▪ I. wey1
(weɪ)
Forms: 1 wǽᵹ (wéᵹ), wǽᵹe, 4–8 weye, 5– wey (5 wegh), 5–7 way (6 waye, waie), 7 waigh(e, 7– weigh.
[Identical in origin with weigh n.1 Cf. way n.2 and waw n.2]
1. A standard of dry-goods weight, varying greatly with different commodities. (See quots.) a. Of cheese.
| 805–10 in Birch Cartul. Sax. I. 459 Ᵹif hit ðonne festen dæᵹ sie, selle mon uuæᵹe cæsa & fisces. c 833 Ibid. 577 An weᵹ spices & ceses. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 93, I wolde be gladder..Than þouȝe I had þis woke ywonne a weye of essex chese. 1542 Recorde Gr. Arts K v b, The very weights of it [sc. cheese] are cloues and weies, so that a cloue shoulde contayne 7 pounde: and a wey 32 cloues, that is 224 poundes. 1590 Payne Brief Descr. Irel. (1841) 8 You may haue yeerely..fortie great wayes of cheese, of the milke gathered betwixt May and Michaelmas. 1596 Recorde's Gr. Arts 162 And so much [256 pound] weyeth the weigh of Suffolke cheese... The Wey of Essex Cheese containeth 16 score, and 16 pound. 1638 L. Roberts Merch. Map Comm. ii. 239 The true weight of cheese and butter, called the Waighe. Ibid., The Waighe of Suffolk cheese being 256 li. and the waighe of Essex cheese 336 li. averdupois. 1725 Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Clove, In Suffolk they allow forty two of these Cloves or three hundred thirty six pounds to the Wey. 1846 J. Baxter's Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 429 A wey in Suffolk 32 cloves, or 256 lbs. A wey in Essex 42 cloves, or 336 lbs. |
b. Of wool.
| a 975 Laws Edgar iii. §8 Ga seo wæᵹe [v.r. wæᵹ] wulle to cxx. p[enninga]. [c 1300 Fleta ii. xii. (1647) 73 Et duæ wayæ lanæ faciunt unum saccum.] a 1500 Arnolde's Chron. (1811) 100 Of the sac wulle goyng out of London of iij. weys,..the Sheref ow{supt} to haue xi.d'. 1638 L. Roberts Merch. Map Comm. ii. 239 The sacke of wooll formerly so famoused by the staplers, did weigh 364 li. averdupois, two waighes of wooll make a sacke, and 12 sacks make a laste. 1665 W. Sheppard Office Clerk of Market 65 The Sarplar is the Case wherein the Wooll is, and the Waigh respecteth the quantity of the Wooll it self. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 261/1 A Wey [of Wool] contains six Tods and a half. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 888 Wool..is weighed out in double stones of 48 lb., each being called a weigh. |
c. Of salt.
| 1443 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 83 In 2 Wegh et di. grossi salis empt., 50 s. 1451 Paston Lett. I. 228 That ye sold a wey salt but for xx s. that she might hafe had xl s for every wey. 1459 Maldon (Essex) Court Rolls Bundle 34 No. 1, vi weyes do baysalt, prec. le wey xxvi s. viii d. 1533–4 Durham Househ. Bk. (Surtees) 255, 2½ qu. [salis] vocata ½ wey. 1545 Rates Custome ho. c v b, Salte called baysalt the waye xiii.s. iiii.d. a 1585 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914) XXIX. 517 You must lade for every thousand fishe a weye of salte or rather more. 1611 in Picton L'pool. Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 179 Ev'ry Way of Salt, conteyning by measure x barrells. 1615 E. S. Britain's Buss in Arber Garner III. 635 Likewise, the Buss cannot conveniently stow, at once, above ten Weys of salt. 1638 L. Roberts Merch. Map Comm. ii. 248 A tunne of Salt at Plimouth is greater than a weigh of London by 32 gallons. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 70 Salt is reckoned by the Hundred and Wey. In 1 Hundred of Salt 10½ Weyes, in 1 Wey 40 Bushels. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4060/5 About 50 Weigh of Salt, out of the La Senie. 1748 W. Brownrigg Art making Salt 214 The law now allows three bushels duty free, for every wey (or forty bushels) of British salt carried coastwise. |
d. Of coal, corn, etc., or in general use.
| ? c 1300 in Rep. Comm. Weights & Meas. (1758) 19, xiv petræ faciunt unum pondus, quod Anglice dicitur weye. a 1400 Rel. Ant. I. 70 Sevene waxpund makiet onleve ponde one waye, twelf weyen on fothir. 1471 Churchw. Acc. Yatton (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 107 For ij wey cole, xs. 1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 9. §5 The said common meater to haue for the measuring of euery way of corne .ii.d. 1560 MS. Acc. Bk. Butchers' Co., Lond., The price of a Waie of tallowe was this yere Rated..at 30/. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Weigh,..in some parts of this land it signifies a quantity of Corn (most commonly of Barley or Malt) containing six quarters. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 385 Out of the Mounts of Libani in Cuba, there was one [piece of gold] taken weighing 3310 weighs. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Wey, the greatest Measure for dry things, containing five Chaldron: Weys or Weighs, are also 165 Pounds, 180 Pounds, or 200 Pounds and a half for a Charge. 1725 Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Wey, A Weigh of Barley or Malt, is six Quarters or forty eight Bushels. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 54 During which time five or six weys of culm were raised. 1823 J. Guy Tutor's Assist. 51 How many weys and bushels, in 72 lasts? Ans. 144 weys, 5760 bus. 1891 L. Clark Dict. Metric Measures 97 Wey, or Load (dry measure) = 40 bushels = 5 quarters. |
| attrib. 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 137 Neither ys the Cranoke or Wey measures vsed in selling thereof [corn]. |
† 2. ? A pound. (Vulg. libras centum.)
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 372 Nicodemus brouhte uorte smurien mid ure Louerd an hundred weien of mirre & of aloes. |
▪ II. † wey2 Obs. rare.
[Of obscure origin; the variation in the stem-vowel would normally indicate an OE. wǽᵹ, wáᵹ-.]
? A bill or halberd.
| c 1205 Lay. 30982 Breken bræde weiȝes [c 1275 weyes], brustleden scaftes. Ibid. 21505 Cheorles..mid clubben swiðen græte, mid spæren and mid græte waȝen. Ibid. 21596 Moni cniht mid heore wahȝen [c 1275 wawes]..ualden heom to grunden. |
▪ III. wey
obs. f. way n., weigh v., var. wy Obs., man.