–noun

1.	the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass; amount a thing weighs.

2.	Physics. the force that gravitation exerts upon a body, equal to the mass of the body times the local acceleration of gravity: commonly taken, in a region of constant gravitational acceleration, as a measure of mass.

3.	a system of units for expressing heaviness or mass: avoirdupois weight.

4.	a unit of heaviness or mass: The pound is a common weight in English-speaking countries.

5.	a body of determinate mass, as of metal, for using on a balance or scale in weighing objects, substances, etc.

6.	a specific quantity of a substance that is determined by weighing or that weighs a fixed amount: a half-ounce weight of gold dust.

7.	any heavy load, mass, or object: Put down that weight and rest your arms.

8.	an object used or useful solely because of its heaviness: the weights of a clock.

9.	a mental or moral burden, as of care, sorrow, or responsibility: Knowing you are safe takes a weight off my mind.

10.	importance, moment, consequence, or effective influence: an opinion of great weight.

11.	Statistics. a measure of the relative importance of an item in a statistical population.

12.	(of clothing, textiles, etc.) a. relative heaviness or thickness as related to warmth or to seasonal use (often used in combination): a winter-weight jacket. b. relative heaviness or thickness as related to use: a bolt of coat-weight woolen cloth.

13.	Printing. (of type) the degree of blackness or boldness.

14.	(esp. in boxing) a division or class to which a contestant belongs according to how much he weighs: two brothers who fight professionally in the same weight.

15.	the total amount the jockey, saddle, and leads must weigh on a racehorse during a race, according to the conditions of the race: Jacinto has a weight of 122 pounds in the seventh race.

16.	the stress or accent value given a sound, syllable, or word.

–verb ( 3e8 used with object)

17.	to add weight to; load with additional weight: to weight sacks before dumping them overboard.

18.	to load (fabrics, threads, etc.) with mineral or other matter to increase the weight or bulk.

19.	to burden with or as if with weight (often fol. by down): Financial worries have weighted that family down for years.

20.	Statistics. to give a statistical weight to.

21.	to bias or slant toward a particular goal or direction; manipulate: 535 The teacher weighted the test so students who had read both books would make the highest marks.

22.	to assign (a racehorse) a specific weight to carry in a race: The handicapper weighted Dapper Dan with 128 pounds.

—Idioms

23.	by weight, according to measurement of heaviness or mass: Rates are determined by weight.

24.	carry weight, to have importance or significance; influence: Her opinion is certain to carry weight.

25.	pull one's weight, to contribute one's rightful share of work to a project or job: We will finish in time if we each pull our weight. Also, pull one's own weight.

26.	throw one's weight around or about, to use one's power and influence, esp. beyond the bounds of propriety, to secure some personal gain.

–noun

1.	detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery.

2.	something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.

3.	an amount or number lost: The loss of life increased each day.

4.	the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had: the loss of old friends.

5.	death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent.

6.	the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.: to discover the loss of a document.

7.	a 3e8 losing by defeat; failure to win: the loss of a bet.

8.	failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

9.	failure to preserve or maintain: loss of engine speed at high altitudes.

10.	destruction or ruin: the loss of a ship by fire.

11.	a thing or a number of related things that are lost or destroyed to some extent: Most buildings in the burned district were a total loss.

12.	Military. a. the losing of soldiers by death, capture, etc. b. Often, losses. the number of soldiers so lost.

13.	Insurance. occurrence of an event, as death or damage of property, for which the insurer makes indemnity under the terms of a policy.

14.	Electricity. a measure of the power lost in a system, as by conversion to heat, expressed as a relation between power input and power output, as the ratio of or difference between the two quantities.

—Idiom

15.	at a loss, a. at less than cost; at a financial loss. b. in a state of bewilderment or uncertainty; puzzled; perplexed: We are completely at a loss for an answer to the problem.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist: He planned to help me with my work. Let me help you with those packages.

2.	to save; rescue; succor: Help me, I'm falling!

3.	to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate: The exercise of restraint is certain to help the achievement of peace.

4.	to be useful or profitable to: Her quick mind helped her career.

5.	to refrain from; avoid (usually prec. by can or cannot): He can't help doing it.

6.	to relieve or break the uniformity of: Small patches of bright color can help an otherwise dull interior.

7.	to relieve (someone) in need, sickness, pain, or distress.

8.	to remedy, stop, or prevent: Nothing will help my headache.

9.	to serve food to at table (usually fol. by to): Help her to salad.

10.	to serve or wait on (a customer), as in a store.

–verb (used without object)

11.	to give aid; be of service or advantage: Every little bit helps.

–noun

12.	the act of helping; aid or assistance; relief or succor.

13.	a person or thing that helps: She certainly is a help in an emergency.

14.	a hired helper; employee.

15.	a body of such helpers.

16.	a domestic servant or a farm laborer.

17.	means of remedying, stopping, or preventing: The thing is done, and there is no help for it now.

18.	Older Use. helping (def. 2).

–interjection

19.	(used as an exclamation to call for assistance or to attract attention.)

—Verb phrase

20.	help out, to assist in an effort; be of aid to: Her relatives helped out when she became ill.

—Idioms

21.	cannot or can't help but, to be unable to refrain from or avoid; be obliged to: Still, you can't help but admire her.

22.	help oneself to, a. to serve oneself; take a portion of: Help yourself to the cake. b. to take or use without asking permission; appropriate: They helped themselves to the farmer's apples. Help yourself to any of the books we're giving away.

23.	so help me, (used as a mild form of the oath “so help me God”) I am speaking the truth; on my honor: That's exactly what happened, so help me.