weedlingn.

1782 W. Marshall Minutes in Rural Econ. Norfolk (1787) II. 164 This morning marked out the weedling-plants of a plantation.

1784 W. Marshall Minutes in Rural Econ. Midland Counties (1790) II. 298 The weedlings were sold for rails, chiefly, at a good price.

1820 J. Clare Poems Rural Life 62 And though thou seem'st a weedling wild, Wild and neglected like to me.

1881 R. Buchanan God & Man III. i. 17 Beyond this moss there seemed no other sign of vegetation;..not even the weedlings of the rock.

1942 Times 1 Aug. 6/6 After sowing, except for the finger-and-thumb removal of weedlings (without visibly disturbing the soil) the seed..should be left alone.

1979 Sunset Apr. 171/1 (advt.) Since they [sc. grass seedlings] get established quicker, they're better able to fight weedlings later on.

2004 Weekend Financial Times 15 May (Mag.) 42/1 A small hand/onion hoe, excellent for removing tiny weedlings before they've got a grip on life.

1849 Daily News 16 Feb. 5/6 Who are the gainers by the war system? Young scions of the aristocracy; weedlings of idleness, which can find no soil to grow in but that which is moistened with the sweat of industry.

1885 Breeder's Gaz. 1 Jan. 20/3 Such an animal is said to be a big horse because he is 16½ hands high, when he may be the weakest of weedlings.

1911 Times 9 Aug. 6/1 The strong, able-bodied ones go off to the Colonies and only the weedlings remain.

1960 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 108 411 You must choose as your new entrants to the bank young men... Don't hesitate to thin them out if they prove to be weedlings.

2003 Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Aug. 69/3 The two men were hunched forward, like two bar flies goading the other to throw the first punch, a weedling and a pug going toe to toe.