Worth

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Worth, v. i. [OE. worthen, wurþen, to become, AS. weor&edh;an; akin to OS. wer&edh;an, D. worden, G. werden, OHG. werdan, Icel. ver&edh;a, Sw. varda, Goth. waírpan, L. vertere to turn, Skr. v\'f0t, v. i., to turn, to roll, to become. √143. Cf. Verse, -ward, Weird.].

 To be; to become; to betide; -- now used only in the phrases, woe worth the day, woe worth the man, etc., in which the verb is in the imperative, and the nouns day, man, etc., are in the dative. Woe be to the day, woe be to the man, etc., are equivalent phrases.  [1913 Webster]
"I counsel . . . to let the cat worthe."  [1913 Webster]
"He worth upon [got upon] his steed gray."  [1913 Webster]

Worth, a. [OE. worth, wurþ, AS. weor&edh;, wurE; akin to OFries. werth, OS. wer&edh;, D. waard, OHG. werd, G. wert, werth, Icel. ver&edh;r, Sw. värd, Dan. værd, Goth. waírps, and perhaps to E. wary. Cf. Stalwart, Ware an article of merchandise, Worship.].

•  Valuable; of worthy; estimable; also, worth while.  [1913 Webster]

  "It was not worth to make it wise."  [1913 Webster]
•  Equal in value to; furnishing an equivalent for; proper to be exchanged for.  [1913 Webster]

  "A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats."  [1913 Webster]

  "All our doings without charity are nothing worth."  [1913 Webster]

  "If your arguments produce no conviction, they are worth nothing to me."  [1913 Webster]
•  Deserving of; -- in a good or bad sense, but chiefly in a good sense.  [1913 Webster]

  "To reign is worth ambition, though in hell."  [1913 Webster]

  "This is life indeed, life worth preserving."  [1913 Webster]
•  Having possessions equal to; having wealth or estate to the value of.  [1913 Webster]

  "At Geneva are merchants reckoned worth twenty hundred crowns."  [1913 Webster]

Worth while, or Worth the while. See under While, n.

Worth, n. [OE. worth, wurþ, AS. weor&edh;, wur&edh;; weor&edh;, wur&edh;, adj. See Worth, a.].

•  That quality of a thing which renders it valuable or useful; sum of valuable qualities which render anything useful and sought; value; hence, often, value as expressed in a standard, as money; equivalent in exchange; price.  [1913 Webster]

  "What 's worth in anything
  But so much money as 't will bring?"  [1913 Webster]
•  Value in respect of moral or personal qualities; excellence; virtue; eminence; desert; merit; usefulness; as, a man or magistrate of great worth.  [1913 Webster]

  "To be of worth, and worthy estimation."  [1913 Webster]

  "As none but she, who in that court did dwell,
  Could know such worth, or worth describe so well."  [1913 Webster]

  "To think how modest worth neglected lies."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Desert; merit; excellence; price; rate.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Worth, adj. & n.
--predic.adj. (governing a noun like a preposition)
1 of a value equivalent to (is worth {pound}50; is worth very little).
2 such as to justify or repay; deserving; bringing compensation for (worth doing; not worth the trouble).
3 possessing or having property amounting to (is worth a million pounds).
--n.
1 what a person or thing is worth; the (usu. specified) merit of (of great worth; persons of worth).
2 the equivalent of money in a commodity (ten pounds' worth of petrol).

Idiom

for all one is worth colloq. with one's utmost efforts; without reserve. for what it is worth without a guarantee of its truth or value. worth it colloq. worth the time or effort spent. worth one's salt see SALT. worth while (or one's while) see WHILE.

Etymology

OE w(e)orth

THESAURUS

Worth

accent, account, ad valorem, advantage, advantageousness, agreeableness, appraised, approbation, approval, assessed, auspiciousness, avail, behalf, behoof, beneficialness, benefit, benevolence, benignity, blessed with, caliber, class, cogency, concern, concernment, consequence, consequentiality, consideration, convenience, conversion factor, credit, dearness, desert, emphasis, enfeoffed, esteem, estimation, evaluated, excellence, expedience, extraordinary worth, face, face value, fairness, favor, favorableness, fineness, first-rateness, fortune, good for, goodliness, goodness, grace, great price, great value, having, having and holding, healthiness, helpfulness, high order, high rank, holding, honor, import, importance, in possession of, interest, invaluableness, kindness, landed, landholding, landowning, mark, market value, master of, materiality, merit, moment, net worth, niceness, note, occupying, owning, par value, paramountcy, pennyworth, percentage, perfection, pleasantness, point, possessed of, possessing, precedence, preciousness, preeminence, price, priced, pricelessness, primacy, priority, prized, pro rata, profit, profitableness, propertied, property, property-owning, quality, rate, rated, regard, resources, respect, rewardingness, riches, seized of, self-importance, service, significance, skillfulness, soundness, stature, stress, substance, superiority, supremacy, tenured, use, usefulness, utility, validity, valuableness, valuation, value, value received, valued, valued at, virtue, virtuousness, weight, wholeness

ROGET THESAURUS

Worth

Utility

N utility, usefulness, efficacy, efficiency, adequacy, service, use, stead, avail, help, applicability, subservience, function, value, worth, money's worth, productiveness, cui bono, utilization, step in the right direction, common weal, commonwealth public good, public interest, utilitarianism, useful, of use, serviceable, proficuous, good for, subservient, conducive, subsidiary, advantageous, profitable, gainful, remunerative, worth one's salt, valuable, prolific, adequate, efficient, efficacious, effective, effectual, expedient, applicable, available, ready, handy, at hand, tangible, commodious, adaptable, of all work, usefully, pro bono publico.

Goodness

N goodness, excellence, merit, virtue, value, worth, price, super-excellence, supereminence, superiority, perfection, coup de maitre, masterpiece, chef d'ouvre, prime, flower, cream, elite, pick, A, nonesuch, nonpareil, creme de la creme, flower of the flock, cock of the roost, salt of the earth, champion, prodigy, tidbit, gem, gem of the first water, bijou, precious stone, jewel, pearl, diamond, ruby, brilliant, treasure, good thing, rara avis, one in a thousand, beneficence, good man, harmless, hurtless, unobnoxious, innocuous, innocent, inoffensive, beneficial, valuable, of value, serviceable, advantageous, edifying, profitable, salutary, favorable, propitious fair, good, good as gold, excellent, better, superior, above par, nice, fine, genuine, best, choice, select, picked, elect, recherche, rare, priceless, unparagoned, unparalleled, superlatively, good, bully, crackajack, giltedged, superfine, superexcellent, of the first water, first-rate, first-class, high- wrought, exquisite, very best, crack, prime, tiptop, capital, cardinal, standard, inimitable, admirable, estimable, praiseworthy, pleasing, couleur de rose, precious, of great price, costly, worth its weight in gold, worth a Jew's eye, priceless, invaluable, inestimable, precious as the apple of the eye, tolerable, up to the mark, unexceptionable, unobjectionable, satisfactory, tidy, in good condition, in fair condition, fresh, sound, beneficially, well, Jewels five words long, long may such goodness live!, the luxury of doing good.

Possession

N possession, seizin, seisin, ownership, occupancy, hold, holding, tenure, tenancy, feodality, dependency, villenage, villeinage, socage, chivalry, knight service, exclusive possession, impropriation, monopoly, retention, prepossession, preoccupancy, nine points of the law, corner, usucaption, future possession, heritage, inheritance, heirship, reversion, fee, seigniority, primogeniture, ultimogeniture, futures contract, warrant, put, call, option, right of first refusal, bird in hand, uti possidetis, chose in possession, possessing, worth, possessed of, seized of, master of, in possession of, usucapient, endowed with, blest with, instinct with, fraught with, laden with, charged with, possessed, on hand, by one, in hand, in store, in stock, in one's hands, in one's grasp, in one's possession, at one's command, at one's disposal, one's own, unsold, unshared, entbehre gern was du nicht hast, meum et tuum, tuum est.

Value

N worth, rate, value, intrinsic value, quality, par value, valuation, appraisal, assessment, appraisement, price current, market price, quotation, fair price, going price, what it will fetch, what the market will bear, money's worth, penny's worth, worth, cost (price), valuable, estimable, worthwhile, worthy, full of worth, precious (expensive), worth the price, worth a king's ransom, accountants who know the price of everything and t, worth, rate, value, intrinsic value, quality, par value, valuation, appraisal, assessment, appraisement, price current, market price, quotation, fair price, going price, what it will fetch, what the market will bear, money's worth, penny's worth, worth, cost (price), valuable, estimable, worthwhile, worthy, full of worth, precious (expensive), worth the price, worth a king's ransom, accountants who know the price of everything and t.

Virtue

N virtue, virtuousness, morality, moral rectitude, integrity, nobleness, morals, ethics, cardinal virtues, merit, worth, desert, excellence, credit, self-control, self-denial, well-doing, good actions, good behavior, discharge of duty, fulfillment of duty, performance of duty, well-spent life, innocence, virtuous, good, innocent, meritorious, deserving, worthy, desertful, correct, dutiful, duteous, moral, right, righteous, right- minded, well-intentioned, creditable, laudable, commendable, praiseworthy, above all praise, beyond all praise, excellent, admirable, sterling, pure, noble, whole-souled, exemplary, matchless, peerless, saintly, saint-like, heaven-born, angelic, seraphic, godlike, virtuously, adj, e merito, esse quam videri bonus malebat, Schonheit vergeht Tugend besteht, virtue the greatest of all monarchies, virtus laudatur et alget, virtus vincit invidiam.