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Webster 1913 Edition

Weed

Weed

(wēd)
,
Noun.
[OE.
wede
, AS.
wǣde
,
wǣd
; akin to OS.
wādi
,
giwādi
, OFries,
wēde
,
wēd
, OD.
wade
, OHG.
wāt
, Icel.
vāð
, Zend
vadh
to clothe.]
1.
A garment; clothing; especially, an upper or outer garment.
“Lowly shepherd’s weeds.”
Spenser.
“Woman's weeds.”
Shak.
“This beggar woman's weed.”
Tennyson.
He on his bed sat, the soft
weeds
he wore
Put off.
Chapman.
2.
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
.
In a mourning
weed
, with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing.
Milton.

Weed

,
Noun.
A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which attacks women in childbed.
[Scot.]

Weed

,
Noun.
[OE.
weed
,
weod
, AS.
weód
,
wiód
, akin to OS.
wiod
, LG.
woden
the stalks and leaves of vegetables D.
wieden
to weed, OS.
wiodōn
.]
1.
Underbrush; low shrubs.
[Obs. or Archaic]
One rushing forth out of the thickest
weed
.
Spenser.
A wild and wanton pard . . .
Crouched fawning in the
weed
.
Tennyson.
2.
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.
Too much manuring filled that field with
weeds
.
Denham.
☞ The word has no definite application to any particular plant, or species of plants. Whatever plants grow among corn or grass, in hedges, or elsewhere, and are useless to man, injurious to crops, or unsightly or out of place, are denominated weeds.
3.
Fig.: Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.
4.
(Stock Breeding)
An animal unfit to breed from.
5.
Tobacco, or a cigar.
[Slang]
Weed hook
,
a hook used for cutting away or extirpating weeds.
Tusser.

Weed

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Weeded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Weeding
.]
[AS.
weódian
. See 3d
Weed
.]
1.
To free from noxious plants; to clear of weeds;
as, to
weed
corn or onions; to
weed
a garden.
2.
To take away, as noxious plants; to remove, as something hurtful; to extirpate; – commonly used with
out
;
as, to
weed out
inefficiency from an enterprise
.
“Weed up thyme.”
Shak.
Wise fathers . . .
weeding
from their children ill things.
Ascham.
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to
weed
it out.
Bacon.
3.
To free from anything hurtful or offensive.
He
weeded
the kingdom of such as were devoted to Elaiana.
Howell.
4.
(Stock Breeding)
To reject as unfit for breeding purposes.

Webster 1828 Edition

Weed

WEED

,
Noun.
1.
The general name of any plant that is useless or noxious. The word therefore has no definite application to any particular plant or species of plants; but whatever plants grow among corn, grass, or in hedges, and which are either of no use to man or injurious to crops, are denominated weeds.
2.
Any kind of unprofitable substance among ores in mines, as mundic or marcasite.

WEED

,
Noun.
1.
Properly, a garment, as in Spenser, but now used only in the plural, weeds, for the mourning apparel of a female; as a widows weeds.
2.
An upper garment.

WEED

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To free from noxious plants; as, to weed corn or onions; to weed a garden.
2.
To take away, as noxious plants; as, to weed a writing of invectives.
3.
To free from any thing hurtful or offensive; as, to weed a kingdom of bad subjects.
4.
To root out vice; as, to weed the hearts of the young.

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