weight

weight¹ W2S1 [weıt] n

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1¦(amount somebody/something weighs)¦

2¦(how fat)¦

3¦(heaviness)¦

4¦(heavy thing)¦

5¦(worry)¦

6¦(importance)¦

7¦(amount)¦

8¦(for measuring quantities)¦

9¦(for sport)¦

10 throw your weight about/around

11 throw your weight behind somebody/something

12 pull your weight

13 take the weight off your feet

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[: Old English; Origin: wiht]

1.) ¦(AMOUNT SOMEBODY/SOMETHING WEIGHS)¦ [U and C]

how heavy something is when you measure it

▪ The average weight of a baby at birth is just over seven pounds.

in weight

▪ fish that are over two kilos in weight

by weight

▪ Fruit and vegetables are sold by weight.

2.) ¦(HOW FAT)¦[U]

how heavy and fat someone is

▪ You shouldn't worry about your weight.

▪ He put on weight when he was at university.

▪ She's lost a lot of weight recently.

▪ He was having to watch his weight for the first time in his life.

▪ How have you kept your weight down ?

▪ Sara's convinced she has a weight problem .

▪ a sudden large weight gain

→↑overweight, ↑underweight

3.) ¦(HEAVINESS)¦[U]

the fact that something is heavy

▪ The weight of her boots made it hard for Sue to run.

▪ I didn't know if the bridge would support our weight .

under the weight of sth

▪ Karen staggered along under the weight of her backpack.

4.) ¦(HEAVY THING)¦

something that is heavy

▪ I can't lift heavy weights because of my bad back.

5.) ¦(WORRY)¦

something that causes you a lot of worry because you have to deal with it

weight of

▪ She felt a great weight of responsibility.

▪ families who are crumbling under the weight of increasing debt

▪ Selling the house is a weight off my mind (=something that no longer causes a lot of worry) .

6.) ¦(IMPORTANCE)¦[U]

if something has weight, it is important and influences people

▪ She knew that her opinion carried very little weight .

give/add weight to sth

▪ This scandal adds more weight to their arguments.

7.) ¦(AMOUNT)¦

weight of sth

a large amount of something

▪ The weight of evidence is that unemployment leads to all sorts of health problems.

▪ The weight of public opinion is behind the teachers.

▪ They won the battle by sheer weight of numbers (=very large numbers of people) .

8.) ¦(FOR MEASURING QUANTITIES)¦

a piece of metal that weighs an exact amount and is balanced against something else to measure how much the other thing weighs

9.) ¦(FOR SPORT)¦

a piece of metal that weighs an exact amount and is lifted by people as a sport

▪ I've been lifting weights since I was 18.

→↑weightlifting

10.) throw your weight about/around informal

to use your position of authority to tell people what to do in an unpleasant and unreasonable way

11.) throw your weight behind sb/sth

to use all your power and influence to support someone or something

▪ The US has thrown its weight behind the new leader.

12.) pull your weight

to do your full share of work

▪ He accused me of not pulling my weight.

13.) take the weight off your feet informal

used to tell someone to sit down

▪ Come in, take the weight off your feet.

→↑deadWEIGHT

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COLLOCATES for sense 2

put on/gain weight (=get fatter)

lose weight (=get thinner)

watch your weight (=try not to get fatter, by eating the correct foods)

get/keep your weight down also get/keep the weight off (=become thinner or stay thin)

weight problem (=a tendency to be too fat)

weight gain/loss

weight control (=ways of not getting too fat)

somebody's ideal weight

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weight ²

weight² v [T]

1.) also weight down

to fix a heavy object to something in order to keep it in place

weight sth (down) with sth

▪ The fishing nets are weighted down with lead.

2.) to change something slightly so that you give more importance to particular ideas or people

weight sth in favour of sb/sth

▪ There is always a temptation to weight the report in favour of the option you want.