WEIGH, v.t. wa. [L., G. See Wag.]

A certain quantity. A weigh of wool, cheese, &c., is 256 pounds avoirdupois; a weigh of corn is forty bushels; of barley or malt, six quarters. – Encyc. Cyc.

1. To have weight; as, to weigh lighter or heavier. – Brown.
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 stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff, / Which weighs upon the heart. – Shak. To weigh down, to sink by its own weight.

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. – Zech. xi.
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. – Hooker.
6. To compare by the scales. Here in nice balance truth with gold she weighs. – Pope.
7. To regard; to consider as worthy of notice. I weigh not you. – Shak. To weigh down, to overbalance. #2. To oppress with weight; to depress.

1. A corruption of Way, used only in the phrase under weigh.
   
   

   An expedition was got under weigh from New York. Thackeray.

   The Athenians . . . hurried on board and with considerable difficulty got under weigh. Jowett (Thucyd.).

2. To bear up; to raise; to lift into the air; to swing up; as, to weigh anchor.
   
   
   "Weigh the vessel up." Cowper.
3. To have weight; to be heavy.
   
   
   "They only weigh the heavier." Cowper.
4. A certain quantity estimated by weight; an English measure of weight. See Wey.
5. To examine by the balance; to ascertain the weight of, that is, the force with which a thing tends to the center of the earth; to determine the heaviness, or quantity of matter of; as, to weigh sugar; to weigh gold.
   
   

   Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Dan. v. 27.

6. To be considered as important; to have weight in the intellectual balance.
   
   

   Your vows to her and me . . . will even weigh. Shak.

   This objection ought to weigh with those whose reading is designed for much talk and little knowledge. Locke.

7. To be equivalent to in weight; to counterbalance; to have the heaviness of.
   
   
   "A body weighing divers ounces." Boyle.
8. To bear heavily; to press hard.
   
   

   Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
   Which weighs upon the heart. Shak.

9. To pay, allot, take, or give by weight.
   
   

   They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. Zech. xi. 12.

10. To judge; to estimate.
    
    
    [R.]

    Could not weigh of worthiness aright. Spenser.

    To weigh down, to sink by its own weight.

11. To examine or test as if by the balance; to ponder in the mind; to consider or examine for the purpose of forming an opinion or coming to a conclusion; to estimate deliberately and maturely; to balance.
    
    

    A young man not weighed in state affairs. Bacon.

    Had no better weighed
    The strength he was to cope with, or his own. Milton.

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

    In nice balance, truth with gold she weighs. Pope.

    Without sufficiently weighing his expressions. Sir W. Scott.

12. To consider as worthy of notice; to regard.
    
    
    [Obs. or Archaic] "I weigh not you." Shak.

    All that she so dear did weigh. Spenser.

    To weigh down. (a) To overbalance. (b) To oppress with weight; to overburden; to depress. "To weigh thy spirits down." Milton.