Dictionary

paperweight en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From paper + weight.

Meanings

1. A small, decorative, somewhat weighty object placed on one or more pieces of paper to keep them from fluttering away.
   • The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight. 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
2. Any object used for this purpose.
   • John used his coffee mug as a paperweight.
3. (slang) A useless piece of equipment.
   • On Windows, the card has a working driver. On Linux right now, it's a paperweight.

Forms

Translations (54)

sk ťažítko (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · ro prespapier (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · uk прес-пап'є́ (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · fr presse-papiers (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · ru пресс-папье́ (any object used for this purpose) · de Briefbeschwerer (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · es pisapapeles (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · sl obtežilnik (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · it fermacarte (any object used for this purpose) · vi chặn giấy (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · nb brevpresse (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · el πρες παπιέ (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · fr presse-papier (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · fi verkonpaino (slang: useless object) · nrf paids à papi (any object used for this purpose) · sv brevpress (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · fi paperipaino (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · be прэс-пап'е́ (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · pt peso de papel (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · cs těžítko (any object used for this purpose) · nrf paids à papi (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · cmn 紙鎮 /纸镇 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · nl presse-papier (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · cmn 紙壓 /纸压 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · cmn 鎮紙 /镇纸 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · hu papírnehezék (any object used for this purpose) · vi bàn thẩm (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · hu papírnehezék (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · th ที่ทับกระดาษ (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · fi paperipaino (any object used for this purpose) · ru пресс-папье́ (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · pl przycisk do papieru (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · cmn 書鎮 /书镇 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · de Briefbeschwerer (any object used for this purpose) · ga tromán páipéir (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · es pisapapeles (any object used for this purpose) · nn papirvekt (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · nb papirvekt (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · pl przycisk do papieru (any object used for this purpose) · ko 문진 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · fr presse-papiers (any object used for this purpose) · pt pisa-papéis (any object used for this purpose) · it fermacarte (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · ja 文鎮 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · pt peso de papel (any object used for this purpose) · pt pisa-papéis (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · tr prespapye (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · ja 卦算 (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · bg преспапие́ (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · pl złom (slang: useless object) · cs těžítko (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · hu nehezék (any object used for this purpose) · ca petjapapers (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object) · gl calcapapeis (small, decorative, somewhat weighty object)