weigh

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”). 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.

verb

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, figurative) To determine the intrinsic value or merit of an object, to evaluate.
   You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
   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. 2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, page 103
4. (intransitive, figurative, obsolete) To judge; to estimate.
5. (transitive) To consider a subject.
6. (transitive, 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.
9. (transitive, nautical) To raise an anchor free of the seabed.
10. (intransitive, nautical) To weigh anchor.
    Here we used to remain until nearly time for slack-water again, when we weighed and made for home. 1841, Edgar Allan Poe, A Descent into the Maelström
11. To bear up; to raise; to lift into the air; to swing up.
    Weigh the vessel up. 1782, William Cowper, On the Loss of the Royal George
12. (obsolete) To consider as worthy of notice; to regard.