weight

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the relative importance granted to something

   Their opinion carries great weight.

2. 2
   noun

   an oppressive feeling of heavy force

   bowed down by the weight of responsibility

3. 3
   noun

   a statistical coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance

   The weight placed on harmful outcomes was far larger than the weight placed on cost.

4. 4
   noun

   a unit used to measure weight

   They placed two weights in the scale pan.

5. 5
   noun

   Importance or influence.

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   An 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.

7. 7
   noun

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

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

8. 8
   noun

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

   font weight

Etymology

From Middle English weight, weiȝte, weght, wight, from Old English wiht, ġewiht (“weight”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz ("weight"; compare *weganą (“to move”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move; pull; draw; drive”). Equivalent to weigh + -t (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots wecht, weicht (“weight”), Saterland Frisian Wächte (“scale”), Gewicht (“weight”), West Frisian gewicht (“weight”), Dutch gewicht (“weight”), German Low German Wicht, Gewicht (“weight”), German Wucht (“massiveness, force”), Gewicht (“weight”).