weigh
Pronunciation Verb

weigh (weighs, present participle weighing; 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. (intransitive, figuratively, obsolete) To judge; to estimate.
  5. (transitive) To consider a subject.
  6. (transitive) To have a certain weight.
    I weigh ten and a half stone.
  7. (intransitive) To have weight; to be heavy; to press down.
    • They only weigh the heavier.
    • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:
      God and your majesty / Protect mine innocence, or I fall into / The trap is laid for me!
  8. (intransitive) To be considered as important; to have weight in the intellectual balance.
    • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
      Your vows to her and me […] will even weigh.
    • 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 6963663 ↗:
      This objection ought to weigh with those whose reading is designed for much talk and little knowledge.
  9. (transitive, nautical) To raise an anchor free of the seabed.
  10. (intransitive, nautical) To weigh anchor.
    • 1624, John Smith (explorer), 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.
    • 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.’
  11. To bear up; to raise; to lift into the air; to swing up.
    • Weigh the vessel up.
  12. (obsolete) To consider as worthy of notice; to regard.
    • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
      I weigh not you.
    • all that she so dear did weigh
Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • German: erwägen
  • Russian: взве́шивать
Translations Translations
  • German: hieven
  • Portuguese: desancorar, levantar âncora



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