heavyweight

adj : heaviest in a category or of a heavyweight category (175:

lbs for boxers); "a heavyweight boxer"

n 1: a wrestler who weighs more than 214 pounds

2: a boxer who weighs more than 195 pounds

3: a very large person; impressive in size or qualities [syn: {giant},

{hulk}, {whale}]

4: a person of exceptional importance and reputation [syn: {colossus},

{behemoth}, {giant}, {titan}]

heavyweight

High-overhead; {baroque}; code-intensive; featureful, but

costly. Especially used of communication protocols, language

designs, and any sort of implementation in which maximum

generality and/or ease of implementation has been pushed at

the expense of mundane considerations such as speed, memory

use and startup time. {Emacs} is a heavyweight editor; {X} is

an ▫extremely▫ heavyweight window system. This term isn't

pejorative, but one hacker's heavyweight is another's

{elephantine} and a third's monstrosity.

Opposite: "lightweight". Usage: now borders on technical

especially in the compound "heavyweight process".

(1994-12-22)