Link Centre Dictionary

sweat

UK/swɛt/ US/ˈswɛt/ common informal slang uk
noun (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

salty fluid secreted by sweat glands

  • “sweat poured off his brow”
Synonyms
2.

agitation resulting from active worry

  • “don”
  • “;”
  • “s in a sweat about exams”
Synonyms
3.

condensation of moisture on a cold surface

  • “the cold glasses were streaked with sweat”
4.

use of physical or mental energy; hard work

  • “he got an A for effort”
  • “they managed only with great exertion”
Synonyms

verb

1.

excrete perspiration through the pores in the skin

  • “Exercise makes one sweat”
Synonyms

Origin

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, Norwegian Bokmål svette, Norwegian Nynorsk sveitte, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Portuguese suor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.

Phrases

  • blood sweat
  • bloody sweat
  • break a sweat
  • cold sweat
  • corn sweat
  • don't sweat it
  • don't sweat the small stuff
  • English sweat
  • fetid sweat
  • sweat blood
  • sweat bricks
  • sweat buckets

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.