wey

Definition

An old English measure of weight containing 224 pounds; equivalent to 2 hundredweight.

Etymology

From Middle English weie, waie, weihe, wæȝe, from Old English wǣġ (“a weight; a tool for weighing, balance, scale”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu, from Proto-Germanic *wēgō (“scales; weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, bring, transport”). Cognate with German Waage (“weight”), Icelandic vág (“a weight”).

Example Sentences

• "Than though I hadde this wouke ywonne a weye of Essex cheese."
• "Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6½ tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. […] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds."
• "Cheese and salt are purchased by the wey of two hundredweight, or by the stone of fourteen pounds."