makeweight

== English == === Alternative forms === make-weight === Etymology === From make +‎ weight. === Pronunciation === === Noun === makeweight (plural makeweights) Something of inferior quality which is included in a shipment to make up the weight. 1893, Richard Le Gallienne, in a publisher's report on stories by Ernest Dowson, quoted in Jad Adams, Madder Music, Stronger Wine, page 88. I would advise you to accept these as an instalment of a volume, (they are not big enough to make one themselves) with the promise that the stories to come should be more striking, more original in theme — not less so, not mere makeweights — than those under consideration. Something included to add to the apparent weight or force of an argument. === See also === butcher's thumb adjectitious