wey
Americannoun
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an old British unit of weight of various values, especially 16 stones of 16 pounds each, or 256 pounds.
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an old Scotch-Irish unit of capacity equal to 40 U.S. bushels.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wey
before 900; Middle English; Old English wǣge weight. See weigh 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He’s recounting a moment that was inspired by jornalero lore, when decades ago, a group of day laborers protested a wage-stealing contractor by gathering outside of his house and singing, “Ese wey no paga.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
Comandante Hernandez dressed up as Death, complete with a skull mask and a sceptre while ese wey came dressed as a grave-digger with his eyes blacked out and carrying a spade.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2015
His partner in crime, Alex Marin y Kall, is better known as "ese wey", Mexican Spanish for "that bloke".
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2015
“Na for work wey they get me o.”
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“E get one guy wey they deport, him don come back get him paper. Na him wey go help me,” another said.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
And alle weys in that contree ben 2 kynges, and thei ben bothe Cristene: but the Kyng of Georgie is in subieccioun to the grete Chane.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 09 Asia, Part II by Hakluyt, Richard
It's a peety ye couldna exert it in ither weys.'
From Betty Grier by Waugh, Joseph Laing
It was a treat in mair weys than ane.
From My Man Sandy by Salmond, J. B.
And to tho ydoles, thei offren alle weys hyre first mylk of hire bestes, and also of hire metes, and of hire drynkes, before thei eten.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 09 Asia, Part II by Hakluyt, Richard
Also whan thei wille make hire ydoles, or an ymage of ony of hire frendes, for to have remembrance of hym, thei maken alle weys the ymage alle naked, with outen any maner of clothinge.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 09 Asia, Part II by Hakluyt, Richard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
