weight

Rollins Band::Weight (1994)

• Disconnect
• Fool
• Icon
• Civilized
• Divine Object of Hatred
• Liar -- 2000/06/02 11:39 (booyaa)
• Step Back
• Wrong Man -- 2000/06/02 11:39 (booyaa)
• Volume
• Tired
• Alien Blueprint
• Shine

On Earth, the local gravity is 10.

• A reaction to thrust caused by the conversion of some other energy to kinetic energy (i.e. from a rocket),
• A centripetal force diverting a mass from a straight path of motion (such as the outside wall of a centrifuge capsule),
• Something (such as the Earth) blocking the path of centripetal motion,
• Gravity, which is really all of the above.

In some Spanish speaking cultures, maybe all, the size of a computer file is referred to as its weight.

Instead of wondering how large that particular music video you'd like to download is, you wonder how heavy it is.

Rarely is this usage seen in English speaking cultures. Though at times, it could come in handy. For example, with regards to an image file, "size" may refer to the number of bytes in the file or to the image's dimensions when displayed. Each of these properties is rather independent of the other (okay, not really). In Spanish, these properties can be referred to as "peso" (weight) and "dimensión" (dimension) respectively.

English speakers have made up for the ambiguity by creating the term file size to specifically refer to the number of bytes in a file. In my humble opinion, Spanish speakers win the prize for elegance by not creating a new term when an old one does a great job.

jmpz has just informed me that no Spanish speaking country he's familiar with (Spain, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Chile and Mexico) has this colloquialism. My sources are Bolivian (specifically Camba, persons from the region of Santa Cruz de la Sierra), where it is definitely common. It is often the case with colloquialisms in Spanish cultures that a common word in one region will have different/no meaning in even a bordering country.

motiz88 says re weight: Nice. It happens here in Israel too, although not as commonly. I'm pretty sure it's partly due to people confusing kilograms and kilobytes... You might want to add something about that... That's a good explanation for it. Kilo is a shortened form of many measurement terms. I believe this is true for most languages in countries that use the metric system. If this is the case, it explains the fact that some/many Spanish speaking countries do not use "peso" this way, as using it was a mistake in the first place.

Weight (?), n. [OE. weght, wight, AS. gewiht; akin to D. gewigt, G. gewicht, Icel. vaett, Sw. vigt, Dan. vaegt. See Weigh, v. t.]

1.

The quality of being heavy; that property of bodies by which they tend toward the center of the earth; the effect of gravitative force, especially when expressed in certain units or standards, as pounds, grams, etc.

⇒ Weight differs from gravity in being the effect of gravity, or the downward pressure of a body under the influence of gravity; hence, it constitutes a measure of the force of gravity, and being the resultant of all the forces exerted by gravity upon the different particles of the body, it is proportional to the quantity of matter in the body.

2.

The quantity of heaviness; comparative tendency to the center of the earth; the quantity of matter as estimated by the balance, or expressed numerically with reference to some standard unit; as, a mass of stone having the weight of five hundred pounds.

For sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell, Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes. Shak.

3.

Hence, pressure; burden; as, the weight of care or business.

Shak.

For the public all this weight he bears. Milton.

[He] who singly bore the world's sad weight. Keble.

4.

Importance; power; influence; efficacy; consequence; moment; impressiveness; as, a consideration of vast weight.

In such a point of weight, so near mine honor. Shak.

5.

A scale, or graduated standard, of heaviness; a mode of estimating weight; as, avoirdupois weight; troy weight; apothecaries' weight.

6.

A ponderous mass; something heavy; as, a clock weight; a paper weight.

A man leapeth better with weights in his hands. Bacon.

7.

A definite mass of iron, lead, brass, or other metal, to be used for ascertaining the weight of other bodies; as, an ounce weight.

8. Mech.

The resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it.

Atomic weight. Chem. See under Atomic, and cf. Element. -- Dead weight, Feather weight, Heavy weight, Light weight, etc. See under Dead, Feather, etc. -- Weight of observation Astron. & Physics, a number expressing the most probable relative value of each observation in determining the result of a series of observations of the same kind.

Syn. -- Ponderousness; gravity; heaviness; pressure; burden; load; importance; power; influence; efficacy; consequence; moment; impressiveness.

© Webster 1913.

Weight, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Weighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Weighting.]

1.

To load with a weight or weights; to load down; to make heavy; to attach weights to; as, to weight a horse or a jockey at a race; to weight a whip handle.

The arrows of satire, . . . weighted with sense. Coleridge.

2. Astron. & Physics

To assign a weight to; to express by a number the probable accuracy of, as an observation. See Weight of observations, under Weight.

© Webster 1913.

Weight, v. t. (Dyeing)

To load (fabrics) as with barite, to increase the weight, etc.

© Webster 1913