Home UK English shvitz

Meaning of shvitz in English:

shvitz

Pronunciation /ʃvɪts/

noun

(also schvitz)
informal North American

  • 1A sauna or steam bath.

    • ‘our great-grandfather and his brothers went to the shvitz together’
    • ‘The kid looked like someone your zaide chatted with every week at the shvitz up on 10th Street.’
    • ‘Some form of this ancient practice is found in cultures around the world, from the Finnish sauna to the Russian bania, and from the Jewish shvitz to the Turkish hamman.’
    • ‘The ceremonial sweat lodge, for instance, had an easy precedent in the old-fashioned shvitz.’
    • ‘The hot to cold is traditional in the shvitz, and it actually increases circulation and gives an overall sense of well-being.’
    • ‘If you can handle the process of dunking yourself in a tank of ice-cold water upon exiting the schvitz, consider yourself thoroughly cleansed and rejuvenated.’
    • ‘I poured some icy buckets over my head and entered the schvitz.’
    1. 1.1A session in a sauna or steam bath.
      ‘when it's time for thinking I like to have a shvitz’
      • ‘One of the most memorable dreams involved me conversing with Lou as we took a shvitz together.’
      • ‘It reminded me of the time I took a schvitz with him at the 92nd Street Y.’
      • ‘Since I'm the sweatiest guy I know, I took some wicking gear for a test schvitz.’
      • ‘Off to have a schvitz and a massage.’
      • ‘We're sure it was warm in Venice, but we didn't notice any other starlets looking like they just finished a schvitz in the sauna.’
      • ‘The schvitz is an experience in and of itself.’

verb

(also schvitz)
[no object] informal North American

  • Sweat.

    • ‘it was one of those godawful days with a billion percent humidity and everybody was schvitzing’
    • ‘Now let me schvitz in peace.’
    • ‘He probably does tend to schvitz more than most.’
    • ‘They have like 6 rooms perhaps, you can lay in the rain, schvitz to your heart's content.’
    • ‘In the intimate confines of the Cabaret theater, where they literally schvitz right onto the audience, the whole house crackles with their energy.’
    • ‘Without powder that face paint is just gonna melt off your face the second you start to schvitz.’
    • ‘For example, yesterday I was definitely shvitzing.’

Origin

1930s from Yiddish shvits ‘sauna, steam bath’, probably from German Schwitze.