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weigh down on

English translation: heavily influence and obtain results from

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:weigh down on
Selected answer:heavily influence and obtain results from
Entered by: Arthur Borges

17:32 Oct 28, 2002
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Law/Patents
English term or phrase: weigh down on
As a result, employers’ interests have weighed down heavily on the EU’s management structures and EU policy.

Does it mean that these interests have had a negative influence on the EU policy? Is the structure right? 'Cause in dictionaries I've seen to weight sth down, but not weight down on sth. Thanks beforehand.
Rubén de la Fuente
Local time: 10:00
heavily influenced
Explanation:
They got most anything they asked for from the EU

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Note added at 2002-10-28 17:38:01 (GMT)
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Structure is fine and it is not necessarily pejorative, but suggests somewhat excessive influence nonetheless.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 17:40:18 (GMT)
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Concretely, they may have lobbied intensively to ensure the policy was pretty much exactly what they wanted.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-11-02 13:40:16 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I blushfully ask forgiveness of Y and herewith modify \"apple break to \"fruit(ofwisdom)cake break\"
Selected response from:

Arthur Borges
China
Local time: 16:00
Grading comment
thanks indeed everyone.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +7heavily influenced
Arthur Borges
4 +7to have a restrictive impact upon
Libero_Lang_Lab
5 +4cargar, pesar sobre
Margaret Schroeder
4 +1exerted heavy pressure
#41698 (LSF)
4 +1to depress, to place a heavy burden
Alaa Zeineldine
5 -1have heavily weighted down the...
zebung
5 -5to get a less influence....
Emperor (X)


  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
heavily influenced


Explanation:
They got most anything they asked for from the EU

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 17:38:01 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Structure is fine and it is not necessarily pejorative, but suggests somewhat excessive influence nonetheless.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 17:40:18 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Concretely, they may have lobbied intensively to ensure the policy was pretty much exactly what they wanted.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-11-02 13:40:16 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I blushfully ask forgiveness of Y and herewith modify \"apple break to \"fruit(ofwisdom)cake break\"

Arthur Borges
China
Local time: 16:00
PRO pts in pair: 23
Grading comment
thanks indeed everyone.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  JCEC
11 mins
agree  NancyLynn: yes, and the third note clarifies it nicely
12 mins
  -> Nov 2. Gee Nancy, have you had a look at all the ire this question has inspired -- let's keep our heads down.
neutral  Emperor (X): it does not seem so, they lost their influence
37 mins
  -> To me, it means they managed to shape the policy to suit their needs (which is indeed what happens -- the EU is about business-driven government, not the opposite.
agree  Gabor Kiss
1 hr
agree  Kim Metzger: Bring weight to bear on?
1 hr
  -> Hmm -- to me, "bring weight to bear on" means the pressure was applied but didn't necessarily obtain results, or at least got far lesser results, maybe because of the "heavily". In yr suggestion, it would be redundant to speak of "heavy weight to..." TKS
agree  Gayle Wallimann
3 hrs
agree  Berni Armstrong: Here is another sample sentence. "Her parents desire to be grandparents weighed down heavily on her decision to have children" (heavily influenced)
21 hrs
  -> And then of course there's "God came down heavily on Adam and Eve for having an apple break."
agree  Y (X): No no no - Adam and Eve did NOT have an apple, only the fruit of the tree of knowledge! Shame on you! :-)
4 days
  -> As noted more prominently above, I hereby ask forgiveness and beg to change "apple break" to "fruit(ofwisdom)cake break."
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
to have a restrictive impact upon


Explanation:
The sentence is absolutely fine Reuben. It means to restrict the freedom of, to have a restrictive impact on....

I wouldn't say that it is unequivocably negative, but it certainly has a negative flavour, given that the image of a heavy weight is not all that positive!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 18:56:47 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

erratum: unequivocally !

Libero_Lang_Lab
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:00
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 137

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  JCEC
8 mins
neutral  Emperor (X): wrong... to weigh down = to get a lower weight
35 mins
  -> i don't know why i'm bothering to comment here as you clearly have a very poor grasp of correct usage.... but here goes: YOU'RE WRONG - IT MEANS NO SUCH THING. BUY YOURSELF A DICTIONARY AND ONCE YOU'VE MASTERED THE CONTENTS THEN YOU CAN COME BACK AND PLAY
agree  Kim Metzger: I'll buy that.
1 hr
agree  Przemysław Szkodziński
1 hr
agree  Kardi Kho: or weigh heavily upon
7 hrs
agree  Kanta Rawat (X)
12 hrs
neutral  Berni Armstrong: While "Emperor" was indeed in error, the INSULTING TONE adopted by the commentator will not help anyone learn. Please keep comments level headed!
21 hrs
  -> I try my best.... and then sometimes I lose it - yeah an overreaction perhaps. But I didn't realise the main purpose of this site was to provide language tuition
agree  Gabor Kiss
1 day 1 hr
agree  Y (X): Yep
5 days
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -5
to get a less influence....


Explanation:
The employers' interests have got a less influence on the EU's .........

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 17:43:15 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

have got a considerable lower influence....
Luck

Emperor (X)
Local time: 08:00

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Libero_Lang_Lab: that is not grammatical English
6 mins
  -> yep, but i try to explain what it does mean
disagree  NancyLynn: I was just thinking the same thing, about the grammar
6 mins
  -> critics on grammar, right! but all peers seem to understand wrong the verb "weigh down"
neutral  JCEC: Same comment
12 mins
  -> same comment
neutral  Kim Metzger: I'm afraid your proposal doesn't make sense to an English speaker.
1 hr
disagree  Refugio: For the correct meaning, see Goodwords entry
1 hr
disagree  Gayle Wallimann: This is not the English meaning.
3 hrs
disagree  Y (X): You have not grasped the idiom.
4 days
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
cargar, pesar sobre


Explanation:
Note that your sentence is "weigh down on" not "weight down on". It's correct. Here, it means that employers' interests have been a heavy burden imposed on EU management and policy. In more figurative contexts than the example here, "weigh down on" could also be agobiar, abrumar, apesadumbrar, to give you an idea.

Margaret Schroeder
Mexico
Local time: 02:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 189

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Arthur Borges: I've seen "weighted" as an adjective very mostly.
25 mins
  -> The word in question here is "weighed", not "weighted", not sure of the relevance of your comment.
agree  Kim Metzger: Agree with your explanation ma'am, but please use English only here so everyone can join in. Ruben can ask his question under Spanish-English if he needs a Spanish explanation.
1 hr
  -> Oops, you're right, not paying enough attention to page header.
agree  Refugio: Except for the Spanish inclusion, you have it quite right.
1 hr
agree  Kardi Kho: yes, the employers' interests have been a heavy burden imposed on the management structure and policy of EU
7 hrs
agree  Y (X)
5 days
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
have heavily weighted down the...


Explanation:
If they have kept the EU's structure and policies from moving forward.

Otherwise, the sentence is ok the way it is, but I think changing the word order (and weighed to weighted)results in better flow.

Just a suggestion, do what you want with it.

zebung
Local time: 10:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SwedishSwedish
PRO pts in pair: 38

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  NancyLynn
2 mins
  -> thanks
neutral  Libero_Lang_Lab: as arthur says, weighted is normally used as an adjective and adjectival past participle, looks slightly odd to me if used as part of a phrasal verb
29 mins
  -> lots of hits on YaHoo, common in AmE (I'm an American)
neutral  Kim Metzger: To weigh down on is an idiomatic expression. Weighted has a different meaning.
1 hr
  -> I know, look at my explanation, though.
disagree  Refugio: weigh, not weight
1 hr
  -> Why not, IThere are lots of references to weighted down, too. Read my explanation.
disagree  Y (X): Weighted is something entirely different, never mind the explanation.
5 days
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31 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
exerted heavy pressure


Explanation:
- agree with Arthur's 'Heavily influenced' but just in case Asker prefers this phrase.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 18:08:56 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

- negative in the sense that the policies and initiatives may not be as free or ideal as it should be, but then in cases like a tussle between employers and employees, the relevant merits of each had to be counterbalanced and given proportional weightage on a fair basis.

#41698 (LSF)
Malaysia
Local time: 16:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 53

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kim Metzger: 1. not necessarily heavy pressure. Exerted pressure. 2. I don't understand your note. Proportional weightage has nothing to do with weigh down on.:)
51 mins
  -> 'weighed down heavily'. Say, an industry group contributed significantly to an election campaign and after that policies were tuned to favor this particularly group to an excessive degree; this would be out of proportions.
neutral  Y (X): It's weighting, not weightage, and it has nothing to do with weighing down.
5 days
  -> Weighting has nothing to do, yes. The correct word here is weight, not weightage, not weighting.
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
to depress, to place a heavy burden


Explanation:
To weigh down heavily is to place a burden of guilt, uneasiness, or discomfort on one\'s mind.

e.g. \"His past crimes are now weighing down heavily on him\".

This may or may not translate to influence. If influence is implied, it is a negative influence:

e.g. \"She dreamed of finishing college, but her grandmother\'s ailment weighed down heavily on her until she gave up her dream and chose to care for her dear grandma.\"

--
Alaa Zeineldine




--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 22:40:01 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Commenting on your phrase, there are two possibilities:

1. Because the EU\'s decisions favor the workers, the employers\' neglected interests are hurting their conscience (or that of their management structure!)

2. The EU management has policies to advance the interests of the workers, but he employers\' interests are holding them back.

Hope this helps.

Alaa

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-10-28 22:40:18 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Commenting on your phrase, there are two possibilities:

1. Because the EU\'s decisions favor the workers, the employers\' neglected interests are hurting their conscience (or that of their management structure!)

2. The EU management has policies to advance the interests of the workers, but he employers\' interests are holding them back.

Hope this helps.

Alaa


    Reference: http://islamicity.com/dialogue/Q264.HTM
Alaa Zeineldine
Egypt
Local time: 10:00
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 198

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kardi Kho: good interpretation
2 hrs
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