sweat
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: swĕt
ipa: /swɛt/
rhymes: -ɛt
Forms: form: sweats
form: sweating
form: sweated
form: sweat
form: sweated
form: sweat
form: sweaten
Etymology: From Middle English sweten, from Old English swǣtan, from Proto-Germanic *swaitijaną (“to sweat”). Compare Dutch zweten, German schwitzen, Danish svede. Doublet of shvitz.
Senses: synonyms: perspire
glosses: To emit sweat.
glosses: To cause to excrete moisture through skin.
examples: text: His physicians attempted to sweat him by most powerful sudorifics.
glosses: To cause to excrete moisture through skin.
To cause to perspire.
examples: text: I've been sweating over my essay all day.
synonyms: slave
slog
glosses: To work hard.
examples: text: There's no way we can win. These guys are sweating so hard.
text: 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 players.
ref: 2022 May 27, Ethan Davison, “Video game developers want fair online games. Some players really don’t.”, in The Washington Post:
topics: video-games
synonyms: slave
slog
tryhard
glosses: To work hard.
To be extremely dedicated to winning a game; to play competitively.
examples: text: to sweat a spendthrift
text: to sweat labourers
text: "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."
ref: 2022 September 7, Tom Allett, “At the cutting edge of NR's track work”, in RAIL, number 965, page 40:
synonyms: bleed
glosses: To extract money, labour, etc. from, by exaction or oppression.
synonyms: fret
worry
glosses: To worry.
examples: text: Don't sweat it!
text: to sweat the small stuff
text: There are few matters studio executives sweat more than maintaining their franchises.
ref: 2010 December 5, Brooks Barnes, “Studios battle to save Narnia”, in The New York Times:
glosses: To worry about (something).
examples: text: to sweat blood
text: With exercise she sweat ill humors out.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Cock and the Fox: Or, The Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press:
glosses: To emit, in the manner of sweat.
examples: text: The cheese will start sweating if you don't refrigerate it.
glosses: To emit moisture.
examples: text: Coasters are a good way to stop a sweating glass from damaging your table.
glosses: To have drops of water form on (something's surface) due to moisture condensation.
topics: business
construction
manufacturing
plumbing
glosses: To solder (a pipe joint) together.
examples: text: Stop sweatin' me!
text: But I'ma smoke 'em now and not next time / Smoke any motherfucker that sweats me
ref: 1988, “Fuck tha Police”, performed by N.W.A:
text: 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.
ref: 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 118:
glosses: To stress out, to put under pressure.
examples: text: Sweating is a generally a quiet operation; if the food is whispering, or worse, hissing, the moisture is probably evaporating too rapidly
ref: 2002, Judy Rodgers, The Zuni Cafe Cookbook:
text: Sweat the carrots, onion, celery, leeks, and cabbage in the butter until translucent not allowing them to color in any way.
ref: 2007, Patty Elsberry, Matt Bolus, Simply Vanilla: Recipes for Everyday Use, page 93:
text: Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and gently sweat the celery for ten minutes, taking care not to brown it
ref: 2009, Bill Neal, Bill Neal's Southern Cooking, page 11:
text: Sweat the onions and garlic in the oil, stirring occasionally, until they are completely soft (no crunch) but not caramelized.
ref: 2011, The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook:
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: To cook slowly at low heat, in shallow oil and without browning, to reduce moisture content.
examples: text: 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 consistent with its impression.
ref: 1879, Richard Cobden, On the Probable Fall in the Value of Gold (originally by Michel Chevalier)
glosses: To 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.
glosses: To suffer a penalty; to smart for one's misdeeds.
examples: text: 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 ſweat without Covering, or with a very thin one, should run a long Sweat, as wel call it, and ſtand a conſiderable while afterwards with a thick Blanket or two over them, from Head to Tail; otherwiſe the Sweat will not come out well.
ref: 1740, Henry Bracken, Farriery improv'd:
glosses: To take a racehorse for a short exercise run.
Derived terms: asweat
don't sweat the small stuff
sweat blood
sweat bricks
sweat buckets
sweat bullets
sweat equity
sweater
sweat it out
sweat like a hooker in church
sweat like a horse
sweat like a nigger
sweat like a nigger on election day
sweat like a pig
sweat like a whore in church
sweat off
sweat one's guts out
sweat out
sweat the small stuff
swot
unsweat
Related terms: 💦