Weed | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Weed, n.

noun

n. [A-S. weód, wiód, W. gwydd, trees, shrubs. See WEED, v. t.]

Underbrush; low shrubs. [Obs.] “One rushing forth out of the thickest weed.” Spenser.
Any plant that is useless or troublesome.

Too much manuring filled that field with weeds. Denham.

Whatever is unprofitable or troublesome; any thing useless.
Tobacco. [Cant., Eng. and U. S.]

☞ 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 which are of no use to man, injurious to crops, or unsightly or out of place, are denominated weeds.

Weed, n.

noun

n. [A-S. wæd, O. Sax. wād, wādi, giwādi, O. Fries. wêde, wed, Icel. vod, O. D. waet, ghewaet, O. & M. H. Ger. wât, gawâti, from Goth. widan, to bind.] 1. A garment; clothing; especially an upper or outer garment: “Lowly shepherd’s weeds.” Spenser. “Woman’s weeds.” Shak. “Palmer’s weeds.” Milton. 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; especially in the plural, mourning garb, as of a female; as, a widow’s weeds. “In a mourning weed, with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing.” Milton.

Weed, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. WEEDED; p. pr. & vb. n. WEEDING.] [A-S. weodian, D. wieden, L. Ger. wōden. See WEED, n.]

Sense 1. To free from noxious plants; as, to weed corn or onions; to weed a garden.

Sense 2. To take away, as noxious plants; to remove, as that which is hurtful. “To weed up thyme.” Shak. “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.

Sense 3. To free from any thing hurtful or offensive. He weeded the kingdom of such as were devoted to Elaiana. Howell.