| English Dictionary |
WEE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does wee mean?
• WEE (noun)
The noun WEE has 1 sense:
1. a short time
Familiarity information: WEE used as a noun is very rare.
• WEE (adjective)
The adjective WEE has 2 senses:
1. (used informally) very small
2. very early
Familiarity information: WEE used as an adjective is rare.
• WEE (verb)
The verb WEE has 1 sense:
1. eliminate urine
Familiarity information: WEE used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A short time
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Context example:
bide a wee
Hypernyms ("wee" is a kind of...):
time (an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes or activities))
Domain region:
Scotland (one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts)
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: weest
Sense 1
Meaning:
(used informally) very small
Synonyms:
bittie; bitty; itsy-bitsy; itty-bitty; teensy; teensy-weensy; teentsy; teeny; teeny-weeny; wee; weensy; weeny
Context example:
a wee tot
Similar:
little; small (limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Derivation:
weeness (the property of being very small in size)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Very early
Context example:
the wee hours of the morning
Similar:
early (at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it wees Past simple: weed
Past participle: weed
-ing form: weeing
Sense 1
Meaning:
Eliminate urine
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Synonyms:
make; make water; micturate; pass water; pee; pee-pee; piddle; piss; puddle; relieve oneself; spend a penny; take a leak; urinate; wee; wee-wee
Context example:
Again, the cat had made on the expensive rug
Hypernyms (to "wee" is one way to...):
egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)
Verb group:
urinate (pass after the manner of urine)
ca-ca; crap; defecate; make; shit; stool; take a crap; take a shit (have a bowel movement)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wee"):
wet (make one's bed or clothes wet by urinating)
stale (urinate, of cattle and horses)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Context examples
Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the right path as nothing else had ever done.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She ate a hearty breakfast, and watched a wee Munchkin baby, who played with Toto and pulled his tail and crowed and laughed in a way that greatly amused Dorothy.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Especially during his stretches of famine he suffered from lack of the weed; but no matter how often he mastered the craving, it remained with him as strong as ever.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
My bed was the same dry grass and sea-weed which I intended for fuel.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
In many parts of the United States it is considered a noxious weed.
(Hypericum perforatum, NCI Thesaurus)
I know not why the young shoots should be plucked, and an old weed left standing, yet certes there must be some good reason, since God hath so planned it.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When the Doctor and I were engaged, he now fell into the custom of walking up and down with Mrs. Strong, and helping her to trim her favourite flowers, or weed the beds.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
"Yes, bonny wee thing, I'll wear you in my bosom, lest my jewel I should tyne."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Dill weed oil is used as treatment for digestive complaints.
(Dill Weed Oil, NCI Thesaurus)
The large-scale, multidisciplinary study on palm oil plantations, in the Jambi province in Indonesia, compared the yield associated with decreased versus conventional use of fertilisers, and with mechanical versus herbicide-based weed control.
(Greener palm oil possible without sacrificing profit, SciDev.Net)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"The one who does not risk anything does not gain nor lose" (Breton proverb)
"What you cannot see during the day, you will not see at night." (West African proverb)
"It's not only cooks that wear long knives." (Dutch proverb)