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Entry 12 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Sweat

/swĕt/ · IPA /swɛt/
01 v. i. To excrete sensible moisture from the pores of the skin; to perspire.
imp. & p. p. Sweat; p. pr. & vb. n. Sweating
  1. 1.
    To excrete sensible moisture from the pores of the skin; to perspire.[Obs.]
  2. 2.
    Fig.: To perspire in toil; to work hard; to drudge.
    “He 'd have the poets sweat.” — Waller.
  3. 3.
    To emit moisture, as green plants in a heap.
02 v. t. To cause to excrete moisture from the skin; to cause to perspire; as, his physicians attempted to sweat him by most powerful sudorifics.
  1. 1.
    To cause to excrete moisture from the skin; to cause to perspire; as, his physicians attempted to sweat him by most powerful sudorifics.
  2. 2.
    To emit or suffer to flow from the pores; to exude.
    “It made her not a drop for sweat.” — Chaucer.
    “With exercise she sweat ill humors out.” — Dryden.
  3. 3.
    To unite by heating, after the application of soldier.
  4. 4.
    To get something advantageous, as money, property, or labor from (any one), by exaction or oppression; as, to sweat a spendthrift; to sweat laborers.[Colloq.]
    “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.” — R. Cobden.
Phrases & compounds
To sweat coin — to remove a portion of a piece of coin, as by shaking it with others in a bag, so that the friction wears off a small quantity of the metal.
03 n. The fluid which is excreted from the skin of an animal; the fluid secreted by the sudoriferous glands; a transparent, colorless, acid liqui…
  1. 1.
    The fluid which is excreted from the skin of an animal; the fluid secreted by the sudoriferous glands; a transparent, colorless, acid liquid with a peculiar odor, containing some fatty acids and mineral matter; perspiration. See Perspiration.(Physiol.) See: Perspiration
    “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” — Gen. iii. 19.
  2. 2.
    The act of sweating; or the state of one who sweats; hence, labor; toil; drudgery.
  3. 3.
    Moisture issuing from any substance; as, the sweat of hay or grain in a mow or stack.
  4. 4.
    The sweating sickness.[Obs.]
  5. 5.
    A short run by a race horse in exercise.(Man.)
Phrases & compounds
Sweat box — a small closet in which refractory men are confined.
Sweat glands — sudoriferous glands. See under Sudoriferous.