Dictionary

shvitz en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ʃvɪts/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn), from Old High German swizzen (Modern German schwitzen), from Proto-Germanic *swait- (English sweat), from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”). Doublet of sweat.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Sweat.
2. (countable, uncountable) A traditional Jewish steambath of Eastern European origin.
   • It was not, or not only, the heat and ripeness of the shvitz that were making Litvak’s pulse thrum and his head spin. 2007, Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, 4th Estate (2010), page 343:
3. (broadly, countable, uncountable) A sauna or sauna session.
   • “Hey, hey, Jimmy Brogan. Thanks for meeting me.” “Welcome to the schvitz, kid. The most comfortable place on Earth. It's like crawling back into your mother.” “Is that something people wanna do?” 2013 November 12, Gabe Liedman, “Old School” (15:48 from the start), in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 1, episode 8, spoken by Jimmy Brogan (Stacy Keach):

Forms

Deriveds

shvitzer

Translations (1)

yi שוויצבאָד (steam bath)

shvitz en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ʃvɪts/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn), from Old High German swizzen (Modern German schwitzen), from Proto-Germanic *swait- (English sweat), from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”). Doublet of sweat.

Meanings

1. (informal, intransitive) To sweat.
   • Soon, the '80s and '90s guy was finding drums to pound and sweat lodges in which to shvitz out rivulets of shame. 2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties:

Forms