middleweightn.adj.
/ˈmɪdl̩weɪt/, U.S. /ˈmɪd(ə)lˌweɪt/ A. n.
1. Originally Boxing. A boxer who competes in a weight class traditionally falling between welterweight and light-heavyweight (although see note); (also) this weight class; a competition or match in this class. Also used in other combat sports.The exact weight categories and weight limits vary in different sports and have changed over time; they also vary according to other factors such as the professional status and gender of competitors.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > boxer > of specific weight
welter1804
lightweight1817
middleweight1847
heavyweight1857
light middleweight1885
light-heavyweight1887
featherweight1889
light-heavy1892
light welterweight1892
welter weight1896
light welter1904
super heavyweight1907
middle1908
fly-weight1911
heavy1913
superheavy1917
cruiser-weight1920
light flyweight1922
cruiser1928
mini-flyweight1971
1847 Bell's Life in London 9 May 7/3 The match so long on the tapis between Sparkes (the Champion of the Middle Weights of Australia) and Langham..was decided according to articles on Tuesday last.
1889 E. B. Michell Boxing in W. H. Pollock et al. Fencing (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 147 The boundary between heavy and middle weight, down to feather-weight (9 stone).
1902 P. G. Wodehouse Pothunters i. 14 The room was full of all sorts and sizes of them, heavy-weights..feather-weights..middle-weights.
1925 F. G. L. Fairlie Official Rep. VIIIth Olympiad, 1924 255 Middleweights... Two hands, Military Press: Galimberti (Italy), 214½ lb.
1972 F. Butler Hist. Boxing in Brit. xix. 132 The middleweights can claim more superb champions than any section outside the heavyweight.
1998 Muscle News No. 37. 5/1 Britain came back with 3 European titles with Robbie Good taking the middleweights.
2. A person, animal, or thing of average weight.
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1895 37th Ann. Rep. Maine Board Agric. 1894–5 218 I give the preference to the ‘Middleweights’,..the Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and Langshans, and of these the Langshans will probably come to laying maturity first.
1902 Automobile Rev. 15 Oct. 261/1 The big cars did not have so much advantage; when it came to hills the middleweights scored at this stage.
1994 J. Barth Once upon Time 162 My father's lucky metabolism..with minimal exercise and no dietary constraints keeps me a fit and paunchless middleweight.
B. adj.
1. Originally Boxing. Of or relating to the weight class middleweight (see sense A. 1); designating a boxer or other competitor in this class.
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1878 Bell's Life in London 4 May 12/5 A light and middle weight competition, strictly under the Queensberry rules, will take place on Monday evening next, at E. Napper's, the Five Inkhorns, New Nichol street, Shoreditch.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 9 Feb. 12/4 Some fine wrestling has been seen, more especially in the middle-weight class.
1934 J. D. Carr Eight of Swords (1986) ii. 22 One of the neatest middleweight battlers who ever came out of Dublin University.
1955 Times 11 May 4/5 A 10-round middleweight bout at the Empress Hall, Earls Court.
1972 F. Butler Hist. Boxing in Brit. xix. 132 The middleweight division was started in England in 1786.
2004 H. Strachan Make a Skyf, Man! xii. 132 Spiers is tall and lithe and the middleweight boxing champion of the Transvaal.
2. Of average weight; neither heavy nor light. Frequently (and in earliest use) figurative: of average or middling complexity, consequence, intellectual heft, etc.
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1904 Bookman Oct. 97/2 Captain Marshall's fancy is not so heavy as Mr. Jones's or so aerial as Mr. Barrie's. It is a middleweight British fancy.
1998 Automotive Engineer Oct. 26/1 Your new 7.8-litre Cursor engine, just announced for Iveco's middleweight Eurotech truck chassis, breaks new ground.
2001 D. Burnie Kingfisher Illustr. Dinosaur Encycl. 75 Despite its great size, Cetiosaurus was actually a middleweight member of the sauropod group.
2015 Radio Times 25 July (South/West ed.) 45/3 At one level it's a middleweight procedural that flatters our intelligence a bit because its hero is vaguely Holmesian.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1847