See Also: Sweat(recipes)
red sweat(medicine)
sweat(1)(dictionary)
sweat(2)(dictionary)
Sweat(medicine)
sweat 1, verb(dictionary)
sweat pore(medicine)
sweat test(medicine)
sweat suit(dictionary)
Sweat Equity(money)

sweat(1) (iou)



sweat noun. Also (earlier) swote.
[Old English swat = Old Frisian, Old Saxon swet (Dutch zweet), Old High German swei (German Schweiss), from Germanic from Indo-European base repr. also by Latin sudor; alt. in Middle English after SWEAT verb.]
I.
Watery fluid excreted through the pores of the skin, esp. as a response to excessive heat, exertion, or nervousness. OE.
W. Golding The heat hit him..and sweat streamed down his face. S. Trott Finishing a run, sweat running down his torso.
A condition or fit of sweating. ME.
P. Bowles Awoke in a sweat with the hot..sun pouring over her. A. Cohen Arnold..had broken out in a sweat.
b. A fit of sweating caused for a medicinal purpose; a training run, esp. one given to a horse as before a race. Formerly also, a medicine for inducing sweating, a diaphoretic. LME.
c. Sweating-sickness. L15-M17.
transf. Something resembling sweat; moisture exuded from or deposited on a surface. LME.
M. Twain Solid limestone that was dewy with a cold sweat.
An industrial process involving the exudation, evaporation, or deposit of moisture. L16.
A gambling game played with three dice and a cloth marked with figures. US. M19.
In pl. A sweatshirt; sweat pants; a sweatsuit. colloq. (orig. US). M20.
II. fig.
Hard work, toil, effort; esp. a laborious task or undertaking. Now colloq. OE.
W. S. Maugham Those critical works of mine were an awful sweat. Target Gun Helping to run the meeting was a bit of a sweat.
A state of anxiety. colloq. E18.
J. Gardner Thought I'd save you the sweat of wondering who was doing what to whom.
III.
Blood; spec. the lifeblood. OE-E16.
Phrases: bloody sweat: see BLOODY adjective & adverb. by the sweat of one's brow by one's own hard work. cold sweat sweat(ing) due to nervousness rather than to heat or exertion. no sweat colloq. no trouble; no need to worry. old sweat: see OLD adjective.
Comb.: sweat-band a band of absorbent material lining a hat or worn round the head or wrist to soak up sweat; sweat-bath a steam or hot-air bath; sweat-bee any of various small solitary bees of the families Halictidae and Andrenidae, which may drink sweat from the skin; sweat-box (a) slang a narrow prison cell; (b) a box in which hides etc. are sweated; (c) transf. a heated compartment in which sweating is induced with the aim of weight loss; sweat cooling Engineering a form of cooling in which the coolant is passed through a porous wall and evenly distributed over the surface, which is cooled by its evaporation; sweat equity US slang an interest in a property earned by a tenant in return for labour towards upkeep or renovation; sweat fly a common woodland fly, Hydrotaea irritans, which sips the sweat of humans and livestock; sweat gland Anatomy each of the numerous minute coiled tubular glands just beneath the skin which secrete sweat; sweat-hog US slang a difficult student singled out for special instruction; sweat-house (a) a hut etc. in which steam or hot-air baths are taken; spec. a sweat lodge; (b) a building in which hides etc. are sweated; sweat lodge a sweat-house, made esp. with natural materials and used (orig. by N. American Indians) for ritual purification; sweat pants (chiefly N. Amer.) loose thick knitted trousers worn as leisurewear or by athletes before or after exercise; sweat-pore Anatomy each of the pores of the skin through which sweat glands secrete sweat; sweat-rag colloq. a cloth used for wiping off sweat; sweat rug: put on a horse after exercise; sweatshirt a loose long-sleeved thick cotton shirt, worn as leisurewear or by athletes before or after exercise; sweatshop a workshop where sweated labour is used; sweatsuit: consisting of a sweatshirt and sweat pants.
? Variant form swote obsolete after M16; form sweat recorded from ME.
sweatful adjective (chiefly poet.) (of work) inducing or accompanied by sweat, laborious, distressing E17.
sweatless adjective (rare) without sweat; fig. indolent, idle: E17.