(a) Feeble of mind; wanting discernment; lacking vigor; spiritless; as, a weak king or magistrate.
To think every thing disputable is a proof of a weak mind and captious temper.
Beattie.
Origen was never weak enough to imagine that there were two Gods.
Waterland. (b) Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish.
If evil thence ensue,
She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
Milton. (c) Not having full confidence or conviction; not decided or confirmed; vacillating; wavering.
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom. xiv. 1. (d) Not able to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable; as,
weak resolutions; weak virtue.
Guard thy heart
On this weak side, where most our nature fails.
Addison. (e) Wanting in power to influence or bind; as, weak ties; a weak sense of honor of duty.
(f) Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained; as, a weak argument
or case. "Convinced of his weak arguing." Milton.
A case so weak . . . hath much persisted in.
Hooker. (g) Wanting in point or vigor of expression; as, a weak sentence; a weak style.
(h) Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble. "Weak prayers." Shak.
(i) Lacking in elements of political strength; not wielding or having authority or energy; deficient in the
resources that are essential to a ruler or nation; as, a weak monarch; a weak government or state.
I must make fair weather yet awhile,
Till Henry be more weak, and I more strong.
Shak. (k) (Stock Exchange) Tending towards lower prices; as, a weak market.
3. (Gram.) (a) Pertaining to, or designating, a verb which forms its preterit (imperfect) and past participle
by adding to the present the suffix -ed, -d, or the variant form -t; as in the verbs abash, abashed; abate,
abated; deny, denied; feel, felt. See Strong, 19 (a). (b) Pertaining to, or designating, a noun in Anglo-
Saxon, etc., the stem of which ends in -n. See Strong, 19 (b).
Weak is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, weak-eyed, weak-handed, weak-
hearted, weak-minded, weak-spirited, and the like.
Weak conjugation (Gram.), the conjugation of weak verbs; — called also new, or regular, conjugation,
and distinguished from the old, or irregular, conjugation. — Weak declension (Anglo- Saxon Gram.),
the declension of weak nouns; also, one of the declensions of adjectives. — Weak side, the side or
aspect of a person's character or disposition by which he is most easily affected or influenced; weakness; infirmity.
— Weak sore or ulcer (Med.), a sore covered with pale, flabby, sluggish granulations.
Weak
(Weak) v. t. & i. [Cf. AS. wcan. wacian. See Weak, a.] To make or become weak; to weaken.
[R.]
Never to seek weaking variety.
Marston. Weaken
(Weak"en) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Weakened ; p. pr. & vb. n. Weakening.]
