The Many Meanings of “Sweat”

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Wednesday, 17 March 2010 (17 March 2010)

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Sweat is one of those Old English words that has dwindled in meaning since Anglo-Saxon times. Back in those sword-swinging times, sweat mean “blood.”
By Middle English times sweat had acquired its modern meaning of “perspiration.”
In addition to its current literal meaning, sweat enjoys a rich figurative life:
sweat of one’s brow
This expression comes from Genesis 3:19:
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The expression has been used with a legal meaning in discussions of copyright law: “the effort expended in labor, and the value created thereby.”
sweat equity
value added to a house by means of the unpaid labor of owner or tenant.
sweatshirt
“a collarless long-sleeved pullover made of cotton jersey with a smooth-finished face and a heavily napped…

By: Maeve Maddox
From: Daily Writing Tips » Vocabulary

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