WEEDS
weeds, widow's weeds
(noun) a black garment (dress) worn by a widow as a sign of mourning
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
weeds
plural of weed
Verb
weeds
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of weed
Etymology 2
Noun
weeds pl (plural only)
(obsolete) Clothes.
Usage notes
Fossil word, found in phrase widow's weeds.
Anagrams
• Swede, sewed, swede
Source: Wiktionary
WEED
Weed, n. Etym: [OE. wede, AS. w, w; akin to OS. wadi, giwadi, OFries,
w, w, OD. wade, OHG. wat, Icel. va, Zend vadh to clothe.]
1. A garment; clothing; especially, an upper or outer garment.
"Lowweeds." Spenser. "Woman's weeds." Shak. "This beggar woman's
weed." Tennyson.
He on his bed sat, the soft weeds he wore Put off. Chapman.
2. An article of dress worn in token of grief; a mourning garment or
badge; as, he wore a weed on his hat; especially, in the plural,
mourning garb, as of a woman; as, a widow's weeds.
In a mourning weed, with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly
flowing. Milton.
Weed, n.
Definition: A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which
attacks women in childbed. [Scot.]
Weed, n. Etym: [OE. weed, weod, AS. weód, wiód, akin to OS. wiod, LG.
woden the stalks and leaves of vegetables D. wieden to weed, OS.
wiodon.]
1. Underbrush; low shrubs. [Obs. or Archaic]
One rushing forth out of the thickest weed. Spenser.
A wild and wanton pard . . . Crouched fawning in the weed. Tennyson.
2. Any plant growing in cultivated ground to the injury of the crop
or desired vegetation, or to the disfigurement of the place; an
unsightly, useless, or injurious plant.
Too much manuring filled that field with weeds. Denham.
Note: The word has no definite application to any particular plant,
or species of plants. Whatever plants grow among corn or grass, in
hedges, or elsewhere, and are useless to man, injurious to crops, or
unsightly or out of place, are denominated weeds.
3. Fig.: Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.
4. (Stock Breeding)
Definition: An animal unfit to breed from.
5. Tobacco, or a cigar. [Slang] Weed hook, a hook used for cutting
away or extirpating weeds. Tusser.
Weed, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Weeded; p. pr. & vb. n. Weeding.] Etym:
[AS. weódian. See 3d Weed.]
1. To free from noxious plants; to clear of weeds; as, to weed corn
or onions; to weed a garden.
2. To take away, as noxious plants; to remove, as something hurtful;
to extirpate. "Weed up thyme." Shak.
Wise fathers . . . weeding from their children ill things. Ascham.
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs
to, the more ought law to weed it out. Bacon.
3. To free from anything hurtful or offensive.
He weeded the kingdom of such as were devoted to Elaiana. Howell.
4. (Stock Breeding)
Definition: To reject as unfit for breeding purposes.
WEE
Wee, n. Etym: [OE. we a bit, in a little we, probably originally
meaning, a little way, the word we for wei being later taken as
synonymous with little. See Way.]
Definition: A little; a bit, as of space, time, or distance. [Obs. or
Scot.]
Wee, a.
Definition: Very small; little. [Colloq. & Scot.]
A little wee face, with a little yellow beard. Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition