)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "weight"):

welterweight (a weight of 28 pounds; sometimes imposed as a handicap in a horse race (such as a steeplechase))

tod (a unit of weight for wool equal to about 28 pounds)

tael (a unit of weight used in east Asia approximately equal to 1.3 ounces)

rotl (a unit of weight used in some Moslem countries near the Mediterranean; varies between one and five pounds)

pood (a Russian unit of weight equal to approximately 36 pounds)

picul (a unit of weight used in some parts of Asia; approximately equal to 133 pounds (the load a grown man can carry))

oka (a Turkish unit of weight equal to about 2.75 pounds)

obolus (a Greek unit of weight equal to one tenth of a gram)

maund (a unit of weight used in Asia; has different values in different countries)

last (a unit of weight equal to 4,000 pounds)

frail (the weight of a frail (basket) full of raisins or figs; between 50 and 75 pounds)

crith (the weight of a liter of hydrogen (at 0 centigrade and 760 millimeters pressure))

cattie; catty (any of various units of weight used in southeastern Asia (especially a Chinese measure equal to 500 grams))

arroba (a unit of weight used in some Spanish speaking countries)

apothecaries' unit; apothecaries' weight (any weight unit used in pharmacy; an ounce is equal to 480 grains and a pound is equal to 12 ounces)

troy unit (any of the unit of the troy system of weights)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A system of units used to express the weight of something

Synonyms:

system of weights; weight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("weight" is a kind of...):

metric; system of measurement (a system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "weight"):

avoirdupois; avoirdupois weight (a system of weights based on the 16-ounce pound (or 7,000 grains))

troy; troy weight (a system of weights used for precious metals and gemstones; based on a 12-ounce pound and an ounce of 480 grains)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Present with a bias

Example:

He biased his presentation so as to please the share holders

Synonyms:

angle; slant; weight

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "weight" is one way to...):

bias; predetermine (cause to be biased)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Weight down with a load

Synonyms:

burden; burthen; weight; weight down

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "weight" is one way to...):

charge (fill or load to capacity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "weight"):

overburden (load with excessive weight)

plumb (weight with lead)

saddle (load or burden; encumber)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

weight (an artifact that is heavy)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Gram Per Milliliter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The fact that Neptune is your ruler gives this planet extra weight in this situation.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

If it will support the weight of one and let him gently down, it will have done all that is required of it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is also of the exact weight of two pounds, so that I may use it in the balance.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Minutes times milligrams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Milligram Per Milliliter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Let the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind dwell upon it further.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Minutes times millimoles per liter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Millimole Per Liter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

I think you would, if you knew all; and it would be a weight off my mind if you would promise.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Any substance that induces loss of appetite to prevent weight gain and achieve weight loss.

(Anorexiant, NCI Thesaurus)

If I was to carry a half-hundred-weight upon it, all the way to Putney, it would be up again the moment the weight was taken off.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)