Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK Und.) of a thief, to have moved into serious crimes, which will make it worth his arrest.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 279: weigh forty: term used by the police, who are as well versed in flash as the thieves themselves. It is often customary with the traps, to wink at depredations of a petty nature, and for which no reward would attach, and to let a thief reign unmolested till he commits a capital crime. They then grab him, and, on conviction, share (in many cases) a reward of 401., or upwards; therefore these gentry will say, Let him alone at present, we don’t want him till he weighs his weight, meaning, of course, forty pounds.
[1827		Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 44: She’ll surely turn snitch for the forty / That her Jack may be regular weight].
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 14: She’ll surely turn snitch for the forty – / That her Jack may be regular weight† [† Some few years since, forty pounds were allowed upon the capital conviction of any robber, which was called ‘blood money!’ In many instances, it is said, that several criminals escaped, because they did not weigh forty! That is – the thieves had not done enough to hang them].

see separate entry.

1. (orig. Aus.) to attack verbally or physically, to criticize.

1921		Albury Banner (NSW) 1 July 13/3: While we were arguing things out in the dorm., Flagg had managed to squirt a plentiful supply of red ink at me, and I had hastily rubbed my hand across my face before weighing into him.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 81: Weigh into someone, to attack, wade into a person in a fight.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 45: The many other terms for fighting give an idea of the importance of this activity in larrikin life. bump, comb down, dish, dong, tob, spike, sort out, stonker, rip into, do, go the knuckle on, weigh into, wipe and quilt.

2. (US und.) to exploit a victim.

1965

H. Williamson Hustler 156: I beat him out of three or four dollars [...] But Sam told me the man would lose twenty-six or twenty-seven dollars a day! I wanted to weigh myself into him! [f.n.] [f.n. To ‘hook’ him].

1. (UK Und.) to sentence a convicted prisoner; thus weighed off, sent off to prison.

1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 301: Weighed Off, To Be: To be brought up before an officer and punished.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 270: To-morrow morning when the bench is weighing you off say ‘Please, your Worship.’.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 255: Weighed off. Sentenced.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 169: Weighed off about twenty blokes all the one afternoon.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 74: When they’ve weighed me off from here (meaning the Old Bailey) I’ll [...] go to Brixton.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 15: Sneed had almost felt sorry for Jack Manso when he was weighed off by Mr Justice Keaton.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 69: With your form they’d weigh you off for seven if you squashed a fly.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 149: ‘How long you doing?’ ‘Two.’ ‘Just got weighed off?’ ‘You said it.’.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 471: Speaking to reporters after the lads were weighed off, [he] called them the ‘two most dangerous robbers in the country.’.

2. to estimate, to consider as.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 125: So they weigh him off as a nutter.

3. (also weigh) to injure, to hurt.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 175: He looked real bad, really fuckin weighed. I thought he might be, you know, dead.

4. to deal with.

1984

‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 15: OK, George, let’s get out of the rain and weigh him off.

to repay a favour.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 87: Cody has put some very tidy business our way and I’ve always weighed him on for it.

to commit a capital offence.

1793		Bacchanalian Mag. 43: For while you don’t quite weigh your weight, / You may defy both small and great.
1828		‘The Song of the Young Prig’ in C. Hindley James Catnach (1878) 172: And though I don’t work capital, / And do not weigh my weight, sirs.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 96: You have turned up a trump (though I well weigh my weight) / And the forty is yours, though the halter’s my fate.
1837		N.Y. Herald 6 Apr. 2/5: Joe Lyon, and Jim Banta, two old stole [sic] pigeons, having ‘weighed their weight,’ as it is termed in flash parlance — meaning that they have been allowed to escape through the fingers of the police often enough.
1884		A. Griffiths Chronicles of Newgate 331: Police officers ignored them [i.e. juvenile thieves] till they ‘weighed their weight’ or had been guilty of a forty-pound crime.

1. to apportion shares.

1895

Derby Mercury 9 Jan. 8/3: And I makes him (Chris) weigh out (give me) my share.

2. to hand over money.

1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 119: Once again did the ingenious Teuton weigh out.
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Oct. 14/3: The Lord won’t send down any o’ His blanky rain to feed my blanky sheep, and He expects me to weigh out my blanky quids to feed His blanky parsons. It’s a blanky imposition.
1915		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Sept. 26/1: What gave me the rift in the gizzard was that one of the mob booted the carpet off me arf-a-quid lid, and another potted a new stook and four jim that I was goin’ to weigh out for me new clobber.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 218: That ain’t no reason why I should keep on weighing out with dough for them.

see separate entry.