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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