weed
/wiːd/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of wee
Forms weeds weeding weeded
- noun (countable) 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.”
- noun (uncountable, archaic or obsolete) Underbrush; low shrubs.
- noun (uncountable, informal, originally slang) Cannabis.
- noun (with the, uncountable, colloquial) Tobacco.
- noun (obsolete, countable, colloquial) A cigar.
- noun (countable) A weak horse, which is therefore unfit to breed from.
- noun (countable, UK, informal) A puny person; one who has little physical strength.
- noun (countable, figuratively) Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.
- verb (transitive) To remove unwanted vegetation from a cultivated area (especially grass). “I weeded my flower bed.”
- verb (figurative, transitive) To pilfer the best items from a collection.
- verb (library science, transitive) To systematically remove materials from a library collection based on a set of criteria. “We usually weed romance novels that haven't circulated in over a year.”
- noun (archaic) A garment or piece of clothing.
- noun (archaic) Clothing collectively; clothes, dress.
- noun (archaic) An article of dress worn in token of grief; a mourning garment or badge. “He wore a weed on his hat.”
- noun (archaic) A hatband.
- noun (archaic) Especially in the plural as widow's weeds: (female) mourning apparel.
- noun (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.
- noun (Scotland) Lymphangitis in a horse.
- proper noun A city in Siskiyou County, California, United States.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
bhang benj boo broccoli bud buddha cannabis cheeba choof daccha dank devil's lettuce djamba doja doobage dope endo gage ganja ganj mourning band pot grass green goddess sess sens smoke skunk locoweed Mary Jane
Antonyms
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.
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”).
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.
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A garment; clothing; especially, an upper or outer garment.
- noun An article of dress worn in token of grief; a mourning garment or badge; as, he wore a weed on his hat; especially, in the plural, mourning garb, as of a woman; as, a widow's weeds.
- noun A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which attacks women in childbed. [Scot.]
- noun Underbrush; low shrubs. [Obs. or Archaic]
Etymology [OE. wede, AS. w, w; akin to OS. wadi, giwadi, OFries, w, w, OD. wade, OHG. wat, Icel. va, Zend vadh to clothe.]
Etymology [OE. weed, weod, AS. weód, wiód, akin to OS. wiod, LG. woden the stalks and leaves of vegetables D. wieden to weed, OS. wiodon.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “weed”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details