peise

English edit

From Middle English peysen, from Anglo-Norman peiser, peser and Middle French peser, from Latin pēnsāre (literally “weigh”). Doublet with poise.

peise (third-person singular simple present peises, present participle peising, simple past and past participle peised)

(obsolete) To weigh or measure the weight of; to poise.
(obsolete, figuratively) To weigh or take the measure of (an immaterial object).
(obsolete, figuratively) To weigh down, retard

peise (plural peises)

(obsolete, dialectal, UK) A weight; a poise.
- c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “(please specify the passus number)”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...], London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC:
  To weigh pence with a peise.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
(obsolete) A heavy blow, an impact.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  Great Ptolomæe it for his lemans sake / Ybuilded all of glasse, by Magicke powre, / And also it impregnable did make; / Yet when his loue was false, he with a peaze it brake.

Oxford English Dictionary [edition?]
“peise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Works of William Shakespeare; Victoria edition. Macmillan & Co 1901. Vol III; Glossary; p 638

peise