Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

1 N‑VAR [oft with poss] The weight of a person or thing is how heavy they are, measured in units such as kilograms, pounds, or tons. □  What is your height and weight? □  This reduced the weight of the load. □ [+ of ] Turkeys can reach enormous weights of up to 50 pounds. ● PHRASE If someone loses weight , they become lighter. If they gain weight or put on weight , they become heavier. □  I'm lucky really as I never put on weight. □  He lost two stone in weight during his time there.

2 N‑UNCOUNT [with poss] A person's or thing's weight is the fact that they are very heavy. □  Despite the vehicle's size and weight, it is not difficult to drive.

3 N‑SING If you move your weight , you change position so that most of the pressure of your body is on a particular part of your body. □  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. □  He kept the weight from his left leg.

4 N‑COUNT [usu pl] Weights are objects which weigh a known amount and which people lift as a form of exercise. □  I was in the gym lifting weights.

5 N‑COUNT Weights are metal objects which weigh a known amount and which are used on a set of scales to weigh other things.

6 N‑COUNT You can refer to a heavy object as a weight , especially when you have to lift it. □  Straining to lift heavy weights can lead to a rise in blood pressure.

7 VERB If you weight something, you make it heavier by adding something to it, for example in order to stop it from moving easily. □ [V n] It can be sewn into curtain hems to weight the curtain and so allow it to hang better.

8 VERB If you weight things, you give them different values according to how important or significant they are. □ [V n] …a computer program which weights the different transitions according to their likelihood. □ [V -ed] Responses were weighted by region to more accurately reflect the population. .

9 N‑VAR If something is given a particular weight , it is given a particular value according to how important or significant it is. □ [+ on ] The scientists involved put different weight on the conclusions of different models.

10 N‑UNCOUNT If someone or something gives weight to what a person says, thinks, or does, they emphasize its significance. □  The fact that he is gone has given more weight to fears that he may try to launch a civil war.

11 N‑UNCOUNT If you give something or someone weight , you consider them to be very important or influential in a particular situation. □ [+ on ] This might have been avoided had ministers placed more weight on scientific advice.

12 → see also dead weight , weighting

13 PHRASE If a person or their opinion carries weight , they are respected and are able to influence people. □  That argument no longer carries as much weight. □  He still carries considerable weight in medical circles.

14 PHRASE If you say that someone or something is worth their weight in gold , you are emphasizing that they are so useful, helpful, or valuable that you feel you could not manage without them. [EMPHASIS ] □  Any successful manager is worth his weight in gold.

15 PHRASE If you pull your weight , you work as hard as everyone else who is involved in the same task or activity. □  He accused the team of not pulling their weight.

16a weight off your mind → see mind ➊

▸  weight down PHRASAL VERB If you weight something down , you put something heavy on it or in it in order to prevent it from moving easily. □ [V n P ] Put some tins on top to weight it down. COLLOCATIONS weight NOUN 1

noun + weight : body, birth; target

adjective + weight : healthy, ideal, normal; considerable, excess, extra