# weigh
## English
### Alternative forms

* waye, weye (obsolete)

### 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”).
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

* enPR: wā, IPA: /weɪ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪ
* Homophones: way, Wei, 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?)
* (intransitive, copulative, 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

* aweigh
* beweigh
* downweigh
* foreweigh
* overweigh
* weigh against
* weigh down
* weigh enough
* weigh in the balance
* weigh in, weigh-in
* weigh off
* weigh on
* weigh one's words
* weigh out
* weigh station
* weight
* weighty
* weigh up

#### Related terms

* weight

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

weigh (plural weighs)
* The act of weighing, of measuring the weight
    Give the sugar a quick weigh.

#### Derived terms

* weigh boat
* weigh house
* weigh station