weigh

v., weighed, weigh·ing, weighs.

v.tr.

1. To determine the weight of by or as if by using a scale or balance.
2. To measure or apportion (a certain quantity) by or as if by weight. Often used with out: weighed out a pound of cheese.
3. 1. To balance in the mind in order to make a choice; ponder or evaluate: weighed the alternatives and decided to stay.
   2. To choose carefully or deliberately: weigh one's words.
4. Nautical. To raise (anchor).

v.intr.

1. To be of a specific weight.
2. To have consequence or importance: The decision weighed heavily against us. See synonyms at count¹.
3. 1. To cause to bend heavily by or as if by added weight. Used with on or upon: a coating of ice that weighed upon the slender branches.
   2. To burden or oppress: was weighed with the onerous task of laying off the staff.
4. Nautical. To raise anchor.

phrasal verbs:

weigh down

1. To cause to bend down with added weight: vines that were weighed down with grapes.
2. To burden or oppress: The responsibilities of the new job weighed him down.

weigh in

1. Sports. To be weighed at a weigh-in.
2. To have one's baggage weighed, as at an airport.
3. Slang. To make a forceful statement in a discussion: She weighed in with some pertinent facts.

[Middle English weien, from Old English wegan.]

weighable weigh'a·ble adj.
weigher weigh'er n.
weigh² (wā)
n. Nautical.

Way. Used in the phrase under weigh.

[Variant (influenced by WEIGH¹, as in weigh anchor) of WAY.]

also weigh on

verb

1. To be of significance or importance: count, import, matter, signify. See important/unimportant.
2. To think or think about carefully and at length: chew on (or over), cogitate, consider, contemplate, deliberate, entertain, excogitate, meditate, mull, muse¹, ponder, reflect, revolve, ruminate, study, think, think out, think over, think through, turn over. Idioms: cudgel one's brains, put on one's thinking cap, rack one's brain. See thoughts.

phrasal verb - weigh down

To make sad or gloomy: deject, depress, dispirit, oppress, sadden. See happy/unhappy.

phrasal verb - weigh on (or upon)

To come to mind continually: haunt, obsess, torment, trouble. See repetition.

v

Definition: consider, contemplate
Antonyms: ignore, neglect

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weighing, weight

These familiar words have for many centuries been ubiquitous in everyday speech and in the formal laws dealing with measure. They have, to some extent, been set apart from the word ‘measure’; the expression ‘weights and measures’ occurs in the title of every pertinent Act of the British parliament, and of the international office for metric measures (see BIPM), but the reason for that seems to have been the difference in the method of measurement for weight.

Weighing is the procedure routinely used to ascertain the (amount of) mass of something, yet it is repeatedly stressed that the gram, for example, is a unit of mass, not of weight. Technically the two are most certainly different; weight is a force, the product of mass and acceleration, the unit for which in metric is the newton. An object of a given (non-zero) mass at Earth's surface achieves its weight through being subject to gravitational acceleration. The actual acceleration causing weight is the true gravitational acceleration minus the amount of it consumed in providing the centripetal acceleration that keeps the object from flying off the rotating Earth. The latter is relatively trivial near the surface, even at the Equator.

Gravitational acceleration is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the centre (approximately) of Earth, while centripetal acceleration is proportional to the distance from the axis of rotation. Hence, moving the object down a mine shaft increases its weight and moving it up a mountain decreases its weight (though such changes are minor). Elevating it further will reduce the gravitational acceleration; the concomitant impact on demand for centripetal acceleration will depend on circumstances. As centripetal acceleration is also proportional to the angular speed of rotation, flying fast above the surface can increase the demand considerably. A satellite at 600 km above the surface completing its orbit in two hours has a centripetal demand equal to the gravitational acceleration at that height, and hence it stays aloft. Likewise a satellite at 37 500 km orbiting in 24 hours stays aloft; if positioned above the Equator and travelling eastwards, like the points on Earth, such a satellite stays above the same point continuously (given a few small nudges from time to time to make it exactly so), so is said to be geostationary. The objects in the satellites, as well as the satellite itself, are then said to be ‘weightless’. In such a context, ‘weight’ is unequivocally a force.

The pound and its kin of BI and US-C, including the pennyweight and the hundredweight, were also seen as weight in the sense of force. However, physicists have long regarded them as units of mass, so now they have a wider public. The pound is routinely equated with 454.~ g, and the kilogram with 2.2~ lb, at any elevation and speed.

For centuries any measurement of weight employed a balance (scales, steelyard, auncel) of some form that actually compared an object of unknown weight with a selection of objects of supposedly known weight; such measurement actually compared masses and was independent of the local net gravitational acceleration. Usage of the phrase ‘weights and measures’ reflected this measurement by comparison rather than by reading a graduated scale. Only with the evolution of modern spring-loaded devices (ironically occurring after the introduction of metric with its emphasis on mass) did measurement of true weight become generally practicable - and these had adjustments to correct for altitude, subverting this. Now weight and mass can be measured just like electric current, etc., by using a meter, though balances continue to be used, from the finest laboratories to fitness centres.

Mass is identically inertia, the resistance of a body to acceleration, yet also the source of gravitational acceleration. Although it can be measured accordingly, the only generally practicable means for measuring it is via weighing. The spring-loaded weigh-scale measures the weight against the force of the spring. The balance, although its known weights are fixed only in terms of mass and its operation independent of the exact gravitational acceleration, cannot function without such acceleration; one truly balances the weights, but never knows their common weight.

See further under gravitational system.

It should be noted that the buoyancy of the surrounding medium affects the weight of an object. This was the essence of Archimedes' famous discovery, with water as the medium, but even the miniscule buoyancy of air has become significant in modern science. The 1963 definition of the BI gallon specified the volumic mass of the weights and of the air.

On the same principle that it is tempting fate to count things too closely, there was previously a prejudice in many people's minds about weighing newborn babies. First noticed by Chambers (1878: ii. 39), from Suffolk, although it was clearly well entrenched already, the belief is reported a number of times into the 20th century, and was not even extinct in the 1950s (Folk-Lore 68 (1957), 414). Opie and Tatem also record an earlier reference to the weighing of adults being considered unlucky, published in the British Apollo (7 Sept. 1709).

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Opie and Tatem, 1989: 437

IN BRIEF: To use a scale to find out how heavy a thing is.

All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. — James Lowell (1819-1891).

Tutor's tip: Another word that sounds like "weigh" which means to use a scale to measure how heavy something is, is "way" which means a road or path.

Dansk (Danish)
1.
v. tr. - veje, afveje, lette
v. intr. - vægte

idioms:

• weigh anchor    lette anker
• weigh down    tynge ned
• weigh in    indveje, blive vejet
• weigh into    indveje
• weigh one's words    afveje sine ord
• weigh out    veje af, blive vejet
• weigh up    opveje

2.
n. - på vej

Nederlands (Dutch)
wegen, afwegen, wikken en wegen, een gewicht hebben van, drukken

Français (French)
1.
v. tr. - (lit) peser, évaluer, lever, mettre en balance, (Naut) lever (l'ancre)
v. intr. - peser, avoir du poids, compter pour qn, peser sur (un objet, des responsabilités), tourmenter

idioms:

• weigh anchor    (Naut) lever l'ancre
• weigh down    peser sur, (lit) surcharger, faire plier (branches), bloquer (papiers), (fig) accabler
• weigh in    se faire peser, aller au pesage, contribuer, donner, intervenir
• weigh in with    donner (qch), intervenir dans (un débat)
• weigh into    intervenir dans
• weigh one's words    peser ses mots
• weigh out    peser
• weigh up    (fig) évaluer, juger, mettre (qch) en balance, (lit) peser

2.
n. - (Naut) (lever) l'ancre

Deutsch (German)
1.
v. - abwägen, wiegen

idioms:

• weigh anchor    den Anker lichten
• weigh down    niederdrücken
• weigh in    auf die Waage bringen, (ugs.) sich einschalten
• weigh in with    eingreifen, beitragen
• weigh into    (ugs.) angreifen
• weigh one's words    seine Worte abwägen
• weigh out    abwiegen
• weigh up    abwägen, sich eine Meinung bilden

2.
n. - Weg

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - ζυγίζω, (ναυτ.) ανασπώ, βιράρω, σταθμίζω
n. - ζύγιση, ζύγισμα, στάθμιση

idioms:

• weigh anchor    σηκώνω άγκυρα, είμαι έτοιμος για αναχώρηση
• weigh down    καταπιέζω, βαραίνω, (υπερ)φορτώνω, συντρίβω υπό το βάρος
• weigh in    ζυγίζω αποσκευές επιβάτη αεροσκάφους, ισοζυγίζω/-ομαι για συμμετοχή σε αγώνα
• weigh into    επιτίθεμαι σε
• weigh one's words    ζυγίζω τις κουβέντες μου
• weigh out    σταθμίζω/-ομαι, κατανέμω με ζύγισμα
• weigh up    αποτιμώ, ζυγίζω, υπολογίζω, εκτιμώ, σταθμίζω

Italiano (Italian)
soppesare, pesare

idioms:

• weigh down    piegare, opprimere
• weigh in    pesarsi, intervenire
• weigh into    intervenire, assalire
• weigh one's words    esprimersi con cautela
• weigh out    pesare, dosare
• weigh up    soppesare, considerare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - pesar, determinar, oprimir
n. - pesagem (f)

idioms:

• weigh down    curvar sob o peso
• weigh in    dizer, pesar
• weigh into    pesar
• weigh one's words    pesar suas palavras
• weigh out    pesar
• weigh up    examinar, calcular

Русский (Russian)
взвешивать, взвешиваться, весить, иметь значение, тщательно рассматривать, оценивать, сравнивать, поднимать якорь, довлеть, отягощать

idioms:

• weigh down    довлеть, угнетать
• weigh in    взвешиваться до/после состязания, вступить в спор, повлиять на (решение, планы т.п.), взвешивать багаж перед полетом
• weigh into    наброситься на кого-л.
• weigh one's words    взвешивать свои слова
• weigh out    развешивать, взвешиваться до состязания (о жокее с седлом)
• weigh up    уравновешивать, давать оценку

Español (Spanish)
1.
v. tr. - pesar, sopesar, considerar
v. intr. - pesar, ser pesado, importar

idioms:

• weigh anchor    levar anclas
• weigh down    doblar bajo un peso, inclinar, abrumar, pesar más que
• weigh in    pesarse antes de una competencia, pesar equipaje (en el aeropuerto), intervenir
• weigh in with    presentar, producir (opinión) con aire triunfante
• weigh into    atacar (física y verbalmente)
• weigh one's words    medir las palabras
• weigh out    pesar, ser pesado
• weigh up    sopesar, considerar, evaluar

2.
n. - (en) camino, (en) marcha, pesar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - väga, överväga, avväga, tynga, väga tungt, ha inflytande
n. - vägning

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
称...重量, 称, 秤重量, 重压, 衡量, 重, 过秤, 称分量

idioms:

• weigh anchor    起锚, 起动
• weigh down    压低, 过度忧虑
• weigh in    参加, 称重量
• weigh into    参加, 加入, 称体重, 过磅
• weigh one's words    斟酌字句
• weigh out    称出
• weigh up    称, 估量, 称出

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 在進行中;在前進中

v. tr. - 稱...的重量, 稱
v. tr. - 重...

idioms:

• weigh anchor    起錨, 起動
• weigh down    壓低, 過度憂慮
• weigh in    參加, 稱重量
• weigh into    參加, 加入, 稱體重, 過磅
• weigh one's words    斟酌字句
• weigh out    稱出
• weigh up    稱, 估量, 稱出

한국어 (Korean)
1.
v. tr. - ~의 무게를 달다
v. intr. - 무게를 재다, ~만큼 무겁다, 숙고하다

idioms:

• weigh down    무게로 누르다, 억압하다, 침울케 하다
• weigh in    계량하다, 시합 당일 체중 검사를 받다, (논쟁에) 끼어 들다
• weigh into    공격하다
• weigh out    무게를 달다, 경주 전에 체중 검사를 받다
• weigh up    한쪽의 무게로 인해 튀어 오르다, 헤아리다

2.
n. - 항해 중인

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 重さを量る, 重さがある, 重要である, よく考えてみる, 熟考する, 揚げる

idioms:

• weigh anchor    抜錨する, 出発する
• weigh down    圧する, 圧迫する
• weigh in    計量する, 計量を受ける, 議論に介入する
• weigh into    攻撃する
• weigh one's words    ことばを慎重に選ぶ
• weigh out    量り分ける
• weigh up    理解しようと努める, 評価する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يرجح أي يفوقه وزنا, يتبصر في, يتأمل (الاسم) وزنه, وزن‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮שקל, העריך ערך/חשיבות של, השווה, הכביד/העיק על, השפיע על‬
v. intr. - ‮שקל (משקלו היה), היה בעל-ערך‬
n. - ‮בתנועה, בהתקדמות‬

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