/weɪ/
OriginFrom Middle English weyen, 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
Cognate with Scots wey, wee, Dutch wegen, German wiegen, wägen, Danish veje, Norwegian Bokmål veie, Norwegian Nynorsk vega. Doublet of wedge, wagon, way, and vector.
- transitiveTo determine the weight of an object.
- transitiveOften 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.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo determine the intrinsic value or merit of an object, to evaluate.
“You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.”
“He took a long time weighing his options.”
“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.”
- figuratively, intransitive, obsoleteTo judge; to estimate.
“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”
- transitiveTo consider a subject.
- copulative, intransitive, stativeTo have a certain weight.
“I weigh ten and a half stone.”
“Each half-section of the battery weighs about eight tons, and the two underframes had to be strengthened to take this weight.”
- intransitiveTo have weight; to be heavy; to press down.
“If they ſhall faile, I with mine Enemies
Will triumph o're my perſon, which I waigh not,
Being of thoſe Vertues vacant.”
“They only weigh the heavier.”
- intransitiveTo be considered as important; to have weight in the intellectual balance.
“Your vowes to her, and me,[…] / Will euen weigh, and both as light as tales.”
“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.”
- transitiveTo raise an anchor free of the seabed.
- intransitiveTo weigh anchor.
“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.”
“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.
- obsoleteTo consider as worthy of notice; to regard.
“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.”
“Them all, and all that ſhe ſo deare did way,[…]”
“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.”
- The act of weighing, of measuring the weight
“Give the sugar a quick weigh.”
Formsweighs(present, singular, third-person) · weighing(participle, present) · weighed(participle, past) · weighed(past) · waye(alternative, obsolete) · weye(alternative, obsolete) · weighs(plural)