/swɛt/
OriginFrom Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish sved, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.
- uncountable, usuallyFluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the circulation.
- uncountable, usuallyThe state of one who is sweating; diaphoresis.
“Just thinking about the interview tomorrow puts me into a nervous sweat.”
- figuratively, uncountable, usuallyHard work; toil.
- figuratively, uncountable, usuallyMoisture issuing from any substance.
“The Muses' friend (grey-eyed Aurora) yet
Held all the meadows in a cooling sweat,
The milk-white gossamers not upwards snow'd,
Nor was the sharp and useful-steering goad”
“the sweat of hay or grain in a mow or stack”
- uncountable, usuallyA short run by a racehorse as a form of exercise.
“A Horſe that gains Fleſh in hard Exerciſe, should be ſweated at leaſt twice in ten Days; and he ſhould run near five Miles in Puſhes, that the Sweat may have Time to diſcharge. Those Horſes which are ”
“There are some horses so very delicate, and have to run such short lengths, that they may not require a sweat during the whole time of their being in training.”
“A sweat was, accordingly, a training run for a racehorse: a notice in The London Gazette in 1705 advertises a race for hunters that have not 'been kept in sweats above 12 weeks before the day of Runni”
- historical, uncountable, usuallyThe sweating sickness.
“When the sweat comes back this summer, 1528, people say, as they did last year, that you won't get it if you don't think about it.”
“[…]who both died within one houre of the sweat at Cambridge”
- British, slang, uncountable, usuallyA soldier (especially one who is old or experienced).
- slang, uncountable, usuallyAn extremely or excessively competitive player.
“Casuals believe that sweats are ruining Fortnite. Sweats think that casuals just need to get better at the game. It's a never-ending debate that will never end, despite what anyone tries to say, but i”
- intransitiveTo emit sweat.
- transitiveTo cause to excrete moisture through skin.
- transitiveTo cause to perspire.
“His physicians attempted to sweat him by most powerful sudorifics.”
- informal, intransitiveTo work hard.
“I've been sweating over my essay all day.”
- informal, intransitiveTo be extremely dedicated to winning a game; to play competitively.
“There's no way we can win. These guys are sweating so hard.”
“With skill-based matchmaking, he wrote, "you have to sweat 100 percent of the time." They contend their audiences want to see them pull off amazing victories, not struggle endlessly against other top ”
- informal, transitiveTo extract money, labour, etc. from, by exaction or oppression.
“to sweat a spendthrift”
“to sweat labourers”
“"I've predicted it will last 32 years. The last overhaul we will do on it is at 24 years, but we tend to sweat the asset at Network Rail and try and save a bit of money, so I've estimated 32 years."”
- informal, intransitiveTo worry.
- informal, transitiveTo worry about (something).
“Don't sweat it!”
“to sweat the small stuff”
“There are few matters studio executives sweat more than maintaining their franchises.”
- transitiveTo emit, in the manner of sweat.
“to sweat blood”
“With exercise she sweat ill humors out.”
“I was sipping a third, but I had no kind of buzz on; apparently I had sweat the beer out as rapidly as I drank it.”
- intransitiveTo emit moisture.
“The cheese will start sweating if you don't refrigerate it.”
- intransitiveTo have drops of water form on (something's surface) due to moisture condensation.
“Coasters are a good way to stop a sweating glass from damaging your table.”
- intransitiveTo solder (a pipe joint) together.
- slang, transitiveTo stress out, to put under pressure.
“Stop sweatin' me!”
“But I'ma smoke 'em now and not next time / Smoke any motherfucker that sweats me”
“Over the next few days the cops half-ass questioned a couple of people, including me and Pimp, but they wasn't able to put nothing on us. They sweated Vyreen's husband pretty hard for a while, though.”
- intransitive, transitiveTo cook slowly at low heat, in shallow oil and without browning, to reduce moisture content.
“Sweating is a generally a quiet operation; if the food is whispering, or worse, hissing, the moisture is probably evaporating too rapidly”
“Sweat the carrots, onion, celery, leeks, and cabbage in the butter until translucent not allowing them to color in any way.”
“Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and gently sweat the celery for ten minutes, taking care not to brown it”
- archaic, transitiveTo remove a portion of (a coin), as by shaking it with others in a bag, so that the friction wears off a small quantity of the metal.
“The only use of it [money] which is interdicted is to put it in circulation again after having diminished its weight by sweating, or otherwise, because the quantity of metal contains is no longer cons”
- intransitiveTo suffer a penalty; to smart for one's misdeeds.
- transitiveTo take a racehorse for a short exercise run.
“A Horſe that gains Fleſh in hard Exerciſe, should be ſweated at leaſt twice in ten Days; and he ſhould run near five Miles in Puſhes, that the Sweat may have Time to diſcharge. Those Horſes which are ”
Formssweats(plural) · sweats(present, singular, third-person) · sweating(participle, present) · sweated(past) · sweat(past) · sweated(participle, past) · sweat(participle, past) · sweaten(archaic, participle, past) · Sweats(plural)