freight

[ freyt ]

noun

1. goods, cargo, or lading transported for pay, whether by water, land, or air.
2. the ordinary conveyance or means of transport of goods provided by common carriers ( express ):

   Shipping by freight is less expensive.

3. the charges, fee, or compensation paid for such transportation:

   We pay the freight.

   Synonyms: haulage, freightage

4. (especially in Britain) the cargo, or any part of the cargo, of a vessel; merchandise transported by water.
5. Chiefly British. transportation of goods by water.
6. freight train.
7. Slang. cost or price, especially when high:

   I'd like a larger house, but can't afford the freight.

verb (used with object)

1. to load; burden:

   a story heavily freighted with private meaning.

   Synonyms: charge

2. to load with goods or merchandise for transportation:

   It took all night to freight the ship.

3. to transport as freight; send by freight.

freight

/ freɪt /

noun

1. 1. commercial transport that is slower and cheaper than express
   2. the price charged for such transport
   3. goods transported by this means
   4. ( as modifier )

      freight transport

2. a ship's cargo or part of it

verb

1. to load with goods for transport
2. to convey commercially as or by freight
3. to load or burden; charge

Derived Forms

• ˈfreightless, adjective

Other Words From

• freightless adjective
• over·freight verb (used with object)
• un·freighted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of freight¹

1350–1400; Middle English freyght (noun), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vrecht, variant of vracht. See fraught

Word History and Origins

Origin of freight¹

C16: from Middle Dutch vrecht ; related to French fret , Spanish flete , Portuguese frete

Synonym Study

Freight, cargo, shipment refer to goods being transported from place to place. Freight is the general term for goods transported from one place to another by any means: to send freight from New York to New Orleans. Cargo is the term generally used for goods carried by ship or plane: to send a cargo to Europe. Shipment is a quantity of goods destined for a particular place, no matter how sent: a shipment of potatoes.

Example Sentences

Refining locally will mean less freight costs but that’s a relatively small saving.

From BBC

These range from hijackings of freight lorries delivering food to warehouses to the theft of 24 live lobsters from a storage pen in Scotland.

From BBC

That was also the sentiment among people interviewed along the train tracks north of Mexico City, where migrants have long hopped rides north on the freight network known as La Bestia.

From Los Angeles Times

The whistle of a train interrupts the tourist chatter, and a steam engine pulling a long line of freight carriages slowly chugs across the railway bridge from Russia to North Korea.

From BBC

They started to move east — “hundreds of thousands of men, women, children, and babies ... walking, hitchhiking, hopping freights,” as Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen reported in their 2004 book about the Bonus Army.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• carriage
• consignment
• merchandise
• payload
• shipment
• shipping
• transportation