Adverb
Without any weight restrictions; without being handicapped.
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They'll break from the gate in full tack with jockeys riding catchweight in silks.
to ride catchweight
Adjective
Without any weight restrictions; having no handicap.
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There were also races for gentlemen-riders, in whch all the best performers of the day took part. Lord Glamis, afterwards Earl of Strathmore, rode his maiden race there—a catchweight match with Sir Watkin Wynn, a rare bit of fun got up by the officers of the 1st Life Guards.
And— He reached the paddock and took up an unobtrusive position at the rail to watch the first race for which a mounted Police bugler had just sounded the “Boot and Saddle.” It was a catchweight sprint for local farmers' ponies.
In a “catchweight" race, no horse is required to carry a specific weight. Instead, each horse may carry what his trainer chooses.
If pressed he would call these catchweight fights, but they were really just demolition without a weigh-in or any formality beyond money changing hands.
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At the time he took the pub on, Peter, aged twenty-five, was a catchweight wrestler.
Having no standard weight, but rather having weight determined when packaged for sale or shipping.
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It is regular practice to furnish wire in catchweight coils.
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The scaler looks at the order ticket and selects a shipping container or containers of proper size to hold the catchweight items or those of 12 pounds or less. The catchweight items are weighed, marked, and placed in the containers.
The Department's main priorities have been goods sold loose — apples or herrings, to take two incompatible examples— and what are known as "catchweight" items. These are prepackaged products — cheese is one that immediately springs to mind — that by their nature are not normally made up in predetermined standard quantities.
For the retail market, kippers are available in either catchweight or fixed weight presentation.
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Certain commodities, notably goods packed in variable (catchweight) quantities, continue to be subject to the "minimum quantity provisions" and are regularly monitored.
Noun
A weight category other than the standard weight categories: either an agreed-upon weight range or an agreement to allow any weight.
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There was an especially good entry, thirty-nine horses, representing twenty-two regiments, being entered in the Light Weight race, which was for horses five years old and upwards, the property of oflicers on full or half pay of the Regular Army, that had not won a race under the recognised rules of steeplechasing in any country, point-to-point races excepted; while eighteen faced the starter in the Welter race, in which the conditions were the same, excepting that the catchweight was 13 st. 7 lb.
The fatal difference 'twixt his weight and mine, A second battle should he do this day : Nay, though outmatched I be, let but my mistress Give me the word: instant I'll take him on Here — now — at catchweight.
He was sent in at catchweights against George Chip before his left eye was healed from an old cut.
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The distance was three and threequarter miles, and the conditions briefly—catchweight over 13 stone, all horses to be the property of, and ridden by, an M.P., and no horse to have previously won a steeplechase.
On May 29, it was announced that the two men had signed to fight at a catchweight of 152 pounds.
The weight of an item that is not set to a standard, but which varies around an approximate value.
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Catchweights over 300 pounds would be about the correctest figure to give for ladies of the royal family ; and the women-folk generally are big-faced and big-bodied, though not especially large-limbed.
A number of trial fillings and catchweights may be necessary to obtain the desired degree of accuracy.
For example, the catchweights of ham and pork loins can vary to a certain degree (Morris 2000).
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Under these conditions catchweights of samples can be used, so long as they are within reasonable limits (say ±5% relative).
The weight of all the fish caught.
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At the end of two hours, the first seventeen anglers up the line from me had taken a total of only three legal fish, which suggested I wasn't ... Carr told me the quantitative specialist wins an occasional match with the biggest total catchweight.
Catchweight seems to me to be a far more reasonable measure of impact than days at sea, even though the general impact of high levels of human activity should also be brought into the calculations.
In 2002/2003, the total catchweight reported by sport fishers was 235,308 kg (Wright 2008) with the largest landings in Malindi (46%) and Watamu (37%).