weed

Etymology 1

From Middle English weed, weod, from Old English wēod (“weed”), from Proto-West Germanic *weud (“weed”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Jood (“weed”), West Frisian wjûd (“weed”), Dutch wied (“unwanted plant, weed”), German Low German Weed (“weed”), Old High German wiota (“fern”). See also woad.

noun

1. (countable) Any plant unwanted at the place where and at the time when it is growing.
   If it isn't in a straight line or marked with a label, it's a weed.
   The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common. 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick
2. Short for duckweed.
3. (uncountable, archaic or obsolete) Underbrush; low shrubs.
4. A drug or the like made from the leaves of a plant.
   1. (uncountable, slang) Cannabis.
      And I predict you will laugh harder than ever. I’m not saying I’m any funnier. I’m saying weed is now legal in D.C. March 14, 2015, Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at the 2015 Gridiron Dinner
   2. (with "the", uncountable, slang) Tobacco.
   3. (obsolete, countable) A cigar.
5. (countable) A weak horse, which is therefore unfit to breed from.
6. (countable, Britain, informal) A puny person; one who has little physical strength.
7. (countable, figurative) Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.

Etymology 2

From Middle English weeden, weden, from Old English wēodian (“to weed”), from Proto-Germanic *weudōną (“to uproot, weed”). Cognate with West Frisian wjûde, wjudde (“to weed”), Dutch wieden (“to weed”), German Low German weden (“to weed”).

verb

1. To remove unwanted vegetation from a cultivated area.
   I weeded my flower bed.
2. (figurative) To pilfer the best items from a collection.
3. (library science) To systematically remove materials from a library collection based on a set of criteria.
   We usually weed romance novels that haven't circulated in over a year.
   Librarians overwhelmingly believe that weeding increases use of books and patron satisfaction. 2003, Juris Dilevko, Lisa Gottlieb, “Weed to achieve: a fundamental part of the public library mission?”, in Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services, volume 27, number 1, →DOI, page 73

Etymology 3

From Middle English wede, from Old English wǣd (“dress, attire, clothing, garment”), from Proto-Germanic *wēdiz, from which also wad, wadmal. Cognate with Dutch lijnwaad, Dutch gewaad, German Wat.

noun

1. (archaic) A garment or piece of clothing.
   Than this for whom we rend'red up this woe!
2. (archaic) Clothing collectively; clothes, dress.
3. (archaic) An article of dress worn in token of grief; a mourning garment or badge.
   He wore a weed on his hat.
4. (archaic) Especially in the plural as widow's weeds: (female) mourning apparel.

Etymology 4

From Scots weid, weed. The longer form weidinonfa, wytenonfa (Old Scots wedonynpha) is attested since the 1500s. Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language analyses the longer form as a compound meaning "onfa(ll) of a weed", whereas the Scottish National Dictionary/DSL considers the short form a derivative of the longer form, and derives its first element from Old English wēdan (“to be mad or delirious”), from wōd (“mad, enraged”).

noun

1. (Scotland) A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which befalls those who are about to give birth, are giving birth, or have recently given birth or miscarried or aborted.
   The patient […] aborted between the second and third month; […] felt herself so well on the second day after, that she went to the washing-green; and, on her return home in the evening, was seized with a violent rigor, which, by herself and those around her, was considered as the forerunner of a weed. 1822, William Campbell, “Observations on the Disease usually termed Puerperal Fever, with Cases”, in The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 18
2. (Scotland) Lymphangitis in a horse.

Etymology 5

From the verb wee.

verb

1. simple past and past participle of wee