sweat out

sweat  (swt)

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 condense atmospheric moisture.

4.

a. To release moisture, as hay in the swath.

b. To ferment, as tobacco during curing.

5. Informal

a. To work long and hard.

b. To suffer much, as for a misdeed.

6. Informal To fret or worry.

v.tr.

1. To excrete (moisture) through a porous surface, such as the skin.

2. To gather and condense (moisture) on a surface.

3. To cause to perspire, as by drugs, heat, or strenuous exercise.

4. To make damp or wet with perspiration.

5. To cause to work excessively; overwork.

6. To overwork and underpay (employees).

7. 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.

8. Metallurgy To join (metal parts) by interposing cold solder and then heating.

9. To steam (vegetables or other food).

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 period of sweating: worked up a sweat raking leaves.

c. The condition of being sweated.

4. Strenuous, exhaustive labor; drudgery.

5. A run given to a horse as exercise before a race.

6. Informal An anxious, fretful condition.

7. sweats Informal A sweatsuit.

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

Easily done or handled.

sweat blood Informal

1. To work diligently or strenuously.

2. To worry intensely.

sweat bullets Slang

To sweat profusely.

sweat of (one's) brow

Hard work: "keep what they produced by the sweat of their brow" Mario Puzo.

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[Middle English sweten, from Old English swtan; see sweid- in Indo-European roots.]

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sweat out

Verb

sweat it out Informal to endure an unpleasant situation for a time, hoping for an improvement