weed

WEED/wiːd/

Pluralweeds

Verbweeds, weeding, weeded

20 meanings of weed

Practice

1
nouncountable
A wild plant that grows where it isn't wanted, such as in a garden or field.
Like a guest no one invited, turning up where they aren't wanted.
Dad pulled every weed out of the flower bed.
The garden was full of weeds after a rainy summer.
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2
nouncolloquialuncountable
Cannabis: a drug made from a plant that people smoke to feel relaxed or high.
They passed around some weed at the party.
He stopped smoking weed after starting his new job.
Similarcannabis, dope, grass, herb, ganja
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3
verbtransitive
To pull out wild plants from a garden or yard so the good plants can grow.
Like clearing junk out of a room so the things you want have space.
We weed the garden every weekend in spring.
He weeded the borders before planting new flowers.
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4
nouncolloquialuncountable
Tobacco: the dried plant leaves smoked in pipes, cigars, or cigarettes.
Grandfather puffed his pipe, never able to give up the weed.
Sailors of the old navy were rarely parted from their pipe and the weed.
Similartobacco
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5
nounfigurativelycountable
A useless or troublesome thing that brings no benefit.
Like a broken tool that just takes up space in the shed.
That failing shop became a weed, draining money for no return.
He treated the broken machine as a weed he should get rid of.
6
nouncolloquialBritishcountable
A weak person who has very little physical strength.
Like a thin twig that snaps the moment you bend it.
He was always the weed of the team, picked last for every game.
Don't be such a weed. Help me lift this box.
Similarweakling, wimp
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7
verbfigurativelytransitive
To secretly take the best things out of a group or set.
Like a kid who takes only the best candy and leaves the rest behind.
Someone had weeded the box of old coins, taking all the rare ones.
He would weed the donation pile before anyone else could look.
Similarrifle
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8
verbtransitive
To take books and other items out of a library when they are no longer needed.
Like clearing out old clothes you never wear to make room in the closet.
Librarians weed the shelves each summer to make room for new titles.
They weeded hundreds of damaged books from the children's section.
Similarcull, prune
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9
nouncountable
A weak horse that is not strong enough to breed from.
The farmer sold the scrawny weed cheaply at the spring market.
Among the sturdy colts, one thin weed stood out at once.
10
nouncountable or uncountableabbreviationellipsis
Short form of duckweed. The tiny green plants that float on still water.
A layer of green weed covered the surface of the pond.
The ducks nibbled at the weed floating on the lake.
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11
nounarchaic
The dark clothing a woman wears while mourning, especially a widow.
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12
nounobsoletecountable
An old-fashioned word for a cigar, the rolled tobacco leaves people smoke.
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13
nounarchaic
A piece of dark clothing or a badge worn to show grief over a death.
Like a black armband that quietly tells people you are mourning someone who died.
The widow wore a black weed pinned to her sleeve all winter.
After the burial, the family put on their mourning weeds.
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14
nounarchaic
Clothes in general, or all the things a person wears.
The traveler arrived in plain weed suited to the long road.
His mother o'er her barm-cloth wide / Gazed forward somewhat timidly / The new-comer's bright weed to see.
1870, William Morris, “September: The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon”Here, weed means clothes, all that the newcomer was wearing.
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15
nounarchaic
A single piece of clothing.
She mended the torn weed before the cold weather set in.
In words, like weeds, I’ll wrap me o’er, ⁠Like coarsest clothes against the cold: ⁠But that large grief which these enfold Is given in outline and no more.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In MemoriamHere, weeds means pieces of clothing.
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16
nounarchaic
A band of cloth worn around a hat.
He tied a black weed around the brim of his hat.
The mourners' hats each carried a dark weed.
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17
nounobsoleteuncountable
Low bushes and small plants growing close to the ground.
one rushing forth out of the thickest weed
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, weed means thick low bushes and undergrowth.
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18
noundialectalScotlandcountable or uncountable
A sudden sickness, often with fever, that strikes a woman around the time of childbirth.
The midwife feared the weed that often followed a hard birth.
Days after the delivery she fell into a fever, struck down by the weed.
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19
noundialectalScotlandcountable or uncountable
A horse disease that makes a leg swell up and become hot and sore.
The stallion's hind leg swelled badly with weed overnight.
The groom treated the weed before it could spread further.
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20
verbcolloquialUK
Past tense and past participle of wee. An informal, mostly British word: Americans usually say peed.
The toddler weed in his bed during the night.
The puppy weed on the kitchen floor again this morning.
Note

weed is a form of wee

wee, verb: To pass urine, in a gentle everyday way. Full entry

Forms: weewees he/she/itweeing -ing formweed past tense, past participle
Spelling: wee → weed: add -d
Sound: The ending sounds like /d/.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of weed apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–2, 4–6, 9–10, 12, 17

From Old English wēod, meaning a weed.

Meanings 3, 7–8

From Old English wēodian, meaning to weed.

Meanings 11, 13–16

From Old English wǣd, meaning dress or clothing.

Meanings 18–19

From Scots weid. Its first element may come from Old English wēdan, meaning to be mad or delirious.

Meaning 20

From the verb wee.