Word: freight Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden; ballast of a ship; goods; a charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, and Middle Low German vrecht (“cargo, freight; transportation fee”), from Old Saxon frāht, frēht, from Proto-West Germanic *fra- (from Proto-Germanic *fra- (prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’)) + *aihti (from Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“possessions, property”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)). The English word can be analysed as for- + aught, and is a doublet of fraught. Cognates * French fret (“cargo, freight; transportation fees; rental of a ship”) * Old English ǣht (“livestock; possession, property; power”) * Old High German frēht (“earnings”) * Portuguese frete (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”) * Spanish flete (“cargo, freight; charter (hire of a vehicle for transporting cargo)”) * Swedish frakt c (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”) Pronunciation: /fɹeɪt/, /fɹæɪt/, /fɾet/, /fɾeit/ 1. The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: [A]fter ſome Conſideration, that the City of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a Market for our Goods as London, we all took Freight with him, and having put my Goods on board, it was moſt natural for me to put my Steward on board to take care of them, […] 2. Goods or items in transport; cargo, luggage. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: The freight shifted and the trailer turned over on the highway. Example: Diſcretion is the ballaſt of our Ship, that carries us ſteady; but Zeal is the very Fraight, the Cargaſon, the Merchandiſe it ſelf, vvhich enriches us in the land of the living; and this vvas our caſe, vve vvere all come to eſteem our Ballaſt more then our Fraight, our Diſcretion more then our Zeal; we had more care to pleaſe great men then God; more conſideration of an imaginary change of times, then of unchangeable eternity it ſelf. 3. Payment for transportation. Labels: countable, usually Example: The freight was more expensive for cars than for coal. Example: [I]f I would let the ſame Men who were in the Ship navigate her, he would hire the Ship to go to Japan, and would ſend them from thence to the Philippine Iſlands with another Loading, which he would pay the Freight of, before they went from Japan; and that at their Return, he would buy the Ship: […] 4. A burden, a load. Labels: countable, figuratively, usually Example: Thus Apple Trees, whoſe Trunks are ſtrong to bear Their ſpreading Boughs, exert themſelves in Air: Want no supply, but ſtand ſecure alone, Not truſting foreign Forces, but their own: 'Till with the ruddy freight the bending Branches groan. Example: Now homeward through the thickening hubbub, where See, among less distinguishable shapes, […] the stately and slow-moving Turk, With freight of slippers piled beneath his arm! 5. Cultural or emotional associations. Labels: figuratively, specifically, uncountable, usually Example: Ideally, those engaged in contributing to that discourse would have some awareness of the emotional forces which may be called into play by the simple appearance in print or a broadcast clip of a phrase built around the word 'freedom'. This may seem to be a quite unrealistic aim, until we note that some contributors to the emotional public sphere – advertising creatives – are very aware of the emotional freight that simple words may carry, and seek to direct that freight to particular destinations (with particular behavioural consequences). 6. Ellipsis of freight train. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, usually Example: They shipped it ordinary freight to spare the expense. Example: The track, raggedly defined in trampled loam and muddy furrow, bent in a direction which indicated that its terminus might be the switch where the empty cars had stood last night, waiting for the one-o'clock freight.