Main Entry: ¹sweat

Pronunciation: \ˈswet\

Function: verb

Inflected Form(s): sweat or sweat·ed; sweat·ing

Etymology: Middle English sweten, from Old English swǣtan, from swāt sweat; akin to Old High German sweiz sweat, Latin sudare to sweat, Greek hidrōs sweat

Date: before 12th century

intransitive verb 1 a : to excrete moisture in visible quantities through the openings of the sweat glands : perspire b : to labor or exert oneself so as to cause perspiration
2 a : to emit or exude moisture <cheese sweats in ripening> b : to gather surface moisture in beads as a result of condensation <stones sweat at night> c (1) : ferment (2) : putrefy
3 : to undergo anxiety or mental or emotional distress <sweat through final exams>
4 : to become exuded through pores or a porous surface : oozetransitive verb 1 : to emit or seem to emit from pores : exude
2 : to manipulate or produce by hard work or drudgery
3 : to get rid of or lose (weight) by or as if by sweating or being sweated
4 : to make wet with perspiration
5 a : to cause to excrete moisture from the skin b : to drive hard : overwork c : to exact work from at low wages and under unfair or unhealthful conditions d slang : to give the third degree to
6 : to cause to exude or lose moisture; especially : to subject (as tobacco leaves) to fermentation
7 a : to extract something valuable from by unfair or dishonest means : fleece b : to remove particles of metal from (a coin) by abrasion
8 a : to heat (as solder) so as to melt and cause to run especially between surfaces to unite them; also : to unite by such means <sweat a pipe joint> b : to heat so as to extract an easily fusible constituent <sweat bismuth ore> c : to sauté in a covered vessel until natural juices are exuded
9 slang : to worry about <doesn't sweat the small stuff — Barry McDermott>

— sweat blood : to work or worry intensely <in preparing speeches each sweats blood in his own way — Stewart Cockburn>