598 
WEE 
WEE 
as for his intellectual qualities. So much was he respected, 
and so desirable was the continuance of his useful life, that 
he died, universally regretted, at his house in Staffordshire, 
to which he gave the name of Etruria, in January, 1795, in 
the 65th year of his age. Atkin's Chem. Diet. Gent. 
Mag. Parkes's Chemical Catechism. Parkes's Essays. 
WE'DLOCK, s. [peb and lac, Sax. marriage and gift. 
Johnson. Others from pebbian, to marry, and loc, Sax. a 
fastening.] Marriage; matrimony. 
She doth stray about 
By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays 
For happy wedlock-homs. Shakspeare. 
WEDMORE, a parish of England, in Somersetshire; 
miles south-by-east of Axbridge. Population 2480. 
WEDNESBURY, a market town of England, in the 
county of Stafford, situated at a short distance from the source 
of the river Tame. It is a place of great antiquity; and in 
the time of the Mercians, was distinguished by a noble castle, 
fortified by Adelfleda, who was for some time governess of 
this kingdom. Wednesbury is distinguished for its numerous 
and valuable manufactures, the principal of which are guns, 
coach-harness, iron axle-trees, saws, trowels, edge-tools, 
bridle-bits, stirrups, nails, hinges, wood-screws, and cast iron 
works of every description. Enamel paintings, in the finest 
style, are likewise executed. One of the collateral branches 
of the Birmingham canal entering this parish, affords to the 
inhabitants the most perfect facility of commercial commu¬ 
nication. Market on Wednesday; 8 miles north-west of 
Birmingham. Population 5372. 
WE'DNESDAY, s. [pobenpbag, Saxon ; odensday, 
Swedish; woensday, Dutch; -we ns day, Icelandick.] The 
fourth day of the week, so named by the Gothic nations 
from Woden or Odin. —Where is the honour of him that 
died on Wednesday ? Shakspeare. 
WEDNESFIELD, a township of England, in the county 
of Stafford; 2 miles north-east-by-east of Wolverhampton. 
Population 1248. 
WEDWAG, a small town of Middle Sweden, in the pro¬ 
vince of Nerike. 
WEE, adj. [weinigh, Teut. little; wenig. Germ. Lye 
thinks it an abbreviation of the Sax. hpene, few.] Little; 
small: whence the word weasle or weesel is used for little; 
as a weesel face. In Scotland and the north of England, 
it denotes small or little ; as, wee ane, a little one, or child; 
a wee bit, a little bit.—Does he not wear a great round beard, 
like a glover’s paring knife ?—No, forsooth; he hath but a 
little wee face with a little yellow beard. Shakspeare. 
WEEBOTUCK, a river of the United States, a branch of 
the Housatonic. It rises in the north-east part of New York, 
and joins the Housatonic, in Connecticut. 
WEEBUCK CAPE, a cape on the east coast of Labrador. 
Lat. 55. 21. N. long. 58. 10. W. 
WE'ECHELM, s. [This is often written witch elm.~\ A 
species of elm.—A cion of a weechelm grafted upon an or¬ 
dinary elm, will put forth leaves as broad as the brim of a 
hat. Bacon. 
WEED, s. [peob, Saxon, tares ] An herb noxious or 
useless.—If he had an immoderate ambition; which is a 
weed, if it be a weed, apt to grow in the best soils, it doth 
not appear that it was in his nature. Clarendon .—[paeba, 
Saxon; waed, Dutch.] A garment; clothes; habit; dress. 
Now scarce in use, except in widow's weeds, the mourning 
dress of a widow. 
They meet upon the way 
An aged sire in long black weeds yclad; 
His feet all bare, his beard all hoary gray. 
And by his belt his book he hanging had. Spenser. 
It is used by Chapman for the upper garment. 
The morning in her throne of gold, 
Survaid the vast world, by whose orient light. 
The nymph adorn’d me with attires as bright: 
Her own hands putting on both shirt and weedc. Chapman. 
To WEED, v. a. To rid of noxious plants.—When you 
sow the berries of bays, weed not the borders for the first 
half year; for the weed giveth them shade. Bacon. —To 
take away as noxious plants. 
Oh Marcius, 
Each word thou’st spoke hath weeded from my heart 
A root of ancient envy! Shakspeare. 
To free from any thing hurtful or offensive.—He weeded 
the kingdom of such as were devoted to Elaiana, and manu- 
mized it from that most dangerous confederacy. Howell .— 
To root out vice.—Wise fathers be not as well aware in 
weeding from their children ill things, as they were before in 
grafting in them learning. Ascham. 
WE'EDER, s. One that takes away any thing noxious. 
A weeder out of his proud adversaries, 
A liberal rewarder of his friends. Shakspeare. 
WE'EDERY, 5. Weeds. 
Hard by there was a place all cover’d o’er 
With stinging nettles and such weedery. More. 
WE'EDHOOK, or We'edinghook, s. A hook by which 
weeds are cut away or extirpated. 
In May get a weedhook, a crotch, and a glove. 
And weed out such weeds as the corn doth not love. Tusser. 
WE'EDLESS, adj. Free from weeds; free from any 
thing useless or noxious. 
So many weedless paradises be. 
Which of themselves produce no venomous sin. Donne. 
WEEDON, a hamlet of England, in Buckinghamshire; 
3 miles north of Aylesbury.—2. A village in Northampton¬ 
shire. 
WEEDON BECK, sometimes called Weedon-on-the- 
Street, a village and parish of England, in the county of 
Northampton ; 4 miles south-east of Daventry. Population 
976. 
WEEDON, Loy’s, or Wf.edon Pinkney, a parish of 
England, in Northamptonshire; 6 miles west-by-south of 
Towcester. 
WEEDON, Upper, a hamlet of England, parish of Wee- 
don Beck, Northamptonshire. 
WE'EDY, adj. Consisting of weeds. 
There on the pendant boughs, her coronet weed 
Clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, 
When down her weedy trophies and herself 
Fell in the weeping brook. Shakspeare. 
Abounding with weeds. 
Hid in a weedy lake all night I lay, 
Secure of safety. Dry den. 
WEEFORD, a parish of England, in Staffordshire; 4 
miles south-south-east of Lichfield. 
WEEGSCHEID, a small town of Lower Bavaria; 12 miles 
east of Passau. 
WEEK, s. [peoc, Saxon; weke, Dutch ; weeka, Swedish; 
from the M. Goth, wile, ordo. Sereniusi] The space of seven 
days.—Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also. 
Gen. 
WEEK, a hamlet of England in the parish of Binstead, 
Southamptonshire.—2. A parish of England, in Southamp- 
tonshire, near Winchester.—3. A hamlet of England, in the 
Isle of Wight, Southamptonshire. 
v WEEK, Fitzpaine, a hamlet of England, in Somerset¬ 
shire. 
WEEK, St. Lawrence, a parish of England, in Somer¬ 
setshire ; 8| miles north-north-west of Axbridge. 
WEEK, St. Mary, a parish of England, in Cornwall. 
Population 612. 
WE'EKDAY, s. Any day not Sunday. 
One solid dish his weekday meal affords. 
An added pudding solemniz’d the Lord’s. Pope. 
WE'EKLY, adj. Happening, produced, or done once a 
week; hebdomadary. 
So liv’d our sires, ere doctors learn’d to kill. 
And multjply’d with heirs their weekly bill. Dryden. 
WE'EKLY, 
