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 1856. Dow, Sermons, iii. By the appearance of the shirt-bosoms of some inveterate chewers of the weed, I should judge they had been squirting their juice in the face of a north-easter.

1879. Mysteries of New York, 89. Those who were not dancing were seated around the room, some smoking, others chewing the weed, still others drinking.

1888. H. James [Harper's Mag., lxxvii. 88]. Sir Rufus puffed his own weed in solitude, strolling up and down the terrace.

1889. Ally Sloper, 6 July. Last week he offered me a weed—A worse one no man's lips e'er soiled.

1901. Troddles, 77. He was fourteen and produced his cigarette case and asked me to 'have a weed.'

2. (colloquial).—Generic for sorryness or worthlessness: spec. a horse, unfit for stock, a screw (q.v.); i.e. (racing) an animal lacking the points of a thoroughbred. Whence weedy, adj. = worthless, unfit for stock purposes.

1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn, ii. He bore the same relation to a man of fashion that a weed does to a winner of the Derby.

1888. Boldrewood, Squatter's Dream, 28. She pointed to her steed, a small violent weed.

1888. Harper's Mag., lxxvi. 625. A gypsy hostler would trot out a succession of the weediest of old screws.

3. (once literary: now colloquial in surviving sense).—In pl. = generic for clothes: spec. an outer garment: now only in phrase widows' weeds = mourning. Whence weedy = clad in mourning garments.

1320. Grosseteste, Castel of Loue, 658. Vnder vre wede vre kynde nom, And al sop-fast mon bi-com [Under our garb he took our nature, and became very man].

Rom. of Partenay [E.E.T.S.], 3416. The gret dispite which in hert he had Off Fromont, that in monkes wede was clade.

1369. Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1719. He spendeth, justeth, and maketh feastings, He geveth freely oft, and chaungeth wede.

1503. Dunbar, Thistle and Rose, sub. init. Methocht freshe May befoir my bed upstude, In weid depaynt of mony diverse hew.

1588. Greene, Friar Bacon, 153. Tell me, Ned Lacy, didst thou mark the maid, How lovely in her country-weeds she look'd. Ibid. (1594), Orlando Furioso [Grosart], 1130 O sir, know that vnder simple weeds The gods haue maskt.

1590. Spenser, Faery Queen, i. vii. 21. The woful dwarfe.—When all was past, took up his forlorne weed.

d. 1634. Chapman [Johnson]. Her own hands putting on both shirt and weede.

1671. Milton, Paradise Regained, i. 314. They who, to be sure of Paradise, Dying put on the weeds of Dominic.

1766. Brooke, Fool of Quality, i. 191. I gave her twopence, reassumed my former garb, and left my weeds in her custody.

d. 1870. Dickens [Annandale]. She was as weedy as in the earlier days of her mourning.

Verb (old).—'To pilfer or purloin a small portion from a large quantity of any thing; often done by young or timid depredators, in the hope of escaping detection, as, an apprentice or shopman will weed his master's lob, that is, take small sums out of the till when opportunity offers, which sort of peculation may be carried on with impunity for a length of time; but experienced thieves sometimes think it good judgment to weed a place, in order that it may be good again, perhaps for a considerable length of time, as in the instance of a warehouse, or other depot, for goods, to which they may possess the means of access by means of a false key; in this case, by taking too great a swag, at first, the proprietors