shvitz
/ʃvɪts
/(also schvitz) North American informal
noun
1A sauna or steam bath: our great-grandfather and his brothers went to the shvitz together...
- The kid looked like someone your zaide chatted with every week at the shvitz up on 10th Street.
- Some form of this ancient practice is found in cultures around the world, from the Finnish sauna to the Russian bania, and from the Jewish shvitz to the Turkish hamman.
- The ceremonial sweat lodge, for instance, had an easy precedent in the old-fashioned shvitz.
1.1A session in a sauna or steam bath: when it’s time for thinking I like to have a shvitz...
- One of the most memorable dreams involved me conversing with Lou as we took a shvitz together.
- It reminded me of the time I took a schvitz with him at the 92nd Street Y.
- Since I'm the sweatiest guy I know, I took some wicking gear for a test schvitz.
verb [no object]
Sweat: it was one of those godawful days with a billion percent humidity and everybody was schvitzing...
- Now let me schvitz in peace.
- He probably does tend to schvitz more than most.
- They have like 6 rooms perhaps, you can lay in the rain, schvitz to your heart's content.
Origin
1930s: from Yiddish shvits 'sauna, steam bath', probably from German Schwitze.