Word.ws English Dictionary

weigh

/weɪ/

weigh verb: to determine the weight of an object.

Verb

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. (figuratively, transitive) To determine the intrinsic value or merit of an object, to evaluate.
    • You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
    • He took a long time weighing his options.
  4. (figuratively, intransitive, obsolete) To judge; to estimate.
    • 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.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
  5. (transitive) To consider a subject.
  6. (copulative, intransitive, stative) To have a certain weight.
    • I weigh ten and a half stone.
    • Each half-section of the battery weighs about eight tons, and the two underframes had to be strengthened to take this weight.1958 June, “First Battery Railcars on B.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 419
  7. (intransitive) To have weight; to be heavy; to press down.
    • If they ſhall faile, I with mine Enemies
      Will triumph o're my perſon, which I waigh not,
      Being of thoſe Vertues vacant.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)...
    • They only weigh the heavier.1782, William Cowper, “The Yearly Distress or, Tithing-Time in Essex”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC
  8. (intransitive) To be considered as important; to have weight in the intellectual balance.
    • Your vowes to her, and me,[…] / Will euen weigh, and both as light as tales.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...
    • 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.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
  9. (transitive) To raise an anchor free of the seabed.
  10. (intransitive) To weigh anchor.
    • 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.1624, Walter Russell, Anas Todkill, Thomas Momford, “The Accidents that hapned in the Discovery of the Bay of Chisapeack”, in Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England...
    • 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.
    • 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.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
    • Them all, and all that ſhe ſo deare did way,[…]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 55, page 358

Noun

weigh (plural weighs)

  1. The act of weighing, of measuring the weight
    • Give the sugar a quick weigh.

Proper noun capitalized: Weigh

Weigh

  1. A surname.

weigh meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

weigh in Hindi

to determine the weight of an object
तौलना taulnā, जोखना jokhnā

weigh in Tamil

to consider a subject
வகை vakai

weigh in Marathi

to weigh
तोलणे tolṇe

weigh in Urdu

to weigh
تولنا tolnā
More languagesFewer languages
weigh in Bengali
ওজন করা, পরিমাপ করা
weigh in Telugu
తూగు tūgu
weigh in Malayalam
തൂക്കുക tūkkuka
weigh in Kannada
ತೂಗಿನೋಡು, ತೂಂಕು, ಜೂಗು, ತೂಕು
weigh in Punjabi
ਤੋਲਣਾ tolṇā
weigh in Gujarati
થવું thavũ
weigh in Sinhala
කිරනවා kiranawā
weigh in Tagalog
magtimbang
weigh in Arabic
وَزَنَ wazana
weigh in Thai
ชั่ง châng
weigh in Vietnamese
cân, đo
Dhivehi
ކިރަނީ kiranī

Examples of weigh in a sentence

  • British people measure their weight in stones and pounds. I weigh eight stone five.
  • These scales say I weigh 72 kilograms; what's that in old money?
  • All the news of murder and famine is weighing me down.

All 40 example sentences with weigh

Synonyms of weigh

3 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of weigh

Forms of weigh

Verb
third-person singular presentweighs
present participleweighing
past participleweighed
pastweighed
alternative form (obsolete)waye
alternative form (obsolete)weye
Noun
pluralweighs

Past tense of weigh: weighed

Origin of weigh

From Middle English weyen, 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, wee, Dutch wegen, German wiegen, wägen, Danish veje, Norwegian Bokmål veie, Norwegian Nynorsk vega. Doublet of wedge, wagon, way, and vector.

Words formed from weigh

Phrases with weigh

Words that rhyme with weigh

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about weigh

What does weigh mean?
Weigh means to determine the weight of an object.
What is weigh in Hindi?
Weigh in Hindi is तौलना (taulnā), जोखना (jokhnā). See Weigh meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is weigh?
Weigh can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce weigh?
Weigh is pronounced /weɪ/.
What is the past tense of weigh?
The past tense of weigh is weighed.

Words near weigh in the dictionary

  1. Weigels
  2. Weigelt
  3. weigeltisaurid
  4. weigeltisaurids
  5. Weigelts
  6. weigh
  7. weigh a ton
  8. weigh against
  9. weigh anchor
  10. weigh boat
  11. weigh boats

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: weigh (page history and authors); Weigh (page history and authors); तोलणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); تولنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); weigh (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); തൂക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); weigh (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਤੋਲਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); થવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-weigh.ogg.

Cite this entry: “weigh.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/weigh. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.