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

Other Word Forms

• freightless adjective
• overfreight verb (used with object)
• unfreighted 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

Road freight is an essential part of the supply chain, essentially everywhere in the world.

From BBC

But the Nigerien connection remained significant and freighted with a degree of political and perhaps even cultural weight.

From BBC

So it was like a runaway freight train that had left the station.

From Los Angeles Times

Dover residents were subject to hours of queueing traffic at the weekend as thousands of cars and freight lorries tried to leave the country via the port and LeShuttle in Folkestone.

From BBC

About ten times each day, giant freight trains pass along a narrow section of track along the Sacramento River in far northern California where engineers on the locomotives regularly tense up with stress.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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