[WELTER sb.3]
1. † a. Heavy weight (of a horseman). Obs. rare.
1825. Sporting Mag., XVI. 280. He was always well mounted for his welter weight.
b. A heavy-weight rider.
1850. ‘H. Hieover’ (C. Brindley), Pract. Horsemanship, 191. I once knew a horse belonging to a friend, a welter weight, who plunged on being first mounted.
1883. Pennell-Elmhirst, Cream Leicestersh., 344. A welter weight never went better to hounds in a fast run.
1897. Daily News, 12 March, 3/4. Horses equal to carrying a welter-weight of fifteen stone or more.
c. Horse-racing. An extra weight sometimes imposed in addition to weight for age.
1880. W. Day, Racehorse in Training, 201. They have … added to other improvements the introduction of welter-weights; so that it only requires a little alteration—more long races with heavy weights, and fewer short courses with light weights—to complete the reform.
2. A boxer or wrestler whose weight is between that of a light-weight and a middle-weight. Also attrib.
1896. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 3 Oct., 3/1. Welterweight champion of California.
1903. Daily Chron., 19 Sept., 3/3. Not even an indomitable spirit will bring a bantam-weight and a welter-weight together.
1910. Encycl. Brit., IV. 351/2. The boxing rules of the American Amateur Athletic Association differ slightly from the British…. The recognized classes by weight are: Bantam,… Feather,… Light,… Welter, 145 lb and under; Middle … and Heavy.
