weigh
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See also: Weigh
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English weghen, weȝen, from Old English wegan, from Proto-West Germanic *wegan, from Proto-Germanic *weganą (“to move, carry, weigh”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰeti, from *weǵʰ- (“to bring, transport”).
Cognates
Pronunciation
- enPR: wā, IPA(key): /weɪ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
- Homophones: way, wey; whey (wine–whine merger)
Verb
weigh (third-person singular simple present weighs, present participle weighing, simple past and past participle weighed)
- (transitive) To determine the weight of an object.
- (transitive) Often with "out", to measure a certain amount of something by its weight, e.g. for sale.
- He weighed out two kilos of oranges for a client.
- (transitive, figuratively) To determine the intrinsic value or merit of an object, to evaluate.
- You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
- 2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, →ISBN, page 103:
- As they started picking features, customers would carefully weigh the choices, but as decision fatigue set in they'd start settling for whatever the default option was.
- (intransitive, figuratively, obsolete) To judge; to estimate.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 444:
- But ſhe thereof grew proud and inſolent, / That none ſhe worthie thought to be her fere, / But ſcornd them all, that loue vnto her ment; / Yet was ſhe lou’d of many a worthy pere, / Vnworthy ſhe to be belou’d ſo dere, / That could not weigh of worthineſſe aright.
- (transitive) To consider a subject. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (transitive, stative) To have a certain weight.
- I weigh ten and a half stone.
- (intransitive) To have weight; to be heavy; to press down.
- 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 228, column 1:
- If they ſhall faile, I with mine Enemies
Will triumph o're my perſon, which I waigh not,
Being of thoſe Vertues vacant.
- 1782, William Cowper, “The Yearly Distress or, Tithing-Time in Essex”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:
- They only weigh the heavier.
- (intransitive) To be considered as important; to have weight in the intellectual balance.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 154, column 1:
- Your vowes to her, and me, […] / Will euen weigh, and both as light as tales.
- a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, § 19, page 62:
- I anſwer, this is a good Objection, and ought to weigh with thoſe whoſe Reading is deſign’d for much Talk and little Knowledge, and I have nothing to ſay to it.
- (transitive, nautical) To raise an anchor free of the seabed.
- (intransitive, nautical) To weigh anchor.
- 1624, Walter Russell, Anas Todkill, Thomas Momford, “The Accidents that hapned in the Discovery of the Bay of Chisapeack”, in Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 3; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 56:
- Towards the euening we wayed, & approaching the ſhoare [...], we landed where there lay a many of baskets and much bloud, but ſaw not a Salvage.
- 1841, Edgar Allan Poe, A Descent into the Maelström:
- Here we used to remain until nearly time for slack-water again, when we weighed and made for home.
- To bear up; to raise; to lift into the air; to swing up.
- 1782, William Cowper, On the Loss of the Royal George:
- Weigh the vessel up.
- (obsolete) To consider as worthy of notice; to regard.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
- Thinke you I weigh this treaſure more than you?
Not all the Gold in Indias welthy armes,
Shall buy the meaneſt ſouldier in my traine.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 55, page 358:
- Them all, and all that ſhe ſo deare did way, […]
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 137, column 1:
- Kat. So do not you, for you are a light Wench. / Roſ. Indeed I waigh not you, and therefore light. / Ka. You waigh me not, O that’s you care not for me.
Usage notes
- In commercial and everyday use, the term "weight" is usually used to mean mass, and the verb "to weigh" means "to determine the mass of" or "to have a mass of".
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to determine the weight of an object
|
to weigh out
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to determine the intrinsic value or merit of an object
|
to consider a subject
|
to have a certain weight
|
to weigh on; to be heavy, to press down
nautical: to raise an anchor
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Noun
weigh (plural weighs)
- The act of weighing, of measuring the weight
- Give the sugar a quick weigh.
Derived terms
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *weǵʰ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English doublets
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English stative verbs
- en:Nautical
- English nouns
- English countable nouns