Wiktionary

weigh

See also: Weigh

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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
Cognate with Scots wey or weich, Dutch wegen, German wiegen, wägen, Danish veje, Norwegian Bokmål veie, Norwegian Nynorsk vega. Doublet of wedge, wagon, way, and vector.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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weigh (third-person singular simple present weighs, present participle weighing, simple past and past participle weighed)

  1. (transitive) To determine the weight of an object.
  2. (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.
  3. (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.
  4. (intransitive, figuratively, obsolete) To judge; to estimate.
  5. (transitive) To consider a subject. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  6. (intransitive, copulative, stative) To have a certain weight.
    I weigh ten and a half stone.
  7. (intransitive) To have weight; to be heavy; to press down.
  8. (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.
  9. (transitive, nautical) To raise an anchor free of the seabed.
  10. (intransitive, nautical) To weigh anchor.
  11. 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.
  12. (obsolete) To consider as worthy of notice; to regard.

Usage notes

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  • 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

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Translations

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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

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weigh (plural weighs)

  1. The act of weighing, of measuring the weight
    Give the sugar a quick weigh.

Derived terms

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