wee

n. [ OE. we a bit, in a little we, probably originally meaning, a little way, the word we for wei being later taken as synonymous with little. See Way. ] A little; a bit, as of space, time, or distance. [ Obs. or Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The wych-elm. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. wede, AS. w&aemacr_;de, w&aemacr_;d; akin to OS. wādi, giwādi, OFries, wēde, wēd, OD. wade, OHG. wāt, Icel. vāð, Zend vadh to clothe. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

He on his bed sat, the soft weeds he wore
Put off. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a mourning weed, with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Weeded; p. pr. & vb. n. Weeding. ] [ AS. weódian. See 3d Weed. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To free from noxious plants; to clear of weeds; as, to weed corn or onions; to weed a garden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wise fathers . . . weeding from their children ill things. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To free from anything hurtful or offensive. [ 1913 Webster ]

He weeded the kingdom of such as were devoted to Elaiana. Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Stock Breeding) To reject as unfit for breeding purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. weed, weod, AS. weód, wiód, akin to OS. wiod, LG. woden the stalks and leaves of vegetables D. wieden to weed, OS. wiodōn. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Underbrush; low shrubs. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

One rushing forth out of the thickest weed. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

A wild and wanton pard . . .
Crouched fawning in the weed. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Too much manuring filled that field with weeds. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fig.: Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Stock Breeding) An animal unfit to breed from. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Tobacco, or a cigar. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Weed hook, a hook used for cutting away or extirpating weeds. Tusser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which attacks women in childbed. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, weeds, or frees from anything noxious. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Weeds, collectively; also, a place full of weeds or for growing weeds. [ R. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]