Definition of "weight"

I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.

Another knight came to settle on the island, a man of much weight and position, on whom the Adelantados of all the island relied, and who was made a magistrate.

1907 Alonso de Espinosa, Hakluyt Society & Sir Clements Robert Markham, The Guanches of Tenerife: the holy image of Our Lady of Candelaria, and the Spanish conquest and settlement, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, p116

"You surely are a man of some weight around here," I said.

1945, Mikia Pezas, The price of liberty, I. Washburn, Inc., page 11

The waight of this ſad time we muſt obey […]

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iii], page 309, column 2

For the public all this weight he bears.

1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […]

The three of us were hanging out rapping in Hamilton projects with some niggahs Pimp had got tight with on Rikers Island. Them fools had done a push-in and took over some old lady's apartment, and they were in there cutting crack and mixing weight.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 103

[I was] doing a weight [1 lb. at that time] a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.

2002, Nicholas Dorn, Karim Murji, Nigel South, Traffickers: Drug Markets and Law Enforcement, page 5

The ones the CIB should be looking out for, to her mind, were the officers who raided a flat, found a couple of weights of cannabis and stashed half of it before they made the collar. The cannabis would make its way back on to the street […]

2009, Martina Cole, The Ladykiller

No matter how much money he makes, he is still a soldier, but he has the weight.

1974, Martin R. Haskell, Lewis Yablonsky, Crime and Delinquency, page 96

You’re no match for ’em. You ain’t up to their weight. It’s like little Black Strap standing up to Tom Spring,—the Black’s a pretty fighter but, Law bless you, his arm ain’t long enough to touch Tom,—and I tell you, you’re going it with fellers beyond your weight.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850

The U.K. economy is heavily weighted towards the service sector and the coronavirus pandemic could lead to a 10% fall in gross domestic product in the second quarter, according to economists at Jefferies.

2020 March 19, Marcus Ashworth, “Cheap Sterling Has Reasons to Be Cheaper”, in The Washington Post‎

With good peripheral vision he spots his teammate, Ray Evans, lurking in the scoring zone and sweeps a perfectly weighted pass to him.

2008, Tom Valenta, Remember Me, Mrs V?: Caring for My Wife: Her Alzheimer's and Others' Stories‎, ReadHowYouWant