Pronunciations (5)
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/fɹeɪt/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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/fɹæɪt/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
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/fɾet/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/fɾeit/
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
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fɹeɪt
Noun
The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
Usage- Uncountable
- usually
- Examples
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More examples (1)
[A]fter ſome Conſideration, that the City of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a Market for our Goods as London, we all took Freight with him, and having put my Goods on board, it was moſt natural for me to put my Steward on board to take care of them, […]
Goods or items in transport; cargo, luggage.
Usage- Uncountable
- usually
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The freight shifted and the trailer turned over on the highway.
More examples (2)
Diſcretion is the ballaſt of our Ship, that carries us ſteady; but Zeal is the very Fraight, the Cargaſon, the Merchandiſe it ſelf, vvhich enriches us in the land of the living; and this vvas our caſe, vve vvere all come to eſteem our Ballaſt more then our Fraight, our Diſcretion more then our Zeal; we had more care to pleaſe great men then God; more conſideration of an imaginary change of times, then of unchangeable eternity it ſelf.
Space for carrying light freight also features in Grand Union's proposal. The company says it is working with partners at Intercity Railfreight on the logistics of this, with refrigerated space to be available for movement of urgent NHS biological materials. Initially freight would be carried in the DVTs of the Class 91/Mk 4 sets, while on the Class 802s the kitchen/buffet would be located towards the centre of the train to make space for freight.
Payment for transportation.
Usage- Countable
- usually
- Examples
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The freight was more expensive for cars than for coal.
More examples (2)
[I]f I would let the ſame Men who were in the Ship navigate her, he would hire the Ship to go to Japan, and would ſend them from thence to the Philippine Iſlands with another Loading, which he would pay the Freight of, before they went from Japan; and that at their Return, he would buy the Ship: […]
Had the ship earned her freight? To earn freight there must, of course, be either a right delivery, or a due and proper offer to deliver the goods to the consignees.
A burden, a load.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- usually
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Thus Apple Trees, whoſe Trunks are ſtrong to bear Their ſpreading Boughs, exert themſelves in Air: Want no supply, but ſtand ſecure alone, Not truſting foreign Forces, but their own: 'Till with the ruddy freight the bending Branches groan.
Now homeward through the thickening hubbub, where See, among less distinguishable shapes, […] the stately and slow-moving Turk, With freight of slippers piled beneath his arm!
Cultural or emotional associations.
Usage- Figurative
- specifically
- Uncountable
- usually
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Ideally, those engaged in contributing to that discourse would have some awareness of the emotional forces which may be called into play by the simple appearance in print or a broadcast clip of a phrase built around the word 'freedom'. This may seem to be a quite unrealistic aim, until we note that some contributors to the emotional public sphere – advertising creatives – are very aware of the emotional freight that simple words may carry, and seek to direct that freight to particular destinations (with particular behavioural consequences).
Verb
To load (a vehicle or vessel) with freight (cargo); also, to hire or rent out (a vehicle or vessel) to carry cargo or passengers.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (4)
It is true, there be few Merchants, that with the Merchandiſe they buy at home, can fraight a Ship, to export it; or with that they buy abroad, to bring it home; and have therefore need to joyn together in one Society; […]
If a Factor do receive a ſum of Mony of the owner of a Ship, in conſideration that he freighteth the ſaid Ship for a Voyage, promiſing to repay the ſaid Mony at the return of the ſaid Voyage; if the ſaid Factor hath freighted this Ship for another mans Account, this Merchant is to have the benefit of this Mony during the time; […]
[T]hey who freight their wealth upon a hundred vessels are more liable, Morton, are they not, to the peril of the winds and waves, than they who venture it only upon one?
Pearl, whose activity of spirit never flagged, had been at no loss for amusement while her mother talked with the old gatherer of herbs. At first, as already told, she had flirted fancifully with her own image in a pool of water, beckoning the phantom forth, and — as it declined to venture — seeking a passage for herself into its sphere of impalpable earth and unattainable sky. Soon finding, however, that either she or the image was unreal, she turned elsewhere for better pastime. She made little boats out of birch-bark, and freighted them with snail-shells, and sent out more ventures on the mighty deep than any merchant in New England ; but the larger part of them foundered near the shore.
To transport (goods).
Usage- Transitive
To load or store (goods, etc.).
Usage- broadly
- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
[W]hat though it is thou [i.e., sensibility] that rendereſt anguiſh more frequent, that filleſt the eye with the ſympathetic tear! yet is it not thou that ſwelleſt it with the tear of joy, and freighteſt the heart beyond the power of utterance,— […]
Fortune freights not your channel with her hoarded stores, and Pleasure ventures not her silken sails upon your tide; […]
Love, that fulfilleth his heart with glee, Love, that freighteth his breast with sighs, Love that must madden both you and me:— […]
To carry (something) as if it is a burden or load.
Usage- Figurative
- Transitive
Chiefly followed by up: to carry as part of a cargo.
Usage- US usage
- also
- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (3)
How often, when those hopes are greatest, The bark that bears them must not be Trusted with more than what thou freightest For sun-lit hour and summer sea: Who, when the waves are high and dark, Could steer, if freighted deep, such bark?
Experience freightest for a better life. The folk that comes not with us have offended In that for which one Cæsar, triumphing, Heard himself called in contumely, 'Queen.'
On their journeys those Britons were used to long fasts, and knew how to bear them; and also how to freight up against probable fasts before starting, after the style of the Indian and the anaconda.
Adjective
Freighted; laden.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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More examples (1)
[H]is ſouldiers, ſeeing great prizes brought out of the enemies Land, and every ſhip freight therewith; were mightily incenſed and ſet on fire with a burning deſire to be tranſported over thither with all ſpeed poſſible.
Noun
goods carried by a large vehicle
- Broader terms
transporting goods commercially at rates cheaper than express rates
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the charge for transporting something by common carrier
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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we pay the freight
the freight rate is usually cheaper
Verb
transport commercially as cargo
- Broader terms
load with goods for transportation
- Broader terms