sweating

▪ I. sweating, vbl. n.
    (ˈswɛtɪŋ)
    [f. sweat v. + -ing¹.]
    The action of the verb sweat.
    1. a. Emission of sweat from the pores of the skin; the process of inducing this, esp. in preparing a person for athletic contests or a horse for a race.

c 1205 Lay. 17763 Wreoð nu wel þene king Þæt he ligge a swæting. c 1400 tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 73 Vse of bathynge and swetynge. c 1440 York Myst. xl. 40 Þat swettyng was swemyed for swetyng. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 23 The patyente maye not goe abroade after hys swettynge. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 21, I would we had an Ostler to giue them a turne or two till their sweating were done. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 60 If he..can find..by the swetting of the horse, that hee hath ridden an extraordinary pace. 1639 Mayne City Match v. iii, You were better match a ruind Bawd; One ten times cured by sweating, and the Tub. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. 272 Sweating often thickens the Blood. 1848 Dunglison Med. Lex. (ed. 7), Sweating of blood. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. i. ix. § 3. 351/1 Sweating will seldom be necessary until the spring. a 1883 Fagge Princ. Med. (1886) II. 531 One of the most striking symptoms of acute rheumatism..is sweating.

    † b. = sweating-sickness. Obs.

a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 317 The powlings, the palsay, with pockes like pees, The swerfe and the sweiting.

    2. a. Toiling, labouring, severe exertion.

c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. xix. (1869) 145, j gripe..that that oothere hauen laboured and conquered with here swetinge. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 281 Hollye set vpon the dessire of the lyffe to come; by watchynge and sweatynge hoping shortely to obtaine it. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 146 Sik heit, in sueiting, trauel, and fechteng. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xxxviii, You search farre distant worlds with needlesse sweating. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. ii. Wks. 1799 I. 186 After all his..sweatings, his swimmings; must his dear blood be spilt by a broker!

    b. spec. (a) The practice of doing piece-work overtime; (b) the practice of exacting hard work from employees for low wages, esp. under a middleman by sub-contract. (See sweat v. 5 c, 6 b.)

1843 Mech. Mag. XXXIX. 443 All owing to their buying ready-made large shoes, and not having patience to let a good working tradesman make them (leaving out the Moses and Son principle of sweating). 1850 Kingsley Alton Locke x, When this piece-work and sweating first came in. 1888 Times 20 Sept. 7/3 Mr. Booth calls sweating the advantage that may be taken of unskilled and unorganised labour under the contract system.

    3. a. The action or process of exuding moisture, or of condensing it in drops on the surface (also concr.); also, any one of various processes likened to emission of sweat, as of evaporation, fermentation, partial fusion, etc., or the action of exposing something to such process. Also with out. (See sweat v. 10 b, c, 12, 13, 17.)

1545 Elyot, Aspergines parietum, sweatynge of stone walles. 1575–6 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 512 Gold and silver that salbe recoverit be sweting, melting, affynning or utherwayis. 1699 L. Meager Art of Gardening 74 Well line the Bottom or Sides of the [Fruit-] Sieves with Fern..to keep them from brusing, and likewise to prevent their sweating. 1707 Mortimer Husb. x. 205 The Bees will hover about the Doors in cold Evenings, and Mornings, there will be a moisture or sweating upon the Stool. 1764 Museum Rust. III. li. 225 Yet after it [sc. barley] has done sweating, it comes well again. 1808 Holland Agric. Cheshire xiii. 283 If the fermentation, or sweating, has been imperfect..the cheese will be liable to become hove. 1826 Art Brewing (ed. 2) 78 After it [sc. malt] is getting out of its first sweating, they take it from the kiln. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 497 A moderate degree of fermentation, or sweating of hay in the stack. 1834 Penny Cycl. II. 191/2 The best mode [of preserving apples] is to allow the fruits..to lie till their superfluous moisture has evaporated, which is what is technically called sweating. 1845 Dodd Brit. Manuf. Ser. v. 133 (Tobacco) Sweating..is in its nature a slight degree of fermentation. 1876 J. S. Bristowe The. & Pract. Med. (1878) 835 The sweating of this fluid through the walls of the smaller arteries. 1882 Paton in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 383/2 In America the sweating is performed cold; the hides are hung up wet in a damp underground cellar. 1969 Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles iii. 43 The last major effect of the metamorphism was the ‘sweating out’ of synorogenic pegmatites which cross-cut some of the Inverian structures. 1971 I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth iii. 66/2 The present oceans and atmosphere of the Earth are secondary features due to the subsequent dewatering or ‘sweating out’ of the Earth's interior.

    b. (See quot.)

1909 Hawkins' Mech. Dict., Sweating On, the soldering of metallic surfaces without the aid of a copper bit... Sweating on is often employed for the temporary holding together of work which has to be turned or shaped, and which could not be so conveniently held by other methods.

    c. Cookery. The action or process of sweat v. 13 b.

1942 C. Spry Come into Garden, Cook xi. 137 Cook the sliced vegetables first in a little fat... This preliminary sweating of the vegetables draws out the flavour.

    4. The practice of lightening gold coins by friction.

1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Sweating, a mode of diminishing the gold coin, practised chiefly by the Jews, who corrode it with aqua regia. 1878 F. A. Walker Money x. 195 Whether the loss of the precious metal in the coin results from an external abrasion..or through the clipping or sweating of the coin.

    5. a. The practices of the ruffians called ‘sweaters’ in the 18th century.

1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Sweating,..a diversion practised by the bloods of the last century who stiled themselves Mohocks.

    b. Extortion of a confession (from a prisoner, etc.) by close interrogation † or torture. Cf. sweat v. 4 c.

1824 J. Doddridge Notes Settlement Indian Wars ii. xii. 122 The torture of sweating..that is of suspension by the arms pinioned behind the backs, brought a confession. 1904 Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer 21 Oct. 4 He confessed, under sweating, that he broke into several offices. 1949 Amer. Speech XXIV. 262 The device of sweating consisted of suspending the offender from the limb of a tree by his arms, and laying lashes on him.

    6. attrib., as sweating process; in sense 1, = used to induce sweating or profuse perspiration, as sweating-bath, sweating-bench, sweating-closet, sweating-coop, sweating-draught, sweating oil, sweating-tub (cf. tub n. 1 b); = characterized by sweating, as sweating stage (in ague or other febrile disease); in sense 2 b, as sweating den, sweating shop, sweating system; in sense 3 b, as sweating socket; sweating-bag, a bag used by thieves for sweating gold coins; sweating-band = sweat-band (see sweat n. 11); † sweating-cloth = sweat-cloth (see sweat n. 11); sweating club, a club of the ruffians called ‘sweaters’ in the 18th century; sweating-fever = sweating-sickness; sweating-furnace (see quot.); sweating-iron = sweat-scraper (see sweat n. 11); sweating pen Austral., a pen in which sheep are kept (formerly, to sweat so as to soften the wool) before shearing; = holding pen s.v. holding vbl. n. 6 b; sweating-pit, in Tanning, a pit in which hides are sweated; sweating-place, (a) a building or chamber in which sweating-baths are taken; (b) an establishment in which work-people are sweated (see sense 2 b); sweating plant, Eupatorium perfoliatum (Dunglison Med. Lex. 1848); sweating-room, (a) a room in which persons are sweated, as in a Turkish bath; (b) a room in which cheeses are ‘sweated’ or deprived of superfluous moisture; sweating-stock, in Tanning = sweat-stock (see sweat n. 11). See also sweating-house, -sickness.

1617 Moryson Itin. i. 117 Leander thinkes this place to haue been a *sweating bath. 1799 Tooke View Russian Emp. iii. iii. II. 262 The russian baths are..sweating-baths.

Ibid. 261 After remaining awhile they come down from the *sweating-bench, and wash their body with warm or cold water.

1648 Herrick Hesper., Panegerik 121 To build A *Sweating-Closset, or to anoint the silke-soft-skin, or bath in Asses' milke.

1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 172/2 Sudarium..a *sweating-cloth: a towell.

1825 R. Chambers Tradit. Edinb. II. 260 The *Sweating Club flourished [in Edinburgh] about the middle of the last century.

1751 J. Bartram Observ. Trav. Pennsylv., etc. 33, I have seen many of these places in my travels. They differ from their *sweating coops, in that they are often far from water, and have a stake by the cage.

1894 Dolling in C. E. Osborne Father Dolling (1903) xiii, The *sweating dens of financiers.

1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) II. 116 Ephemera Sudatoria. *Sweating Fever.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Sweating-furnace (Metallurgy), a liquation furnace of peculiar construction, in which a matte of copper and argentiferous lead is heated to deprive the copper of the metals combined therewith.

1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Sweating-iron, in the manege, is a piece of a scythe about a foot long... When a horse is very hot, and the grooms have a mind to lessen the sweat,..they take this knife or iron..and gently run the cutting edge along the horse's skin..with intent to scrape off the sweat.

1831 Youatt Horse xxii. 387 An infusion of two ounces of flies..when sufficiently lowered with common oil,..is called a *sweating oil.

1882 Armstrong & Campbell Austral. Sheep Husbandry xv. 176 On each side of the board are built the sheep pens, which are filled from a race on each side..which is in its turn filled from the *sweating pen. c 1929 H. B. Smith Sheep & Wool Industry in Austral. & N.Z. (ed. 3) x. 73 After drafting, the sheep to be shorn are run up a ramp into the sweating pens of the shed. 1965 J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 29 Sweating pen, sometimes used in the same sense as ‘holding pen’, although there is no longer any suggestion of deliberately ‘sweating’ the sheep.

1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Sudadero, a *sweating place. 1850 Kingsley Cheap Clothes 11 In some sweating places, there is an old coat kept called a ‘reliever,’ and this is borrowed by such men as have none of their own to go out in.

1849 R. T. Claridge Cold Water Cure 7 The wet sheet..has gradually superseded the *sweating process. 1852 C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 171 All methods of fermentation [for the depilation of hides] are termed sweating processes.

1741 Phil. Trans. XLI. ii. 855 A Roman Hypocaustum or *Sweating-Room. 1808 Holland Agric. Cheshire xiii. 284 Every dairy should be furnished with a regular sweating-room. 1855 Mayne Expos. Lex., Laconicum,..old term for a sweating-room or stove; a vapour-bath.

1880 Sims Social Kaleidoscope Ser. ii. xii. 83 The women and children from..the ‘*sweating’ shops in the neighbourhood.

1908 Installation News II. 70/1 The grips are provided with a *sweating socket to receive the earth conductor.

1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 86 The *sweating stage..does not appear with any regularity at the second or third return of the paroxysm.

a 1851 in Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 328/2 The *sweating system increases the number of hands to an almost incredible extent. 1879 Sims Social Kaleidoscope Ser. i. ix. 58 The bulk of the work..is done on the ‘sweating’ system. 1883 Nonconf. & Indep. 28 Dec. 1176/3 The sweating system of the outfitting trade.

1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. 1851 V. 445 These Tigers of Bacchus, these new Fanatics of not the preaching but the *sweating-tub, inspir'd with nothing holier than the Venereal Pox.

▪ II. ˈsweating, ppl. a.
    [f. as prec. + -ing².]
    That sweats, in various senses.
    1. Exuding sweat, perspiring.

1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ix. 241 With swynke and with swot, and swetynge face. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 25 With this she ceazeth on his sweating palme. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 349 Gently provoke him to be in a sweating manner. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. ii. 96 The sweating Steers unharness'd from the Yoke. 1791 Cowper Iliad viii. 629 Each his sweating steeds released. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 728 Warm sweating hands are best treated with weak alkaline baths.

    2. Exuding or condensing moisture, etc.: see sweat v. 10.

1578 Lyte Dodoens 411 It..sticketh fast..upon moyst or sweating rockes. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 15 A sweating Impe of the euer-greene Laurell. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess of Bristol (1887) I. 236 [He] gravely asserts, that he saw in Sancta Sophia a sweating pillar. 1976 K. Bonfiglioli in Winter's Crimes 8 44 The sweating heel of some nameless cheese. 1981 J. B. Hilton Surrender Value vi. 47 A sweating expresso machine.

    3. Toiling; toilsome, laborious.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 58 The long sweating paines, wherein your good selfe..haue lately trauelled. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xlix, None felt hard labour, or the sweating plough. 1674 Bunyan Light in Darkness ii. Wks. (ed. Offor) I. 435 Believing is now sweating work; for Satan will hold as long as possible, and only steadfast faith can make him fly.

    4. spec. a. Working overtime. b. Exacting hard work for very low wages. (See sweat v. 5 c, 6 b.)

1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. v. (1872) 133 Poor sweating tailors. 1886 Echo 1 Dec. (Cassell's) Recently a trade journal published a list of sweating firms in the clothing trade.

    Hence ˈsweatingly adv., in or as in a sweat.

1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 65 The intercourse of Veynes and Arteries..in those partes sweatyngly poure forth bloud.

Oxford English Dictionary