Pa. t. and pa. pple. weeded. Forms: 1 wéodian 4–6 wede, (4 wed), 4–7 weede, (5 wedy, 6 weade, 7 weydde), 6 Sc. weid, 6– weed; pa. t. and pa. pple. occasionally 5–9 wed, 8 wedd, 9 Sc. wede. [OE. wéodian = OS. wiodôn (LG. weden), (M)Du. wieden, (M)LG. wedon, WFris. wjudde, f. OE. wéod, OS. wiod, WEED sb.1]
1. intr. (or absol.) To clear the ground of weeds; to pull up weeds.
a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia, IX. 261. Me [read Mon] mæiʓ … on sumera fealʓian … tymbrian, wudian, weodian, faldian.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IX. 66. And alle þat helpen me to erye oþer elles to weden, Shal haue leue, by our lorde to go and glene after. Ibid., 186.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 21. The chyefe instrument to wede with is a paire of tonges made of wode.
1593. Hyll, Art Garden., 74. If any by ignorance doth weede about the plantes without gloues on their handes.
1600. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 128. A woman that helped to weydde in the garthinge iij days, iijd.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 21. Whoever hath a mind to weed will never want work.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 221. The Sheep can’t weed amongst them [Beans and Peas], and eat up the wild Oat and Curlock.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VIII. v. To the garden then they all went, and saw him upon the ground, weeding.
1847. F. W. Robertson, ‘Human Race,’ vii. (1880), 73. When once the farmer has sown, he can do little more except weed.
1860. W. White, Wrekin, xxix. 342. The gardens adjoin the inclosure, and there I saw boys digging, hoeing and weeding amid plentiful crops of cabbage and beans.
2. trans. To free (land, a crop, plant) from weeds.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 156. Vostre lyn en tens sarchet [glossed] wed thi flax.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxv. (1495), 642. It nedyth that corne be clene wedyd and clensyd of … euyll wedys.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., II. 289. And wattre hem … Ek delue hem al aboute, and wede hem clene.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 359. A man went to wede hys vynys.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 21. How to wede corne.
1534. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb. For a woman wedyng bens ij days, iiij d.
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, IV. 34. They … came into his gardein … and found him weding of his ground.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 52. When it is an inche long, it must be diligently wedede wt handes & not wt a weding yron.
1646–47. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 94. To the gardener for weeding ye garden and the walkes.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. I. iii. 5. Your small Plants, as Strawberries, Lettice, Succory, &c. require to be often Weeded, the better to perform their Duty.
c. 1710. Celia Fiennes, Diary (1888), 301. One Garden wth Grass plotts and Earth walks Cut and wedd.
1766. Complete Farmer, s.v. Turnep, 7 Q b/1. I hand-hoed them once, and wed them twice.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 685. Weed the beds of onions, lettuces, carrots, and leeks.
1824. Loudon, Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2), § 1352. Garden-pincers…. Their chief use is to weed ponds.
1858. Slight & Burn, Bk. Farm Implements, 328. The hand draw-hoe is used for weeding corn sown in rows.
1859. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 942. As now Men weed the white horse on the Berkshire hills To keep him bright and clean as heretofore.
a. 1894. Stevenson, In South Seas, II. ii. (1900), 152. The alleys where we walked were smoothed and weeded like a boulevard.
b. fig.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 17. Herte hatte þe herber þat it [the tree of Patience] in groweth, And liberum arbitrium hath þe londe to ferme, Vnder Piers þe plowman to pyken it and to weden it.
a. 1400. Hymns Virg. (1867), 77. God! sowe þi merci amonge my seede, Þanne schal it growe þouȝ y sowe late, And Repentaunce my corne schal weede.
1545. Brinklow, Compl., 46 b. The kyngs grace began wel to wede the garden of Ingland.
1579. Bp. Ely, in W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, Back of title-p. That our Church of England might be well weeded from to to grosse errors.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 45. Prouided that you weed your better iudgements of all opinion that growes ranke in them.
1648. Earl Westmorland, Otia Sacra (1879), 41. So let our Hearts be throughly wed of Sin, And then They’ll prove good ground agen.
1662. Evelyn, Sculptura, i. 10. It is not to shew how diligently we have weeded the Calepines, and Lexicons … but the result of much diligent collection.
1735. Swift, Gulliver, Introd. Let. fr. Capt. Gulliver. I desired you would let me know … when … courts and levees of great ministers [were] thoroughly weeded and swept.
1818. Keats, Endym., II. 106. Could I weed Thy soul of care.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, V. 454. A lusty brace Of twins may weed her of her folly.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, x. 110. The Senate was at once weeded of many of its disreputable members.
1897. Bookman, Jan., 128/1. The story would be better from a literary point of view if weeded of some of its clevernesses.
3. To remove (weeds) from land, esp. from cultivated land or from a crop. Also with out, up.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 173. Heretykys have lefte there frowardnes, Wedyde the cokkelle frome the puryd corne.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 21. Dogfenell, goldes, mathes, and kedlokes are yll to wede after this maner.
1557. Tusser, 100 Points Husb. (1878), 231. In June get thy wede-hoke,… and wede out such wede, as the corne doth not loue.
1611. A. Standish, Commons Compl., 44. Weede the grasse cleane vp from about the rootes.
1628. Folkingham, Panala Med., 77. Like a discreet Damsell, which preserues wholesome Herbes, and weeds-vp hurtfull Weeds.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. xvi. (1674), 18. So great abundance of Weeds grew up … [they could not] undergo the charges they were at in weeding them out.
1710. Hilman, Tusser Rediv., Mar. (1744), 32. Wild Oats … are not easily weeded when in the Blade.
1765. Ann. Reg., II. 146. The natural grass is to be considered as a weed, which, if not at first wed out of the ground, will soon destroy … the artificial grass.
1902. W. W. Jacobs, At Sunwich Port, ii. 13. Mr. Wilks … weeded two pieces of grass from the path, and carefully removed a dead branch from a laurel.
† b. transf. To remove (vermin, noxious animals). Obs.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, T ij b. The Kite canne weede the worme, can kill the Moulewarpe.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., II. ii. 167. Bushie, Bagot, and their Complices, The Caterpillers of the Commonwealth, Which I haue sworne to weed, and plucke away.
c. fig. To eradicate (errors, faults, sins, etc.); to remove (things or persons) as noxious or useless. Also with away, out.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 30. By holy exercyse of the same plucketh out by the rotes & wedeth away all þe euill customes of synne.
1536. Tindale, N. T., To Chr Rdr. Thou hast here … the newe Testament … Which I haue loked ouer agayne … with all dilygence,… & haue weded out of it many fautes.
1546. Supplic. Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.), 62. Your Hyghnes … hath … supplanted, and, as it were, weeded out, a great numbre of valiaunt and sturdye monckes, fryers, [etc.].
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 56. If wise fathers, be not as well ware in weeding from their Children ill thinges.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 857. To weed this Wormewood from your fruitfull braine. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., III. ii. 284. Twice trebble shame on Angelo, To weede my vice, and let his grow.
1615. John Flodder, in Rollins, Pepysian Garl. (1922), 58. And weed away from euery place and Cittie, Such idle Drones, you cherish with your pittie.
1643. Prynne, Sov. Power Parl., I. (ed. 2), 24. That they were assembled for the good of the King and kingdome, and to weed from about him, such Traytours as he continually held with him.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 43. These customs savour of their antient Idolatry. The Ministers do all they can to weed it out of them by little and little.
1690. Locke, Educ., § 147. Where you may … gently correct and weed out any Bad Inclinations, and settle in him good Habits.
1736. Berkeley, Disc., Wks. 1871, III. 415. Those who are so active to weed out the prejudices of education.
1817. Byron, Lament. Tasso, iv. I weed all bitterness from out my breast.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., Chaucer (1871), 170. Sir Harris Nicolas, with the help of original records, weeded away the fictions by which the few facts were choked and overshadowed.
4. To clear away (plants, not necessarily noxious or useless); to take out (plants or trees) to prevent overcrowding; to thin (a crop).
1543–. [see WEEDING vbl. sb. 2].
1791. W. Gilpin, Rem. Forest Scenery, I. 85. If you want to shelter a nursery of young trees, plant Scotch firs: and the phrase is, you may afterwards weed them out, as you please.
1825. Jamieson, To Weed, to thin growing plants by taking out the smaller ones; as, ‘to weed firs,’ S.
¶ b. The refrain of Jean Elliot’s song (quot. c. 1760) has often been quoted in the form ‘The flowers of the forest are a’ wede away.’ In allusion to this, Scottish writers have sometimes used wede away (app. without associating it with the verb weed) in the vague sense ‘carried off by death’; sometimes it has been interpreted as ‘withered, faded.’ Similarly to wede away used intr. for ‘to die off,’ trans. for ‘to carry off by death.’
c. 1760. Jean Elliot, in F. Elliot, Trustworthiness of Border Ballads (1906), 166. The Flowers of the Forest are weeded away.
1808. Scott, Marmion, VI. xxxvi. One of those flowers, whom plaintive lay In Scotland mourns as ‘wede away.’ Ibid. (1824), 4 April, in Fam. Lett. (1894), II. xx. 198. How sad it is to see those whom we love gradually weeded away from the world in which we are left.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., 28. Ava my gude auld native parish, the Browns and the Sproats are a weedin awa.
1851. A. Maclagan, Sk. Nature, etc., 225–6.
| If sad Fate before me should | |
| Wede him away, | |
| I’ll tak’ the stroke kindly. |
c. transf. To remove (inferior or superfluous individuals) from a company, herd, etc.; also with out.
1863. E. Farmer, Scrap Bk. (ed. 3), 27. The hounds have been ‘weeded,’ some sold and some hung.
1869. Whyte-Melville, Songs & Verses, 87. Faster and faster comes grief and disaster, All but the good ones are weeded at last.
1889. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob, i. She had her house, as heretofore, all her old society (excepting such as she had judiciously weeded out).
1893. Forbes-Mitchell, Remin. Gt. Mutiny, 3. Those unfit for foreign service were carefully weeded from the service companies.
1901. Essex Weekly News, 15 March, 5/7. If a herd is to be made profitable, about one fourth of the cows must be weeded-out every year.
d. intr. Of a company: To become thinned down.
1887. Sir R. H. Roberts, In the Shires, v. 90. The field has weeded down to the select few.
5. slang. (See quots.)
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Weed, to pilfer or purloin a small portion from a large quantity of anything;… an apprentice or shopman will weed his master’s lob, that is take small sums out of the till…. To weed the swag is to embezzle part of the booty, unknown to your palls before a division takes place.
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, To weed, to steal part only.
1894. J. G. Littlechild, Remin., xv. (ed. 2), 158. Thus, in the case of a famous American bank robbery, he is suspected of having ‘weeded the swag’ to the amount of nearly £10,000.
