Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense weeds, present participle weeding, past tense, past participle weeded
1. countable noun
A weed is a wild plant that grows in gardens or fields of crops and prevents the plants that you want from growing properly.
...a garden overgrown with weeds.
2. variable noun
Weed is a plant that grows in water and usually forms a thick floating mass. There are many different kinds of weed.
Large, clogging banks of weed are the only problem.
3. verb
If you weed an area, you remove the weeds from it.
Caspar was weeding the garden. [VERB noun]
Try not to walk on the flower beds when weeding or hoeing. [VERB]
weedinguncountable noun
She taught me to do the weeding.
4. uncountable noun [also theN]
People sometimes refer to tobacco or marijuana as weed.
[informal]
Two and a half years ago I gave up the evil weed.
Phrasal verbs:
See weed out
weed in British English1
(wiːd)
noun
1.
any plant that grows wild and profusely, esp one that grows among cultivated plants, depriving them of space, food, etc
2. slang
marijuana
3. the weed
4. informal
a thin or unprepossessing person
5.
an inferior horse, esp one showing signs of weakness of constitution
verb
6.
to remove (useless or troublesome plants) from (a garden, etc)
Derived forms
weeder (ˈweeder)
noun
weedless (ˈweedless)
adjective
weedlike (ˈweedˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Old English weod; related to Old Saxon wiod, Old High German wiota fern
weed in British English2
(wiːd)
noun
rare
a black crepe band worn to indicate mourning
See also weeds
Word origin
Old English wǣd, wēd; related to Old Saxon wād, Old High German wāt, Old Norse vāth
weed in American English1
(wid)
noun
1.
any undesired, uncultivated plant, esp. one growing in profusion so as to crowd out a desired crop, disfigure a lawn, etc.
2. Informal
a.
tobacco
with the
b.
a cigar or cigarette
c.
marijuana
3.
something useless; specif., a horse that is unfit for racing or breeding
verb transitive
4.
to remove the weeds from (a garden, lawn, etc.)
5.
to remove (a weed)
often with out
6.
to remove as useless, harmful, etc.
often with out
7.
to rid of elements regarded as useless, harmful, etc.
verb intransitive
8.
to remove weeds, etc.
Derived forms
weeder (ˈweeder)
noun
weedless (ˈweedless)
adjective
Word origin
ME weede < OE weod, akin to LowG wēd: base only in WGmc
weed in American English2
(wid)
noun
1. Archaic
a garment
often used in pl.
2. [pl.]
black mourning clothes, esp. those worn by a widow
3.
a black mourning band, as of crepe, worn on a man's hat or sleeve
Word origin
ME wede < OE wæde, garment, akin to OHG wāt (Ger -wand, in leinwand, linen) < IE base *(a)wē-, to weave > ON authna, fate (in reference to the spinning by the fate goddesses)
Examples of 'weed' in a sentence
weed
Now gardeners treat it as a weed and pull it up.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Why do you love that precious hour weeding and planting pots?
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The aim is to modify growing conditions to favour grass over weeds and moss.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The next morning my brother is weeding his flower garden beside the house.
Christianity Today (2000)
The ground needs to be kept reasonably moist and you should remove any weeds that emerge.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
These make an agreeable walking surface and keep down weeds very effectively.
Page, Russell The Education of a Gardener (1994)
The weed masked underlying problems you now need to face.
The Sun (2008)
Simply weed out the ones in the wrong places.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Grass and weeds had grown so thick that a large cross had disappeared from view.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Scoop unwanted blanket weed out of garden ponds.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Remove weeds from the base of cane fruits and then apply a mulch.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Once again organic growers rely on a combination of methods to keep weeds under control.
Lockspeiser, Jerry & Gear, Jackie Thorsons Organic Wine Guide (1991)
But too often new ones sprout like weeds.
The Sun (2013)
But what's the best way to banish the evil weed?
The Sun (2007)
You can pull up one weed, but you know that two more will appear elsewhere.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
And it certainly doesn't help people who are trying to ditch the evil weed.
The Sun (2006)
But that doesn't touch the weed grasses.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
I don't usually line the bottom unless there is a major weed problem.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Word lists with
weed
Types of horse
In other languages
weed
British English: weed /wiːd/ NOUN
A weed is a wild plant growing where it is not wanted, for example in a garden.
The garden was full of weeds.
American English: weed
Arabic: عُشْبَةٌ ضَارَّة
Brazilian Portuguese: erva daninha
Chinese: 野草
Croatian: korov
Czech: plevel
Danish: tang plante
Dutch: onkruid
European Spanish: mala hierba
Finnish: rikkaruoho
French: mauvaise herbe
German: Unkraut
Greek: ζιζάνιο
Italian: erbaccia
Japanese: 雑草
Korean: 잡초
Norwegian: ugras
Polish: chwast
European Portuguese: erva daninha
Romanian: buruiană
Russian: сорняк
Latin American Spanish: mala hierba
Swedish: ogräs
Thai: วัชพืช
Turkish: yabani ot
Ukrainian: бур'ян
Vietnamese: cỏ dại
British English: weed VERB
If you weed an area, you remove the weeds from it.
He was weeding the garden.
He was out weeding around some perennials.
American English: weed
Brazilian Portuguese: capinar
Chinese: 除草
European Spanish: quitar la maleza
French: désherber
German: jäten
Italian: togliere le erbacce da
Japanese: 草取りをする
Korean: 잡초를 제거하다
European Portuguese: capinar
Latin American Spanish: desmalezar
All related terms of 'weed'
wee
Wee means small in size or extent .
the weed
tobacco
weed out
If you weed out things or people that are useless or unwanted in a group, you find them and get rid of them.
dyer's-weed
any of several plants that yield a dye , such as woad , dyer's rocket , and dyer's-greenweed
jimson weed
type of poisonous plant
onion weed
a plant of Australia and New Zealand , Nuthoscordum inodorum, having a strong onion-like smell and reproducing from bulbs and seeds
oxygen weed
a floating aquatic plant, Eichhornia crassipes, of tropical America, having showy bluish-purple flowers and swollen leafstalks : family Pontederiaceae. It forms dense masses in rivers , ponds , etc, and is a serious problem in the southern US, Australia, and parts of Africa
weed burner
See flame cultivator
bishop's weed
a widely naturalized Eurasian umbelliferous plant, Aegopodium podagraria, with white flowers and creeping underground stems
butterfly weed
a North American asclepiadaceous plant, Asclepias tuberosa (or A. decumbens ), having flat-topped clusters of bright orange flowers
joe-pye weed
any of several North American plants of the genus Eupatorium , esp E. purpureum, having pale purplish clusters of flower heads lacking rays : family Asteraceae ( composites )
pineapple weed
an Asian plant, Matricaria matricarioides, naturalized in Europe and North America, having greenish-yellow flower heads, and smelling of pineapple when crushed : family Asteraceae ( composites )
rattlesnake weed
an American hawkweed ( Hieracium venosum ) having purple-veined basal leaves and a naked flowering stem
wee-wee
to urinate
anacharis
a genus of water plant native to North America and commonly used in aquariums
deerweed
a shrub, Lotus scoparius , that is native to California and produces small yellow flowers in the summer
scurvy grass
any of various plants of the genus Cochlearia, esp C . officinalis, of Europe and North America , formerly used to treat scurvy : family Brassicaceae ( crucifers )
gulfweed
any brown seaweed of the genus Sargassum , esp S. bacciferum, having air bladders and forming dense floating masses in tropical Atlantic waters , esp the Gulf Stream
sargassum
any floating brown seaweed of the genus Sargassum, such as gulfweed , of warm seas, having ribbon-like fronds containing air sacs
groundsel tree
a shrub , Baccharis halimifolia, of E North America , with white plumelike fruits : family Asteraceae
flame cultivator
an implement that kills weeds by scorching them with a directed flow of flaming gas