Meantime there came a shower, which so besprinkled the grass and shrubbery as to make it rather wet for our after-tea ramble. – Nathaniel Hawthorne, journal, 1842 August 15th
We can in fact only define a weed, mutatis mutandis, in terms of the well-known definition of dirt – as matter out of place. What we call a weed is in fact merely a plant growing where we do not want it. – E.J. Salisbury, The Living Garden, 1935