weedingn.
/ˈwiːdɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwidɪŋ/ 1. † b. concrete. Weeds collectively. Obsolete. rare.
a.
(a) The process of clearing land, a crop, etc., of weeds; the action of pulling up or otherwise removing weeds. Also: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun] > clearing land > weeding or weed control
weedingOE
louking1491
weeding out1558
averruncation1656
runcation1664
thistling1766
weeding process1834
weed control1908
weed digging1950
OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 45 Runcatio, weodung.
a1425 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 143) (1978) C. viii. l. 186 (MED) They..wenten as werkemen to wedynge [c1400 Huntington HM 137 weden, a1425 London Univ. wedyng] and to mowynge.
1469 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 102 For wedyng in the whete, iij s. j d.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xiiiv But as for terre there wyll noo wedinge serue.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xiii After a shoure of rayne it is best weding.
1583 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 10 John Hewode for the dresing, wyedinge and kypinge of the gardenes..foure and tynty shillynges.
1641 J. Milton Animadversions 52 The weeding and worming of every bed both in that, and all other Gardens thereabout.
1647 T. Bedford Exam. Chief Points Antinomianism 77 The weeding of the Garden doth not make the seeds to grow, yet in removing impediments, and making room, it doth accidently prosper their growth.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 126 The common price of weeding of it [sc. woad] is about eight pence an Acre.
1739 J. Bartram Let. 1 Apr. in Corr. (1992) 116 Thay [sc. clovers] will..produce as large A crop a year with onely one dunging as ye other will with howing weeding & dung.
1832 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. (ed. 2) 317 When draining is properly attended to, there will be little occasion for weeding.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands iv. xx. 478 Weeding is commonly done by hand with a small weeder.
1921 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Sept. 574/3 The subsequent weeding of the young crop [of teak] until it can hold its own against the rapid growth of weeds and useless trees.
1938 Jrnl. Madras Geogr. Assoc. 13 272 All that the ‘Kumridar’ had to do was a little weeding and protection of the crop from wild animals.
2008 Times Mag. 18 Feb. 93/2 To make weeding easy, lay a water-permeable textile over the soil first.
(b) concrete. In plural. Weeds removed in this process.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun] > clearing land > weeding or weed control > that which is weeded out
weedinga1715
weeding1798
1798 P. J. Laborie Coffee Planter of St. Domingo iii. 118 Take the weedings out of the field, both for greater cleanliness, and that they may rot for manure in a remote place.
1843 Caledonian Mercury 4 Mar. A report of Experiments with certain substances as manure... The principal substances were, Martin's mixture, grass weedings, guano, cocoa-nut dust, carbonised saw-dust, exhausted cow-droppings, and wet wasted straw.
1873 Independent Statesman (Concord, New Hampsh.) 27 Feb. 170/6 The best success..was by applying..weedings from the garden, clippings of the vine, with other vegetable refuse, as a mulch.
1905 Country Life in Amer. Mar. 498/2 The weedings from the beds could be stuffed in the chinks, to prevent a draught on the seedlings.
1971 V. S. Naipaul In Free State (1973) 205 All over the valley..there were little smoking bonfires of damp weedings.
2017 Tampa Bay (Florida) Times (Nexis) 8 Jan. (City Times ed.) 7 You can also use the pruning, weedings and other waste from your landscape as mulch.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > valued plants and weeds > [noun] > weed > collectively
weedOE
weeding1598
savagerya1616
weedery1642
roguery1763
weedage1853
weed growth1923
weed1934
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost i. i. 96 He weedes the corne, & still lets grow the weeding . View more context for this quotation
2.
a. The action or process of clearing away plants or trees other than weeds; esp. the removal of individual plants or trees from a group so as to thin it out and avoid overcrowding.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > [noun] > thinning out
weeding1544
sizing1660
thinning1772
suckering1819
singling1844
1544 Act 35 Henry VIII c. 17 §4 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 978 Persons..wch have..woodes or coppies..shall at the fellinge or wedinge thereof leave standinge..twelve trees of Oke.
1776 Ld. Kames Gentleman Farmer i. x. 228 In a planted field..the trees grow all equally; and if weeding be neglected, they grow up like spindles without a lateral branch.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 254 At a second weeding, when it appears necessary, another third of the original number may be cut down.
1809 Farmer's Mag. Dec. 479 All plantations ought to be continually undergoing weedings, and thinnings, and prunings, to prevent the branches of any tree from touching or overhanging those of another.
1847 Simmonds' Col. Mag. Mar. 295 Plant-canes require at least four weedings and trashings before they are fit to shift for themselves.
1907 Indian Forester 33 428 Those parts of the forests of the Jalpaiguri Division, which have for three or four years been subjected to annual weedings.
1996 Weed Technol. 10 423/1 Managers can use widely-spaced plantings, thinning, weeding, fertilizing, and longer rotations to increase the size of trees.
b. concrete. In plural. Plants or trees removed in this process. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun] > clearing land > weeding or weed control > that which is weeded out
weedinga1715
weeding1798
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1734) II. 274 They charged him [sc. Ld. Halifax] for another Grant..to the waste of the Timber... [He replied] His Grant in the Forest of Dean was only of the Weedings.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 255 Ditto number of weedings, taken out before 20 years, and valued at one half-penny each.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1098 To erect a pyramid of 3 small trees or weedings of larch or Scots fir.
1967 M. L. Anderson & C. J. Taylor Hist. Sc. Forestry II. i. 245 Thinnings of ash were offered in 1797 at Culross; weedings of planted fir in 1790 at Aberdour.
1974 Pulp & Paper Mar. 118/1 There is an intense interest in pine smallwood available from plantations and the ‘weedings’ of over-stocked, young natural stands of pine.
3. figurative.
a. The action or process of eradicating errors, flaws, vices, etc., or of removing harmful or undesirable persons or things; the removal or exclusion of individuals regarded as inferior, superfluous, or unfit for purpose from a group. Also: an instance of this. Cf. weeding out n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > [noun] > clearing or sweeping away > riddance > of selected undesirable things or persons
weeding out1558
weeder out1559
weeding1589
weed-out1873
1589 tr. Restorer of French Estate vii. 166 Fauour no more, with hazard to be ioinct persecutors, them that trouble the Church and this Realme, for no cause but their appetites, reuenges, and ambition, and not for weeding of the Church, as they pretend, and yet that is not permitted them.
1682 H. Maurice Vindic. Primitive Church Pref. sig. A3 This Weeding of Church-History for the Faults of Bishops, is not to write, or abridge History, but to draw up an Indictment.
a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) VII. iii. 52 The most concerning part of a Christian's duty, is the mortification of his sin. For it is as it were a man's weeding of his heart, he shall find it a growing evil.
1739 H. Brooke Gustavus Vasa ii. iv. 19 Mess. A secret Malady, my gracious Liege,..rages now within the Heart of Denmark. Crist. It must not, cannot, 'tis impossible! What, my own Danes? Nay, then the World wants Weeding.
1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby I. ii. i. 160 The accession of Mr. Canning to the cabinet..soon led to a further weeding of the Mediocrities.
1852 R. S. Surtees Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour xi. lx. 342 It seemed agreed on all hands that their party rather wanted weeding than increasing.
1954 H. M. Kallen Secularism is Will of God xxviii. 192 The priestly cure of souls is a craft directed far less to the cultivation of virtue than the weeding of vice and sin.
2006 Telegram & Gaz. (Worcester, Mass.) (Nexis) 12 Oct. b1 Ms. Smith said the preliminary screening constituted the first weeding of candidates into a small subgroup.
b. spec. The removal or exclusion of books, documents, etc., regarded as superfluous or not worth retaining from a library, file, collection of papers, etc.; (also, in governmental or official contexts) the removal or withholding of sensitive or potentially damaging material from an archive, set of papers for publication, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > selecting from a number or for a purpose > separating valuable part from worthless
garbling1648
weeding1853
1853 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 293 It is incomprehensible to us, how any large library in France should not, without diligent weeding, find itself constantly increased by volumes coming from some public institution.
1868 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 589 In one case, and in one case only, could this weeding [of a library's collection] be properly made.
1869 Jrnl. Social Sci. 3 110 It is easy to stigmatize as ‘trash’ the greater mass of the books with which our libraries are crowded. It is easy to find self-constituted censors, who would undertake the ‘weeding’ of them with alacrity.
1939 O. P. Palmer & W. Fernand tr. T. Manteuffel in Amer. Archivist 2 207 Today..the weeding of files is becoming the main subject of discussions and consultations not only among archival authorities but also in administrative offices.
1977 Times 31 Aug. 4/1 Valuable material may have been destroyed during ‘weeding’.
2001 Victorian Nov. 11/1 We need help archiving our casework files. This involves weeding to reduce their bulk before they are transferred to the London Metropolitan Archives.
4. Criminals' slang. The action or practice of stealing or embezzling a small amount from a quantity of money, goods, etc. Later also more generally: stealing. Cf. weed v. 6. Now rare.Recorded earliest in weeding dues n. at Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > petty theft or pilfering > [noun]
micherya1393
mitchinga1393
picking1402
purloining1417
pilferc1425
pickery1460
pilfering1548
filching1567
lurching1570
pilfery1573
petty larceny1578
filching-tradea1592
prigging1591
filchery1607
nimming1607
sneaking-budge1699
pilferage1732
cabbaging1774
weeding1819
pilferment1823
crib1855
filch1877
souveniring1919
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. (at cited word) Speaking of any person, place, or property, that has been weeded, it is said weeding dues have been concerned.
1865 Leaves from Diary Celebrated Burglar 51/1 He would get his ‘whack’ of the ‘poke’, that is, after it had undergone the usual disembowelling process, called in the ‘cross’ vernacular, ‘weeding’.
1884 A. Pinkerton Thirty Years a Detective 169 ‘Weeding’ consists in extracting all the large bills from the wallet, and substituting small ones..so that the bulk will be about the same as it was before.
1906 O. C. Malvery Soul Market ii. 39 Slip round, my girl, and ‘nob’ 'em, and mind you bring it all to light, and no weeding, no poling, mind yer, for if yer do, I'm bound to bowl yer.
1930 ‘G. Ingram’ & D. Mackenzie Hell's Kitchen xvii. 160 A good deal of ‘weeding’ (stealing of small articles) is practised by the inhabitants of this district.
1950 H. E. Goldin Dict. Amer. Underworld Lingo 235/2 Weeding, petty thievery, as distinguished from organized racketeering.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as weeding process, weeding season, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun] > clearing land > weeding or weed control > weeding time
weeding season1697
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun] > clearing land > weeding or weed control
weedingOE
louking1491
weeding out1558
averruncation1656
runcation1664
thistling1766
weeding process1834
weed control1908
weed digging1950
?c1540 Fitzherbert's Bk. Husbandry (new ed.) f. 16 The whiche shal be great hurte to the corne, whan it shall be sowen, and specially in the weding tyme.
1697 T. Tresilian Tinners Greivances 7 The poor Miners wages being fallen from thirty, to fourteen, or fifteen Shillings a month... The Wife, nor Girls getting very little, or nothing, (Except in weeding Season or Harvest).
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 385 The latter end of the weeding-season.
1834 D. Low Elements Pract. Agric. vii. iii. 328 It is well that the weeding process be not too long delayed.
1894 Christian Work 12 July 63/1 In the moral and spiritual spheres there must be weeding work.
1912 G. V. Lindner Newspaper Libr. Man. iii. 15 It is..safer to provide ample space for increasing portrait and picture collections rather than attempt some regular weeding method which might seriously impair their value.
1987 D. F. Wallace Broom of Syst. xii. 260/1 She can weed out the more obviously pathetic or inappropriate submissions, and save me valuable weeding-time.
2013 Irish Farmers Jrnl. 6 Apr. 54/2 Austrian company Einbock has developed a new rotary weeding machine to offer chemical free weeding techniques for cereal crops grown in a no-till tillage system.
C2. attributive.
a. Designating a tool or implement used to cut away, dig out, or otherwise remove weeds, as weeding hoe, weeding knife, etc.See also weeding hook n.
ΘΚΠ
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
society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > knife > [noun] > other knives
bollock knifec1400
paring knife1415
spudc1440
pricking-knifec1500
shaving-knife1530–1
by-knifec1570
heading knife1574
stock knife1582
drawing knife1583
bung-knife1592
weeding knife1598
drawing knife1610
heading knife1615
draw knife1679
dressing knife1683
redishing knife1688
mocotaugan1716
skinning knife1767
paper knife1789
draw shave1824
leaf-cutter1828
piece-knife1833
nut-pick1851
relic knife1854
butch1859
straw-knife1862
sportsman's companion1863
ulu1864
skinner1872
hacker1875
over-shave1875
stripping-knife1875
Stanley knife1878
flat-back1888
gauge-knife1888
tine-knife1888
plough1899
band-knife1926
X-Acto1943
shank1953
box cutter1955
ratchet knife1966
ratchet1975
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > mattock, hoe, or hack > hoe > other types of hoe
pecker1588
weeding hoe1619
griffaun1780
breast hoe1787
draw hoe1822
hazel hoe1835
jembe1860
Canterbury hoea1887
Swoe1954
weeder hoe1978
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > fork > other forks
crotch1573
shock fork1856
weeding1921
1400 Manorial Documents in Mod. Philol. (1936) 34 56 (MED) Wedingyrnis.
a1555 J. Bradford in M. Coverdale Certain Lett. Martyrs (1564) 462 Yf god..perchaunce beginne..to poure hys showers vpon you: to nippe you with his weeding tonges, &c.
1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada Sinners Guyde ii. xiv. 451 The seruant of the Lord alwayes to walke in thys Garden with his weeding-knife in his hande, with which he may cutte vp and eradicate the superfluous and pernicious plants.
1619 in S. M. Kingsbury Rec. Virginia Company (1933) III. 186 31. weedinge howes at .14d and .15. holinge howes at .12d.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 392/2 In the Base is..a Gardiners Weeding Dog. It is made with a Taper Fork, and a Cross bar of Iron, some six or eight Inches above, [etc.].
1752 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (ed. 2) xxi. 183 The scythe of time, or the weeding-knife of a judicious editor, will cut down the docks and thistles.
1819 A. Rees Cycl. XXXVIII Weeding-Shim, an implement..made with a frame somewhat like that of the common wheelbarrow... It is a very useful and convenient tool for the purpose of tearing up weeds.
1841 Gardener's Chron. 5 June 366/1 A correspondent..recommends the accompanying weeding prong, as being a most useful instrument.
1893 Clark County (Indiana) Record 29 July Narrow hand hoes or the tomahawk or arrow head hoes may do good service, but they cannot compete with a long handled weeding chisel in the hands of a vigorous gardener.
1921 Blackwood's Mag. June 769/2 I was summoned into the house..and leaving my weeding-fork and basket, was absent..perhaps an hour.
1995 P. Marx On Way to Venus de Milo ix. 143 Adair was sitting on the stone wall, an enormous pair of weeding shears in his hands.
2005 Gardenlife Oct. (Hands On Suppl.) 2/4 Use a fork or weeding tool for weeds with long tap roots like thistles or dandelions.
b. Designating a person or group employed to clear land, a crop, etc., of weeds, as weeding gang, weeding woman, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun] > clearing land > weeding or weed control > weeder
weedera1398
louker14..
weeding woman1710
weed inspector1884
weeding gang1921
1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 221 He gave me positive Orders to turn off an old Weeding-Woman.
1857 Titan Aug. 157/1 She lectured the little weeding-boy for having failed to make sufficient progress in his education during the three weeks he could not weed in consequence of the rain.
1921 Illustr. Canad. Forestry Mag. May 275 (caption) A weeding gang drawn up to undergo the annual experience of having their photographs taken, before they start out to clear the weeds between the trees.
2004 Times 22 May (Weekend Review section) 11/1 Head gardeners, under-gardeners, weeding women and apprentices were needed by the dozen to clip hedges, rake paths, plant out and water the annuals, cut the crisp turf steps.
C3. † weeding dues n. slang Obsolete rare a portion of money taken from a person or place, viewed euphemistically as money owed or a voluntary payment; cf. sense 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > stolen goods > [noun] > property acquired by theft or fraud
picking1749
plunder1790
weeding dues1819
loot1839
take1888
knock-off1963
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. (at cited word) Speaking of any person, place, or property, that has been weeded, it is said weeding dues have been concerned.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.OE