weed

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English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Old English wēod. Cognate with Dutch wied (“unwanted plant, weed”).

Noun [edit]

weed (plural weeds)

  1. (countable) Any plant growing in cultivated ground to the injury of the crop or desired vegetation, or to the disfigurement of the place; an unsightly, useless, or injurious plant.
    If it isn't in a straight line or marked with a label, it's a weed.
  2. (countable) A species of plant considered harmful to the environment or regarded as a nuisance.
  3. Short for duckweed
  4. (uncountable, slang) Marijuana.
  5. (obsolete, uncountable, slang) Tobacco.
  6. (obsolete, countable) A cigar.
  7. (obsolete, countable) A horse unfit to breed from.
  8. (countable, UK, informal) A puny person; one who has with little physical strength.
  9. (countable, Scotland) A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which attacks women in childbed.
  10. (uncountable, archaic or obsolete) Underbrush; low shrubs.
  11. (countable, figuratively) Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
compounds of “weed”
Translations [edit]
unwanted plant
duckweed
informal: a puny person
tobacco
a cigar
slang: marijuana
sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which attacks women in childbed
underbrush; low shrubs
figuratively: something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless
an animal unfit to breed from
See also [edit]

Etymology 2 [edit]

From Old English wēodian.

Verb [edit]

weed (third-person singular simple present weeds, present participle weeding, simple past and past participle weeded)

  1. To remove unwanted vegetation from a cultivated area.
    I weeded my flower bed.
Translations [edit]
remove weeds from
See also [edit]

Etymology 3 [edit]

From Old English wǣd, from Proto-Germanic. Compare Dutch lijnwaad, gewaad.

Noun [edit]

weed (plural weeds)

  1. (archaic) A garment or piece of clothing.
  2. (archaic) Clothing collectively; clothes, dress.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5 Scene 3
      DON PEDRO. Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds;
      And then to Leonato's we will go.
      CLAUDIO. And Hymen now with luckier issue speed's,
      Than this for whom we rend'red up this woe!
    • 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
      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.
  3. (archaic) widow's weeds Female mourning apparel
Translations [edit]
(archaic) apparel

Etymology 4 [edit]

From the verb wee.

Verb [edit]

weed

  1. simple past tense and past participle of wee

References [edit]

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