adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   a boxer weighing more than a lightweight boxer and less than a middleweight boxer; someone boxing in the welterweight class
2. 2
   A weight of 28 pounds (or 40 pounds: a heavy welterweight), sometimes imposed in addition to weight for age, chiefly in steeplechases and hurdle races.

Adjective

1. 1
   between lightweight and middleweight not-comparable

Etymology

Originally “heavyweight horseman” (1832), from welter (“heavyweight horseman”) + weight. Boxing sense 1896.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.