from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Worth \Worth\, a. [OE. worth, wur[thorn], AS. weor[eth], wurE;
akin to OFries. werth, OS. wer[eth], D. waard, OHG. werd, G.
wert, werth, Icel. ver[eth]r, Sw. v[aum]rd, Dan. v[ae]rd,
Goth. wa['i]rps, and perhaps to E. wary. Cf. {Stalwart},
{Ware} an article of merchandise, {Worship}.]
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1. Valuable; of worthy; estimable; also, worth while. [Obs.]
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It was not worth to make it wise. --Chaucer.
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2. Equal in value to; furnishing an equivalent for; proper to
be exchanged for.
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A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats. --Shak.
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All our doings without charity are nothing worth.
--Bk. of Com.
Prayer.
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If your arguments produce no conviction, they are
worth nothing to me. --Beattie.
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3. Deserving of; -- in a good or bad sense, but chiefly in a
good sense.
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To reign is worth ambition, though in hell.
--Milton.
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This is life indeed, life worth preserving.
--Addison.
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4. Having possessions equal to; having wealth or estate to
the value of.
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At Geneva are merchants reckoned worth twenty
hundred crowns. --Addison.
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{Worth while}, or {Worth the while}. See under {While}, n.
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