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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Weigh


WEIGH, verb transitive wa. [Latin , G. See Wag.]

1. To examine by the balance; to ascertain the weight, that is, the force with which a thing tends to the center of gravity; as, to weigh sugar; to weigh gold.

2. To be equivalent to in weight; that is, according to the Saxon sense of the verb, to lift to an equipoise a weight on the other side of the fulcrum. Thus when a body balances a weight of twenty eight pounds avoirdupois, it lifts or bears it, and is said to weigh so much. It weighs a quarter of a hundred.

3. To raise; to lift; as an anchor from the ground, or any other body; as, to weigh anchor; to weigh an old hulk.

4. To pay, allot or take by weight.

They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. Zechariah 11:12.

5. To ponder in the mind; to consider or examine for the purpose of forming an opinion or coming to a conclusion; as, to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a scheme.

Regard not who it is which speaketh, but weigh only what is spoken.

6. To compare by the scales.

Here in nice balance truth with gold she weighs.

7. To regard; to consider as worthy of notice.

I weigh not you.

To weigh down,

1. To overbalance.

2. To oppress with weight; to depress.

WEIGH, verb intransitive

1. To have weight; as, to weigh lighter or heavier.

2. To be considered as important; to have weight in the intellectual balance. This argument weighs with the considerate part of the community.

3. To bear heavily; to press hard.

--Cleanse the stuffd bosom of that perilous stuff, which weighs upon the heart.

To weigh down, to sink by its own weight.

WEIGH, noun A certain quantity. A weigh of wool, cheese, etc., is 256 lb. Avoirdupois; a weigh of corn is forty bushels; of barly or malt, six quarters.