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ˈlight-weight, light weight, n. and a.
Also (without hyphen) lightweight.
[f. light a.1]
A. n.
a. Sporting. A man or animal under the average weight; esp. in Boxing, now usually a competitor weighing between 126 and 135 pounds. Also in Racing handicaps, one of the horses carrying light weights, or a jockey riding at a low weight. Also anything (e.g. a motorcycle) that is relatively light in weight.
1773Burke Corr. (1844) I. 431 Send him a clever lad who can ride light weights. 1823Egan Grose's Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Light weights, a pugilistic expression for gentlemen under twelve stone. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf, Light weight, in affairs connected with the ring, persons of 11 stone and under are light weights. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxvi, As a light-weight, his skill is of the..highest order. 1871M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. III. iv. 112 Presently entered the landlord,..a light weight of five-and-thirty. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 542/2 Some breeders of the..lightweights [dogs] have gone a trifle too far. 1898Pearson's Mag. Feb. 165/1 The torpedo-boat and the destroyer may fairly be called the light-weights of naval warfare. 1908Daily Report 20 July 9/1 Light⁓weights of 2 h.p. are quite capable of averaging well over 20 m.p.h. 1960M. Golesworthy Encycl. Boxing 211/1 Weight Divisions... Lightweight—1868 at 9 st. 7 lbs. (133 lbs.). 1912 raised to present limit of 9 st. 9 lbs. (135 lbs.) by Willie Ritchie.
attrib.1857Lawrence Guy Livingstone ix. 80 Having her [a mare] broken into a perfect light-weight hunter. 1896Daily News 12 June 6/3 His engagement as a light⁓weight jockey.
b. fig. A person or thing of little importance, profundity, or intelligence.
1885A. Edwardes Girton Girl III. xi. 205, I am not good at these high passions!..In everything I am a light weight... In life I walk gently. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-Made Merchant (1903) ii. 19 That is the spot where a young man has the chance to show that he is not a light⁓weight. 1951A. L. Rowse Eng. Past 24 Harington was the Queen's godson—clever,..naughty, a light⁓weight, perpetrator of puns and practical jokes. 1962Listener 25 Jan. 185/2 Of the other stories in this book, those by the long-established writers..are light-weights. 1965English Studies XLVI. 209 After Holiness or Justice, Courtesy may seem as something of a light-weight.
c. A garment, usu. a suit, made from lightweight material.
1972J. Quartermain Rock of Diamond v. 26 He stood five ten clad in a dark-blue lightweight. 1973R. Busby Pattern of Violence v. 80 He..picked up a man's suit jacket from the floor. It was a grey lightweight.
B. adj. Light in weight; said esp. of coins = light, a.1 1 b. Also of clothes, fabrics, etc. Also fig.
1809E. S. Barrett Setting Sun I. 39 May we not see in them the handwriting on the wall,..the end of the government of light-weight princes? 1892–3T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 31/2 Light weight overcoats in grey, brown, fawn. 1898Westm. Gaz. 24 June 1/3 Some light-weight Colonial gold coins. 1898Pall Mall G. 3 Feb. 9/1 It is customary to start with the lightest-weight birds—say 4 lb. 2 oz. and rising 2 oz. each bird. 1902Daily Chron. 8 Nov. 8/3 Every woman who walks much clings to a light-weight Russian blouse. 1930J. T. Hatfield et al. Curme Vol. Ling. Stud. 52 The intervening verbs are chiefly light-weight grammatical words. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 499/2 Light-weight concrete (Build.), concrete of low unit weight.., made by using aggregates such as pumice, sawdust, and cork, with cellular concrete. 1953News Chron. 2 June 2/2 Squatting to drink it [sc. tea] in the light-weight (six pound) proofed cotton nylon tents. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Dec. 751/2 One cannot reproach him with having produced a rather lightweight book. 1958Times 10 Nov. 14/5 An entertaining, light-weight lecture recital by Mr. Antony Hopkins. 1963A. J. Hall Textile Sci. iii. 158 In these days when light-weight apparel is much favoured the density of a textile fibre is important. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xi. 109 He'd been..wearing a lightweight raincoat. 1973Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 31 Aug. 1443/3 A recent column attacking Whitlam for appearing on TV with ‘a lightweight variety performer’.
Hence light-weighted a., of light weight; carrying a light weight.
1867J. R. Lowell in Atlantic Monthly Nov. 625/2 We..see the rather light-weighted great man wheeled round the room..to converse with his guests. 1905Westm. Gaz. 21 Mar. 8/2 The London and Brighton Handicap Steeplechase on Friday may be won by the light-weighted Dam. |