sweater
verbEtymology From Middle English swētere, equivalent to sweat + -er.
1
To dress in a sweater.
sweater
nounUK /ˈswɛtə/ · US /ˈswɛtɚ/
Etymology From Middle English swētere, equivalent to sweat + -er.
8 senses
- 1A knitted jacket or jersey, usually of thick wool, worn…
- 2A similar garment worn for warmth.
- 3One who sweats (produces sweat).
- 4One who or that which causes to sweat.
- 5A diaphoretic remedy.
- 6An exploitative middleman who subcontracted piece work…
- 7One who sweats coins, i.e. removes small portions by…
- 8A London street ruffian in Queen Anne's time who prodded…
1
A knitted jacket or jersey, usually of thick wool, worn by athletes before or after exercise.
2
US A similar garment worn for warmth.
- We could slip away / Wouldn't that be better? / Me with nothing to say / And you in your autumn sweater1997, “Autumn Sweater”, in I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, performed by Yo La Tengo:
3
One who sweats (produces sweat).
- The cardiologist who administered Alex's exercise stress test on August 21 observed during that test that Alex was a profuse sweater.2007, John T. James, A Sea of Broken Hearts: Patient Rights in a Dangerous Profit-Driven Health Care System, →ISBN, page 29:
4
One who or that which causes to sweat.
- We learn of the cruelty of some school or child-factory from journalists; we learn it from inspectors, we learn it from doctors, we learn it even from shame-stricken schoolmasters and repentant sweaters; but we never learn it from the children; we never learn it from the victims.1906, Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 3:
5
A diaphoretic remedy.
6
Historical An exploitative middleman who subcontracted piece work in the tailoring trade.
- If the piecework system had not existed there never would have been any sweatees. The men who are sweaters, I am sorry to say, are men who formerly belonged to our union.1894, New York (State) Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration, Annual Report (volumes 7-8, page 158)
7
Archaic One who sweats coins, i.e. removes small portions by shaking them.
8
UK, Obsolete A London street ruffian in Queen Anne's time who prodded passers-by with his sword-point.
- Among them were the "sweaters" who formed a circle round their prisoner and pricked him with their swords until he sank exhausted to the ground, […]William Lecky, quoted in 1965, Gilbert Geis, Juvenile Gangs (page 6)
- Derived terms
- Bill Cosby sweater, Cosby sweater, polo-necked sweater, polo neck sweater, sweater dress, sweater-dress, sweaterdress, sweater girl, sweaterless, sweaterlike, sweatermaker, sweater meat, sweater puppies, sweater up, sweater vest, sweatery, turtleneck sweater