MAKEWEIGHT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Makeweight

... subordinated him to the Archbishop of Canterbury. But neither he nor Langton was disposed to push matters to extremities. Just as Peter des Roches balanced Hubert de Burgh, so the archbishop acted as a makeweight to the legate. When power was thus nicely equipoised, there was a natural tendency to avoid conflicting issues. In these circumstances the truce between parties, which had marked the regency, continued for the first years after Earl William's death. In all doubtful points the ...

— The History of England - From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) • T.F. Tout

... a story of about a hundred pages long, which acts as makeweight to Raymonde, itself only about twice the length, is a capital example of Theuriet at nearly his best—a pleasant mixture of berquinade and gaillardise (there are at least two passages at either of which Mrs. Grundy would require sal volatile, and would ...

— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 - To the Close of the 19th Century • George Saintsbury