sweat

• enPR: swĕt, IPA^(key): /swɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

From 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.

sweat (usually uncountable, plural sweats)

2. Fluid 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.

   Synonym: perspiration

3. The state of one who sweats; diaphoresis.

   Just thinking about the interview tomorrow puts me into a nervous sweat.

4. (figurative) Hard work; toil.
5. (figurative) Moisture issuing from any substance.
   • 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals:

     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

   • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:

     the sweat of hay or grain in a mow or stack

6. A short run by a racehorse as a form of exercise.
   • 1740, Henry Bracken, Farriery improv'd:

     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.

   • 1840, Richard Darvill, A Treatise on the Care, Treatment, and Training of the English Race Horse:

     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.

   • 2016, Gerald Hammond, The Language of Horse Racing:

     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 Running'.

7. (historical) The sweating sickness.
   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 131:

     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.

   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:

     […] who both died within one houre of the sweat at Cambridge

8. (British, military slang, especially WWI) A soldier (especially one who is old or experienced).
9. (video games, slang) An extremely or excessively competitive player.

   Synonym: tryhard

   • 2021 October 13, Zachary Roberts, “How exactly are 'sweats' ruining Fortnite? Addressing the never ending try-hards vs casual debate”, in Sportskeeda‎^[1]:

     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 it's worth taking a look at regardless.

• sudor

• shvitz

• Sranan Tongo: sweti
• Torres Strait Creole: swet

From Middle English sweten, from Old English swǣtan, from Proto-Germanic *swaitijaną (“to sweat”). Compare Dutch zweten, German schwitzen, Danish svede. Doublet of shvitz.

sweat (third-person singular simple present sweats, present participle sweating, simple past sweated or sweat, past participle sweated or (archaic) sweaten)

1. (intransitive) To emit sweat.

   Synonym: perspire

2. (transitive) To cause to excrete moisture through skin.
   1. To cause to perspire.

      His physicians attempted to sweat him by most powerful sudorifics.

3. (intransitive, informal) To work hard.

   Synonyms: slave, slog

   I've been sweating over my essay all day.

   1. (video games) To be extremely dedicated to winning a game; to play competitively.

      Synonym: tryhard

      There's no way we can win. These guys are sweating so hard.

      • 2022 May 27, Ethan Davison, “Video game developers want fair online games. Some players really don’t.”, in The Washington Post‎^[2]:

        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.

4. (transitive, informal) To extract money, labour, etc. from, by exaction or oppression.

   Synonym: bleed

   to sweat a spendthrift

   to sweat labourers

   • 2022 September 7, Tom Allett, “At the cutting edge of NR's track work”, in RAIL, number 965, page 40:

     "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."

5. (intransitive, informal) To worry.

   Synonyms: fret, worry

6. (transitive, informal) To worry about (something). [from 20th c.]

   Don't sweat it!

   to sweat the small stuff

   • 2010 December 5, Brooks Barnes, “Studios battle to save Narnia”, in The New York Times:

     There are few matters studio executives sweat more than maintaining their franchises.

7. (transitive) To emit, in the manner of sweat.

   to sweat blood

   • 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:

     With exercise she sweat ill humors out.

   • 1980, Stephen King, The Mist:

     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.

8. (intransitive) To emit moisture.

   The cheese will start sweating if you don't refrigerate it.

9. (intransitive) To 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.

10. (intransitive, plumbing) To solder (a pipe joint) together.
11. (transitive, slang) To stress out, to put under pressure.

    Stop sweatin' me!

    • 1988, “Fuck tha Police”, performed by N.W.A:

      But I'ma smoke 'em now and not next time / Smoke any motherfucker that sweats me

    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 118:

      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.

12. (transitive, intransitive, cooking) To cook slowly at low heat, in shallow oil and without browning, to reduce moisture content.
    • 2002, Judy Rodgers, The Zuni Cafe Cookbook‎^[3]:

      Sweating is a generally a quiet operation; if the food is whispering, or worse, hissing, the moisture is probably evaporating too rapidly

    • 2007, Patty Elsberry, Matt Bolus, Simply Vanilla: Recipes for Everyday Use‎^[4], page 93:

      Sweat the carrots, onion, celery, leeks, and cabbage in the butter until translucent not allowing them to color in any way.

    • 2009, Bill Neal, Bill Neal's Southern Cooking‎^[5], page 11:

      Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and gently sweat the celery for ten minutes, taking care not to brown it

    • 2011, The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook‎^[6]:

      Sweat the onions and garlic in the oil, stirring occasionally, until they are completely soft (no crunch) but not caramelized.

14. (transitive, archaic) 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.
    • 1879, Richard Cobden, On the Probable Fall in the Value of Gold (originally by Michel Chevalier)

      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.

15. (intransitive) To suffer a penalty; to smart for one's misdeeds.
16. (transitive) To take a racehorse for a short exercise run.
    • 1740, Henry Bracken, Farriery improv'd:

      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.

• 💦

• Weast, awest, swate, tawse, waste, wetas

Borrowed from English sweatshirt.

• IPA^(key): /swɛt/, /swit/

• Audio:

  (file)

sweat m (plural sweats)

1. sweatshirt

   Les sweats à capuche sont interdits dans certains lieux publics en Grande-Bretagne.

   Hoodies are prohibited in some places in Great Britain.