DictionaryAI

sweater

SWET-ur/ˈswɛtɚ/SaySWET-uhUK/ˈswɛtə/AUS/ˈswetə/

Pluralsweaters

Verbsweaters, sweatering, sweatered

9 meanings of sweater

Practice

  1. 1
    nounUScountable
    A warm knitted piece of clothing that you wear on the top half of your body.

    She put on a sweater because the evening was getting cold.

    My grandmother knits sweaters for the whole family every winter.

    Similarpullover, jumper, cardigan, jersey

    Note
  2. 2
    nouncountable
    A thick knitted top that athletes put on to stay warm before or after they exercise.

    The runner put on his sweater right after the race to stay warm.

    The swim team wore matching sweaters while they waited by the pool.

    Similarsweatshirt

    Note
  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To put a sweater on a person or animal.

    Mom likes to sweater the baby before we go out in the cold.

    She sweatered the dog for its walk in the snow.

    Note
  4. 4
    nouncountable
    A person who sweats.

    He is a heavy sweater, so he brings an extra shirt to the gym.

    Heavy sweaters should drink extra water on hot days.

  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A person or thing that makes you sweat.

    That climb up the hill is a real sweater.

    August afternoons on the farm are sweaters, so we start work at dawn.

    Note
  6. 6
    nouncountable
    A medicine or drink that makes your body sweat.

    Grandma's hot ginger tea works as a sweater when you have a cold.

    Hot soups and teas were common sweaters for people with bad colds.

    Similardiaphoretic, sudorific

    Note
  7. 7
    nounhistoricalcountable
    In the past, a boss who gave out sewing work to poor people and paid them very little.

    The sweater paid the women only a few pennies for each shirt they finished.

    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 ReportHere, sweaters means bosses who handed out sewing work and paid very little.

    Similarmiddleman, subcontractor

    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 8
    nounarchaic
    Long ago, a person who shook coins together in a bag and kept the tiny bits of metal that rubbed off.

    The sweater shook a bag of gold coins every night and kept the dust that came off.

    Coin checkers weighed the money to catch sweaters who had stolen metal from it.

    Note
  2. 9
    nounobsoleteUK
    Long ago in London, a street bully who poked people with the sharp point of his sword.

    The sweater pushed his sword point at the man's legs and made him jump.

    People stayed off the dark streets at night because of the sweaters and their swords.

    Note

Practice

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Origin

It comes from the older English word 'swētere', made from 'sweat' plus '-er'.