sweat (sw?t)v. sweat·ed or sweat, sweat·ing, sweats v.intr.1. To excrete perspiration through the pores in the skin; perspire.2. To exude in droplets, as moisture from certain cheeses or sap from a tree.3. To collect moisture in small drops from the air, as a cold water pipe.4. a. To release moisture, as hay in the swath.b. To ferment, as tobacco during curing.5. Informal To work long and hard: sweated over his term paper.6. Informal To fret or worry: Don’t sweat over the bills.v.tr.1. a. To excrete (moisture) through a porous surface, such as the skin.b. To excrete (wastes) in perspiration: sweated out the toxins in the steam room.2. To have (moisture) condense in small drops on a surface.3. To cause to perspire, as by drugs, heat, or strenuous exercise: Running for the train got me sweated up.4. To make damp or wet with perspiration: His shirt was sweated.5. a. To cause to work excessively; overwork.b. To overwork and underpay (employees).6. Slang a. To interrogate (someone) under duress: sweated the suspected spy for hours.b. To extract (information) from someone under duress: The police sweated the information out of the suspect.7. Metallurgy To join (metal parts) by interposing cold solder and then heating.8. To steam (vegetables or other food).9. Informal To fret or worry about: Don’t sweat the details.n.1. The colorless saline moisture excreted by the sweat glands; perspiration.2. Condensation of moisture in the form of droplets on a surface.3. a. The process of sweating.b. A condition or instance of sweating: worked up a sweat raking leaves.4. Strenuous labor or exertion: It took a lot of sweat to move the piano.5. A run given to a horse as exercise before a race.6. Informal An anxious, fretful condition: got myself in a sweat over the deadline.7. sweats Informal a. A sweatsuit.b. Sweatpants.Phrasal Verb: sweat out Slang 1. To endure anxiously: sweat out an exam.2. To await (something) anxiously: sweat out one’s final grades.Idioms: no sweat Slang 1. Easily done or handled.2. Used to acknowledge an expression of gratitude. sweat blood Informal 1. To work diligently or strenuously.2. To worry intensely. sweat bullets Slang 1. To sweat profusely.2. To worry intensely. sweat of (one’s) brow Hard work: landscaped the yard by the sweat of my brow.[Middle English sweten, from Old English sw?tan; see sweid- in Indo-European roots.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.sweat (sw?t) n1. (Physiology) the secretion from the sweat glands, esp when profuse and visible, as during strenuous activity, from excessive heat, etc; commonly also called perspiration. 2. (Physiology) the act or process of secreting this fluid3. the act of inducing the exudation of moisture4. drops of moisture given forth or gathered on the surface of something5. informal a state or condition of worry or eagerness (esp in the phrase in a sweat)6. slang drudgery or hard labour: mowing lawns is a real sweat!. 7. (Horse Racing) chiefly US an exercise gallop given to a horse, esp on the day of a race8. (Military) slang chiefly Brit a soldier, esp one who is old and experienced9. no sweat! (interjection) slang an expression suggesting that something can be done without problems or difficultyvb, sweats, sweating, sweat or sweated10. (Physiology) to secrete (sweat) through the pores of the skin, esp profusely11. (Physiology) (tr) to make wet or stain with sweat12. to give forth or cause to give forth (moisture) in droplets: a sweating cheese; the maple sweats sap. 13. (intr) to collect and condense moisture on an outer surface: a glass of beer sweating in the sun. 14. (intr) (of a liquid) to pass through a porous surface in droplets15. (Biochemistry) (of tobacco leaves, cut and dried hay, etc) to exude moisture and, sometimes, begin to ferment or to cause (tobacco leaves, etc) to exude moisture16. (Cookery) (tr) to heat (food, esp vegetables) slowly in butter in a tightly closed saucepan17. (Metallurgy) (tr) to join (pieces of metal) by pressing together and heating18. (Metallurgy) (tr) to heat (solder) until it melts19. (Metallurgy) (tr) to heat (a partially fused metal) to extract an easily fusible constituent20. to shake together (coins, esp gold coins) so as to remove particles for illegal use21. informal to suffer anxiety, impatience, or distress22. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) informal to overwork or be overworked23. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) (tr) informal to employ at very low wages and under bad conditions24. (tr) informal to extort, esp by torture: to sweat information out of a captive. 25. (intr) informal to suffer punishment: you’ll sweat for this!. 26. sweat blood informal a. to work very hardb. to be filled with anxiety or impatience[Old English swætan to sweat, from sw?t sweat; related to Old Saxon sw?t, Old Norse sveiti, Old High German sweiz, Latin s?dor, Sanskrit svedas] ?sweatless adjCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014sweat (sw?t) v. sweat sweat?ed, sweat?ing, v.i. 1. to perspire, esp. freely. 2. to exude moisture, as green plants. 3. to gather moisture from the surrounding air by condensation. 4. (of moisture or liquid) to ooze or be exuded. 5. Informal. a. to work hard. b. to be anxious or distressed. v.t. 6. to excrete (moisture) through the pores of the skin. 7. to exude in drops or small particles. 8. to wet or stain with perspiration. 9. to cause (a person, a horse, etc.) to perspire. 10. to earn or obtain by hard work. 11. to cause to exude moisture, esp. as a step in an industrial drying process: to sweat wood. 12. to force (a person, an animal, etc.) to work hard; overwork. 13. Slang. to subject to severe questioning; give the third degree to. 14. a. to heat (an alloy) in order to remove a constituent that melts at a lower temperature than the alloy as a whole. b. to heat (solder or the like) to melting. c. to join (metal objects) by heating and pressing together, usu. with solder. 15. sweat off, to get rid of (weight) by or as if by sweating. 16. sweat out, Informal. a. to await anxiously the outcome of. b. to work arduously at. n. 17. that which is secreted from sweat glands; perspiration. 18. a state or a period of sweating. 19. hard work. 20. Informal. a state of anxiety or impatience. 21. moisture exuded from something or gathered on a surface. 22. an exuding of moisture, as by a substance. 23. a run given to a horse for exercise, as before a race. 24. sweats, sweatpants, sweatshirts, sweat suits, or the like. Idioms: 1. sweat blood, Informal. a. to be under a strain; work strenuously. b. to wait anxiously; worry. 2. sweat it, Informal. to wait anxiously; worry. [before 900; Middle English sweten, Old English sw?tan to sweat, derivative of sw?t (n.), c. Old Frisian, Old Saxon sw?t, Old High German sweiz; akin to Old Norse sveiti, Latin s?dor, Greek hidr?s] syn: See perspiration. Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.sweat (sw?t) The salty liquid given off by glands in the skin of mammals. As sweat evaporates, the skin cools, resulting in a reduction of body heat. ? The glands in the skin that secrete sweat are called sweat glands.The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.