To Carry Weight with Someone Meaning
Definition: To carry influence in someone’s mind.
When something or someone carries weight, it is influential. Things that carry a lot of weight with someone are more important to that person than other things. To describe things as carrying a lot of weight with someone is a way of describing what that person prioritizes.
To make sense of this idiom, imagine a two-sided scale. Things that weigh more than others will push the scale in their direction and will weigh down the scale more. As in this image, things that “carry weight” with someone are pushing his or her mind in a given direction more than any other things.
Origin of To Carry Weight with Someone
There are many related phrases involving the use of weight to mean importance or significance. It is believed that these phrases originated in Middle English, potentially over a thousand years ago.
One related phrase includes to pull your weight, which means to contribute equally to a group project. Another related phrase is to throw one’s weight around, which means to wield power and influence, especially in an aggressive manner.
In these phrases, weight always has to do with power or significance.
Examples of To Carry Weight with Someone
One might say that a mother’s opinion carries a lot of weight with her daughter. This means that the daughter takes the mother’s opinion very seriously and respects what she says more than anything else.
Another use of the phrase might be to say that something does not carry a lot of weight with someone else. For example, one might say that an argument does not carry much weight if he disagrees with the premise of the argument.
More Examples
- My history does carry a lot of weight for a lot of people. –ABC
- One thing is certain — the words of Jordan carry a lot of weight.-Baltimore Sun
Summary
To carry a lot of weight with someone is to have influence over that person.
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