weed hookn.
/ˈwiːd hʊk/, U.S. /ˈwid ˌhʊk/ A hook or hooked implement used to cut away, dig out, or otherwise remove weeds. Also in figurative contexts. Cf. weeding hook n.
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the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > weeding tools
weed hookeOE
weeding hook1378
weedera1425
brier-crook1483
tongs?1523
weeding knife1598
broom-hook1660
weeder knifea1796
shovel-plough1801
extirpator1807
shovel-cultivator1869
thistle-digger1877
thistle-spud1896
thistle-cutter1901
flamethrower1915
flame gun1931
weed cutter2000
eOE Corpus Gloss. (1890) 104/1 Sarculum, uueodhoc.
lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xv. 455 Siðe, sicol, weodhoc, spade, scofle.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 121 Þe yefþe of drede..is þe wyed hoc of þe gardine þet uordeþ al þet kueade gers.
c1350 Nominale (Cambr. Ee.4.20) in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1906) 17* Sarcle, Wedehoke.
1408 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Fairf.) Isa. vii. 25 Sarpe, id est, a weod hook [a1425 Royal alle hillis that schulen be purgid with a sarpe, the drede of thornes and of breris schal not come thidir].
1498 Interpr. Names Goddis & Goddesses (de Worde) sig. Biv/1 Then reson & sadnesse toke wedehokes tweyn & al wylde wantons out of þe felde gan wede.
1557 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandrie sig. C.iii In Iune get thy wedehoke, thy knife and thy gloue.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Instit. (1562) iv. xi. §11. 72 Learne that thou hast nede of a wedehoke, not of a scepter, that thou mayste doo the worke of a Prophete.
1610 J. Robinson Justif. Separation from Church of Eng. 117 How dare the Prelates..take this forbidden weedhook into their hands, & vse it against any tare amongst them?
1631 J. Mabbe tr. F. de Rojas Spanish Bawd i. 21 To root it out streight with the weed-hooke of good workes.
1710 D. Hilman Tusser Redivivus Mar. 8 These [thistles] may..be weeded off with a Weed-hook, or Stabbing-knife.
1796 J. Boys Gen. View Agric. Kent (new ed.) xii. 144 A gang of from ten to twenty, chiefly boys and girls,..with angular weed-hooks cut up thistles and other weeds.
1858 J. Slight & R. S. Burn Bk. Farm Implements 328 The Weed-Hook..consists of an acute hook of iron, flattened,..with the two inner edges as far set asunder as to embrace the stem of succulent herbaceous plants.
1894 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words at Weedeek The old type of weedeek had a sharp point with a barb at one side. It was used with pulling motion, and thus uprooted or cut the weed.
1962 Scots Mag. June 209 He always carried a walking-stick with a weedock at the bottom.
2000 B. Kingsolver Prodigal Summer xvi. 245 Slowly she pulled her weed hook back from the briars she'd been clearing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.eOE