weigh

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English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old English wegan, from Proto-Germanic *weganą, from Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰe-, *weǵʰ-. Cognate with Scots wey or weich, Dutch wegen, German wiegen, wägen, Danish veje.

Pronunciation [edit]

Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb [edit]

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.
  4. (transitive) To consider a subject.
    • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 251b-c.
      For anyone can weigh in with the quick objection that it is impossible for what is many to be one
  5. (intransitive) To have a certain weight.
    I weigh ten and a half stone.
  6. (transitive, nautical) To raise an anchor free of the seabed.
  7. (intransitive, nautical) To weigh anchor.
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 91:
      Towards the evening we wayed, and approaching the shoare [...], we landed where there lay a many of baskets and much bloud, but saw not a Salvage.

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

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