weird
Noun · AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Adjective (2)
- suggesting the operation of supernatural influences“an eldritch screech”“the three weird sisters”“stumps … had uncanny shapes as of monstrous creatures — John Galsworthy”“an unearthly light”“he could hear the unearthly scream of some curlew piercing the din — Henry Kingsley”Synonyms: eldritchuncannyunearthlyOpposite naturalSimilar supernatural
- strikingly odd or unusual“some trick of the moonlight; some weird effect of shadow — Bram Stoker”Opposite familiarSimilar strange, unusual
Noun (1)
- fate personified; any one of the three Weird SistersSynonyms: WyrdType of Anglo-Saxon deity
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Adjective having an unusually strange character or behaviour
Adjective deviating from the normal
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. wirde, werde, AS. wyrd fate, fortune, one of the Fates, fr. weorðan to be, to become; akin to OS. wurd fate, OHG. wurt, Icel. urðr. √143. See Worth to become.
1. Fate; destiny; one of the Fates, or Norns; also, a prediction. Obs. or Scot.
2. A spell or charm. Obs. or Scot. Sir Walter Scott
1. Of or pertaining to fate; concerned with destiny.
2. Of or pertaining to witchcraft; caused by, or suggesting, magical influence; supernatural; unearthly; wild; as, a weird appearance, look, sound, etc.
Myself too had weird seizures.— Alfred Tennyson
Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.— Henry W. Longfellow
Weird sisters, the Fates. Scottish Gawin Douglas
☞ Shakespeare uses the term for the three witches in Macbeth.
The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land.— William Shakespeare
To foretell the fate of; to predict; to destine to. Scottish John Jamieson
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54