Etymology From Middle English weed, weod, from Old English wēod (“weed”), from Proto-West Germanic *weud (“weed”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Jood (“weed”), West Frisian wjûd (“weed”), Dutch wied (“unwanted plant, weed”), German Low German Weed (“weed”), Old High German wiota (“fern”). See also woad.
Any plant unwanted at the place where and at the time when it is growing.
If it isn't in a straight line or marked with a label, it's a weed.
The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:
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Some of the weeds that cause an undesirable flavor in milk are: onion, tarweed, scaleweed, garlic, mustard, pepper grass.1944, Oregon. Agricultural experiment station, Circular of Information - Issues 323-395, page 3:
I found down at the side of the house the remains of what must have once been a kitchen garden. Everything was choked with weeds and scutch grass, but the outlines of bed and drill were still there.1993, John Banville, Ghosts:
one rushing forth out of the thickest weed1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4:
A wild and wanton pard[…]/ Crouched fawning in the weed.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Œnone”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 128:
Hold up, hey / For my niggas who be actin' too bold, take a seat / Hope you ready for the next episode / Hey, hey, hey, hey / Smoke weed every day1999, Dr. Dre, “The Next Episode”, in 2001:
And I predict you will laugh harder than ever. I’m not saying I’m any funnier. I’m saying weed is now legal in D.C.2015 March 14, Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at the 2015 Gridiron Dinner:
"If ever you smoke, my dear aunt (and I am told that many women take a quiet weed under the rose), be very careful how you choose your cigars."1862, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret:
7
A weak horse, which is therefore unfit to breed from.
8
UK, Informal A puny person; one who has little physical strength.
9
Figuratively Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.
Etymology From Middle English weeden, weden, from Old English wēodian (“to weed”), from Proto-Germanic *weudōną (“to uproot, weed”). Cognate with West Frisian wjûde, wjudde (“to weed”), Dutch wieden (“to weed”), German Low German weden (“to weed”).
1
To remove unwanted vegetation from a cultivated area (especially grass).
I weeded my flower bed.
If these plants are young, the weeders do not see them; and in this case, when they grow larger, the land must be again weeded. But the small plants, which are not less prejudicial, such as the wild Fitch, the wild Oat, Darnel, Fennel-flower, Knot-grass, Restharrow, Fox-tail, the several sorts of Bindweed, (Convolvulus) and all the small Poppies, remain in the field.1764, Duhamel du Monceau, translated by Philip Miller, The Elements of Agriculture, volume 1, page 265:
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One cool morning last April in Pyongyang, North Korea, I watched a woman squat over a patch of grass along the Daedong River. A large handkerchief covering her head was knotted below her chin, encircling her sunburned and wrinkled face. As a van passed by blaring patriotic hymns from the oversize speakers on its roof, she weeded the riverbank. In North Korea, keeping the neighborhood clean is a civic duty. But she was far from any neighborhood. She was gathering the weeds for food.2017 December 17, Kee B. Park, “Amid Talk of Nuclear Weapons, North Koreans Go Hungry”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2017, Opinion:
2
Figuratively To pilfer the best items from a collection.
She now regretted much having had the case taken to the duke's, for surely it might have been weeded to very good purpose, and no one the wiser.1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 183:
3
To systematically remove materials from a library collection based on a set of criteria.
Library science
We usually weed romance novels that haven't circulated in over a year.
Librarians overwhelmingly believe that weeding increases use of books and patron satisfaction.2003, Juris Dilevko, Lisa Gottlieb, “Weed to achieve: a fundamental part of the public library mission?”, in Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services, volume 27, number 1, →DOI, page 73:
Etymology From Middle English wede, from Old English wǣd (“dress, attire, clothing, garment”), from Proto-Germanic *wēdiz, from which also wad, wadmal. Cognate with Dutch lijnwaad, Dutch gewaad, German Wat.
Lie here ye weedes that I diſdaine to weare, This compleat armor, and this curtle-axe Are adiuncts more beſeeming Tamburlaine.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
Prince [Don Pedro] Come let vs hence, and put on other weedes, / And then to Leonatoes we will goe. / Claudio And Hymen now with luckier iſſue ſpeeds, / Then this for whom we rendred vp this woe. Than this for whom we rend'red up this woe!1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
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Shee, in a watchet vveed, with manie a curious waue, / VVhich as a princelie gift great Amphitrite gaue; […]1612, Michael Drayton, “The Fift Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 75:
These two dignified persons were followed by their respective attendants, and at a more humble distance by their guide, whose figure had nothing more remarkable than it derived from the usual weeds of a pilgrim.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter IV, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 65:
In words, like weeds, I’ll wrap me o’er, Like coarsest clothes against the cold: But that large grief which these enfold Is given in outline and no more.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto V”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
His mother o'er her barm-cloth wide / Gazed forward somewhat timidly / The new-comer's bright weed to see.1870, William Morris, “September: The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part III, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 80:
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Archaic An article of dress worn in token of grief; a mourning garment or badge.
[…] he was beat and retreated back to his old encampment with his weed on his hat dragging on the ground, with the loss of more than nineteen hundred men; […]1888, Duane Hamilton Hurd, History of Essex County, Massachusetts, page 1183:
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Archaic Especially in the plural as widow's weeds: (female) mourning apparel.
O Sir, if we could but see the shape of our deare Mother England, as poets are wont to give a personal form to what they please, how would she appeare, think ye, but in a mourning weed, with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing from her eyes, to behold so many of her children expos'd at once, and thrust from things of dearest necessity, because their conscience could not assent to things which the Bishops thought indifferent.1641 May, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC; republished in Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC, page 57:
Poor Girl! put on thy stifling widow’s weed, / And ’scape at once from Hope’s accursed bands; […]1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, stanza XXIX, page 63:
weed
noun
Etymology From Scots weid, weed. The longer form weidinonfa, wytenonfa (Old Scots wedonynpha) is attested since the 1500s. Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language analyses the longer form as a compound meaning "onfa(ll) of a weed", whereas the Scottish National Dictionary/DSL considers the short form a derivative of the longer form, and derives its first element from Old English wēdan (“to be mad or delirious”), from wōd (“mad, enraged”).
1
Scotland A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which befalls those who are about to give birth, are giving birth, or have recently given birth or miscarried or aborted.
The patient […] aborted between the second and third month; […] felt herself so well on the second day after, that she went to the washing-green; and, on her return home in the evening, was seized with a violent rigor, which, by herself and those around her, was considered as the forerunner of a weed.1822, William Campbell, “Observations on the Disease usually termed Puerperal Fever, with Cases”, in The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 18: