weed 
Sir Rufns puffed his own weed in solitude, strolling up 
and down the terrace. 
H. James, Jr., Harper's Slas., LXXVII. 88. 
Angola weed, an archil-plant, Rmnulina /ur/vracea, 
growing in Angola, a district on the western coast of Africa. 
— Astblna-weed, Lobelia inJtatOy Indian tohacco. — Can- 
cer-weed, a name given to a wild sage, Salvia Itjrata, 
to the rattlesnake-plantain, Ooodyera pnlfescens, and to 
a species of rattlesnake-root, Prenantheg alba. [V. S.] — 
Consumptlve's-weed. See eoiisumptiBe.— Cross-weed, 
a plant of the cruciferous genus hiplotaxis. — 'EnaetiCt 
Frencli, guinea-hen weed. See the qualifying words. 
— Jamestown weedt. See jimson-wced and xtramoni- 
ufft.— Joy-weed, a plant of the genus Altemanthera. — 
Phthisis-weed, Ludwi'jiu pahistris, water-i)in'Slane. — 
Salt-rheum weed. See s<rf(-rAeum.— Soldier's weed. 
Piper aiigwdifQlium, matico. — Turpentine-weed, the 
rosin-weed, Silphiutn laciniatum. — YaW-weed, iieeMo- 
rinda. (See basil-need, bindweed, bishop's-weed, breastweed, 
biitteriveed, carpet-weed, dyer's-weed, joepye-weed, knap- 
weed, hiwttceedy lake-weed, lienrice-weed, loco-weed, mat- 
weed, Mauritius-weed, viermaid-weed, milkweed, morass- 
weed, mutnceed, neckweed, oreweed, trumpetweed, tumble- 
weed, winter weed, yellow-weed.) 
weed^ (wed), c. [< HE. weeden, toeoien, < AS. 
weodiaii, weed, = D. wieden = LG. tcedeti, loe- 
en = G. dial, icietcn, weed: see weed^, «.] I. 
trails. 1. To free from weeds or noxious plants. 
There were <ilso a few species of antique and hereditary 
flowers, in no very flourishing condition, but scrupulously 
weedetl. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vi. 
2. To take away, as noxious plants; remove 
what is injurious, oifensive, or unseemly; ex- 
tirpate. 
Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart 
A root of ancient envy. Shak., Cor., iv. .5. 108. 
We'll join to weed them out. B. Jonson, Alchemist, v, 1. 
3. To free from anything hurtful or offensive. 
Heweeded the Kingdom of such as were devoted to Elai- 
ana. Howell, Vocall Forrest, p. 47. 
II. iiiirtiii.s. To root up and remove weeds, or 
anything resembling weeds. 
Thei coruen here copes and conrtepies hem made. 
And wenten .as workmen to wcdi-n and mowen ; 
Al for drede of here deth, suche dyntes gaf Hunger. 
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 186. 
There .are also in the plains and rich low grounds of the 
freshes, abundance of hops, which yield their product with- 
out any labor of the husbandman, in weediny, hilling, or 
poling. Beverley, Hist. Virginia, iv. If 17. 
■weed^t. A reduced form of weeded, past par- 
ticiple of wced^. 
■weed^ (wed), II. [< ME. wede, weeds, < AS. wxde, 
ueut., wsed, f., a garment, =OS. icar^t = OPries. 
wede, wed = MD. loade, waede, a garment, = 
OHG. MHG. wdt, elotliiug, accoutrements, ar- 
mor, G. obs. wat (ef. G. leinwand, linen cloth, 
canvas, with interlopiug n, by false analogy 
with (fewatid, garment, < OHG. MHG. Iluwdt = 
AS. Uiiwied) = leel. vdth, a piece of stufif or 
cloth, also a garment (see wad^, wadmal); cf. 
Goth, (jii-widan. (pret. ijawath), bind together; 
Zend y vudli, clothe.] A garment of any sort, 
especially an outer garment; hence, garments 
in general, especially the whole costume worn 
at any one time: now commonly in the plural, 
and chiefly iu the phrase widown' weeds. See 
M'iftoffl. 
He spendeth, jousteth, niiiketh festeynynges ; 
He geveth frely ofte and ehaungeth wede. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1719. 
The gret dispite which in hert he had 
Off i'romont, that in mnnkes wede was clade. 
Hum. of Partenay CE. E. T. S.), 1, S416. 
sir, know that viider simple weeds 
The gods liaue niaskt. 
Greene, Orlando Fnrioso (ed. Giosart), 1. 1130. 
weed-' ( wed ), « . [Sc . also weld ; origin obscure. ] 
1. A general name for any sudden illness from 
cold or relapse, usually accomjianied by febrile 
symptoms, taken by women after confinement 
or (luring nursing, especially milk-fever or 
inflammation of the breast. [Scotch.] — 2. 
Lymphangitis in tlie horse, characterized by 
fever and temporary swelling of the limbs. It 
appears usually after a pei-iod of inactivity. 
■weed'' (wed), 11 . [Perhaps a dial.var.of wciffhfl.J 
A heavy weight. llaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
■weeded (we'ded), a. [< veed^ + -ed^.J Over- 
grown with weeds. [Rare.] 
Weeded anil woi-n the ancient thatch 
Upon the lonely moated grange. 
Tennyson, Mariana. 
■weeder (we'der), n. [< ME. wedare, a weeding- 
hook; < K'cef?! -t- -6/-1.] 1. One who weeds, or 
frees from anything noxious. 
A weeder-owt of his ])roud adversaTJes. 
Shak., Itich. III., i. 3. 123. 
'lliese weeders thereby procnring some wages of the hus- 
bandmen t> their owners. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 437. 
2. In rif/ri., any form of hand- or horse-tool 
for uprooting or destroying weeds. The name is 
6868 
given especially to one of a class of small hand-tools hav- 
ing a series of bent teeth, a sharp steel bow set trans- 
versely, or a modified hoe-blade, etc., the object of all 
being to cut off the weeds below the surface, or to drag 
them up by the roots. 
■weeder-clips (we'der-klips), n. pi. Weeding- 
shears. Burns. [Scotch.] 
■weedery (we'der-i), n. [< weef?l -I- -ery.'] 1. 
Weeds collectively. [Rare.] 
Tile weedery which through 
The interstices of those neglected courts 
Unchecked had flourished long, and seeded there. 
Was trampled then and bruised beneath the feet. 
Southey. 
2. A place full of weeds. Imp. Diet. [Rare.] 
■weed-grown (wed'gron), a. Overgrown with 
weeds. 
■weed-hook (wed'huk), n. [= Sc. weedocTc; < 
ME. wcodliook, wiedhoc, wedlioc, < AS. wcodlioc, 
< weod, weed, + hoc, liook.] 1. A hook used 
for cutting away or extirpating weeds. Titsser, 
Husbandry. — 2. An attachment to a plow for 
bending the weeds over in front of the share 
so that they may be covered by the inverted 
sod. 
■weediness (we'di-nes), n. A weedy character 
or state : as, a garden remarkable for its iceedi- 
ness. 
■weeding (we'ding), n. [< ME. tcedynge ; verbal 
n. of toecdX, v.'] The act or process of removing 
weeds from ground. 
weeding-chisel (we'ding-ehiz/'el), n. A tool 
with a divided chisel-point for cutting the roots 
of large weeds beneath the ground. 
weeding-forceps (we'ding-for'^seps), 11. sing. 
and pi. An instrument for pulling up some 
sorts of plants in weeding, as thistles. 
■weeding-fork (we'ding-fork), «. A strong 
three-pronged fork with flat tines, used for 
clearing ground of weeds. 
■weeding-nook (we'ding-hiik), «. [< ME. we- 
dyiigc-liookc; (.weeding + liook:'] Same as wced- 
hool; 1. 
The last purgatory-flre which Go<l uses, to burn the 
thistles, . . . when the gentle influence of a sun-beam 
will not wither them, nor the weeding-hook of a short 
affliction cut them out. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 829. 
■weeding-iron (we'ding-i''''em), )(. Same as 
weeding-fork. 
■weeding-pincers (we'ding-pin''''serz), n. sing. 
and pi. Same as weeding-forceps. 
■weeding-rim (we'ding-rim), 11. [Spelled er- 
roneously weeding-rhim ; < weeding + E. dial. 
rim, remove, var. of ream'-': see reaiii^.~i An 
implement somewhat like the frame of a wheel- 
barrow, used for tearing up weeds on summer 
fallows, etc. [Local, Eng.] 
■weeding-shears (we'ding-sherz), n. sing, and 
2)1. Shears used for cutting weeds. 
■weeding-tongs (we'ding-tongz), «. sing, and 
pi. Same as weeding-forceps. 
■weeding-tool (we'ding-tol), n. An imple- 
ment for pulling up, digging up, or cutting 
weeds. 
■weedless (wed'les), a. [< w'ccrfl -f- -U'ss.'] Free 
from weeds or noxious matter. 
Weedless paradises. Donns, Anatomy of the World, i. 
■weedyl (we'di), «. l<wccd'^ + -y'^.'] 1. Having 
the character of a weed; weed-like. 
Some of them are clever in a way ; rooted fools by na- 
ture, who bear a vjeedy little blossom of wit, and suppose 
themselves to flower all over, like rhododendrons in the 
season. Z>. C. Murray, Weaker Vessel, xiv. 
2. Consisting of weeds. 
Her weedy trophies and herself 
Fell in the weeping brook. 
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. l?.";. 
Nettles, kix, and all the weedy nation. 
G. Fletcher, Christ's Triumph over Death. 
3. Abounding with weeds. Trmng. 
When the grain is weedy, we must reap high. 
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 8. 
4. Not of good blood; not of good strength 
or mettle ; scraggy ; hence, worthless, as for 
breeding or racing purposes : as, a weedy horse. 
[Slang.] 
Along the middle of the street the main business was 
horse-dealitig, and a gypsy liostler would trot out a suc- 
cession of the weediest old screws that ever kept out of 
the l<eiinels. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 625. 
weedy2 (we'di), a. [< iceed"^ + -?/!.] Clad in 
weeds, or widowsMnourning. [Rare.] 
She was as weedy as in the early days of her mouniing. 
Dickens. 
A weedy woman came sweeping up to us. 
Lonfjfellow, Journal, Oct. 16, 1848. 
weef (wef), )}. [Prob. a dial. var. of woof.'] A 
llexible toiigli sapling, or a split sapling, adapt- 
week 
ed for interweaving with others, as in the man- 
ufacture of crates. [Prov. Eng.] 
week! (wek), k. [Early mod. E. also weke ; < 
ME. weke, wike, wuke^ woke, tcouke (pi. wiken, 
wokeUf tcikes, loukesy tcokes), a week, period of 
seven days, < AS. wicCj wicu, wuce, wucu = OS. 
tcika = OFries. wike = MD. weke, D. week = 
MLG. weke, LG. weke, wek, week = OHG. wehha, 
also wohha (> Finnish wiika), MHG. woche, 
wuche, G. woche, week, = leel. vika = Sw. vecka 
= Dan. lif/e (for *vuge), a week, = Goth, wiko, 
found in the phrase wikon kunjis seinis, tr. Gr. h 
Ti) rd^ei t(p7jfiepiag avTov, L. in oi'dine viciis suse, 
' in the order of his course,' Luke i. 8, but prob. 
to be taken, in the G oth. , as *in the week or period 
of his course,' wikon appearing to mean 'suc- 
cession,' 'change,' hence 'recurrent peiiod,' 
and to be allied to Icel. vikja, turn, return, etc. : 
see weak. The collocation of the Goth, wikon 
and the L. vicis in this passage, and the resem- 
blance of foi-m, have given rise to the notion 
that the Teut. word is borrowed from the L.; 
but the L. word equiv. to wikon is ordine, and 
there is no evidence that L. *vix, vicis wq.s ever 
used in the sense ' week.'] 1 . A period of seven 
days, of which the days are numbered or named 
in like succession in every pei-iod — iu English, 
Sunday (or first day, etc.), Monday, Tuesday, 
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (or 
seventh da}'); hence, a penod of seven days. 
The week is not dependent upon any other period, as a 
subdivision of that period, but cuts across the division- 
lines of month and year alike witli its never-ending repe- 
tition. In general Jewish and Christian belief, it is founded 
on the creation of the world in six days (according to the 
account in GenesisX witli a succeeding seventh day of rest, 
specially commemorated by the Jewish rest-day, or Sab- 
bath, our Saturday. It has also been conjectured to repre- 
sent a fourth of the lunar month of about 28 days ; but no 
people is known as having made and manitained such a 
subdivision of the month. As a period and division of 
time, its use is limited to Jews and Christians (including 
also in some measure the Mohammedans, by derivation 
from these) ; but the week-day names and their succession 
are found more widely, and are of a wholly different origin ; 
they rest upon an astrological principle, wliich assigns 
each day in succession to one oi the planets as regent ; and 
tliey further involve a division of the day into 24 hours. 
If the planets are arranged in the order of their distance 
from us as held by the ancients — namely, Saturn, Jupiter, 
Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, — then, if the first hour 
of a day is allotted to Saturn, and each following hour to 
the next planet, the 25th hour, or the first of the next day, 
will fall to the Sun, the 49tli, or the first of the following 
day, to the Moon, and so to Mars, Mercui-y, Jupiter, Venus, 
in succession ; and, each planet being reckoned as regent 
of the whole day of whose flret hour it is regent, the days 
are Sun's day, Moon's day, Mai-s' day, and so on to Saturn's 
day, where the same succession is taken up anew. These 
names were unknown to, or at least never used by, the 
Jews, nor do they appear in classical Greek, nor do the 
Mohammedans employ them ; but they passed from Ko- 
mau use to European, and not only in their Latin forms, 
but also as translated into Germanic languages, the names 
of Germanic divinities being, by a rude identification, sub- 
stituted in them for those of tlie Koman, as Mars, etc., 
witliout any regard to the planets (see the names Tuesday, 
etc.); and they are found also in India, which doubtless re- 
ceived them, with the rest of its astronomy and astrology, 
from Greece and Kome. The Indian days are coincident 
with our days of the same name — that is, it is Sun's day 
there when it is our Sunday, and so on. But there ia no 
other than an astrological si^ificance belonging to the 
names there ; a week as a division of time is wholly un- 
known to botii ancient and modern India. In law, v*eekis 
sometimes construed to mean any period of seven full days, 
and sometimes to mean such a period beginning with the 
beginning of a Sunday. Tims, a requirement of "a week's 
notice" may be satisfied by the lapse of any seven con- 
secutive days, but a publication of a notice "once in each 
week for tliree weeks liefore the sale" is held to contem- 
plate three weeks reckoned as from Sunday to Sunday, not 
merely 21 days before the sale. Abbreviated w., ick. 
By twyne the Cyteeof Darke and theCytee of Raphane 
ys a Ry vere, that men clepen Sabatorje. For on the Satur- 
day hyt renneth faste ; and alle the Wooke elles hyt stond- 
eth stylle, and renneth nouzt or lytel. 
MandevUle, Travels, p. 1^. 
I shal namore come here this vn/ke. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 430, 
Nor can I go much to counti-y -houses for the same rea- 
son. Say what they will, ladies do not like you to smoke 
in their bed-rooms ; their silly little noses scent out the 
odour upon the chintz, weeks after you have left them. 
Thackeray^ Fitz- Boodle's Confessions. 
2. The six working-days of the week ; the week 
minus Sunday : as, to be paid so much a week. 
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 
Boes not divide the Sunday from the week. 
5Aflt., Hamlet, i. 1. 76. 
A prophetic week, in Scrip., a week of years, or seven 
years.— A warp Of weeks. See warp. — A week of 
Sundays, seven Sundays; hence, seven weeks, and, more 
loosely, a long time. [Colloq.]— Chaste week. Cleans- 
ing week. See cAo^/e.— Easter, Exhortation, Expec- 
tation week. See the (lualifying wortis.— Grass week, 
Rogation week. .Bo(/r7i«,Pop. Antiq. (1777Xp. 270.— Great 
Week, in ancient times and still in the Greek Church, 
Holy Week. The Greek Church has retained from early 
usiige the epithet great (or holy and great) not only for 
this week, but for the several days in it, as Great Monday, 
etc., Good Friday having also other special names. Great 
