The Collaborative International Dictionary
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["a]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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Valuable; of worthy; estimable; also, worth while. [Obs.]
It was not worth to make it wise.
--Chaucer. -
Equal in value to; furnishing an equivalent for; proper to be exchanged for.
A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats.
--Shak.All our doings without charity are nothing worth.
--Bk. of Com. Prayer.If your arguments produce no conviction, they are worth nothing to me.
--Beattie. -
Deserving of; -- in a good or bad sense, but chiefly in a good sense.
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell.
--Milton.This is life indeed, life worth preserving.
--Addison. -
Having possessions equal to; having wealth or estate to the value of.
At Geneva are merchants reckoned worth twenty hundred crowns.
--Addison.Worth while, or Worth the while. See under While, n.
Usage examples of "worth the while".
It was worth the while, if only to feel the wind blow on your cheek freely, and see the waves run, and remember the life of mariners.
Even if we had time to spare, which we have not, most certainly not, such a miserable prize would not have been worth the while.