Weigh Meaning
/weɪ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo determine the weight of an object.
verbOften with "out", to measure a certain amount of something by its weight, e.g. for sale.
Sentence Examples
An astute reader should be willing to weigh everything they read, including anonymous sources.
On average, these packages weigh two pounds.
You must weigh the ingredients carefully before starting to bake the cake.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before catching the flight, we must ____ our luggage to avoid extra fees.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The shopkeeper used a small scale to ____ the several fruits that I had chosen for my dinner today.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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, →ISBN, page 103:
"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:
"Each half-section of the battery weighs about eight tons, and the two underframes had to be strengthened to take this weight."
— 1958 June 26, “First Battery Railcars on B.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 419:
"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), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 228, column 1:
"They only weigh the heavier."
— 1782, William Cowper, “The Yearly Distress or, Tithing-Time in Essex”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before catching the flight, we must ____ our luggage to avoid extra fees.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The shopkeeper used a small scale to ____ the several fruits that I had chosen for my dinner today.