chickweed

noun chick·weed \ -ˌwēd \

Updated on: 18 Mar 2018

Definition of chickweed

: any of various low-growing small-leaved weedy plants of the pink family (especially genera Cerastium and Stellaria); especially : a cosmopolitan weed (Stelleria media) naturalized in the U.S. from Eurasia

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Recent Examples of chickweed from the Web

Last among the common winter annual weeds, is the white-flowering common chickweed (Stellaria media), another tiny-leafed plant that hugs the ground.

— jo ellen meyers sharp, Indianapolis Star, "The Hoosier Gardener: Winter annual weeds ready to bloom, spread," 9 Mar. 2018
While ushering the good stuff in, chickweed flushes the bad stuff out.

— christine buckley, Bon Appetit, "How to Swap Exotic Superfoods for the Local Stuff," 19 July 2017
Make an additional pass over the lawn to control broadleafed weeds such as henbit, chickweed, dandelions and clover.

— neil sperry, star-telegram, "Burning questions about pests, weeds and more, as summer yields to fall," 5 Sep. 2017
Mulches applied to the proper depth will help reduce problems with annual weeds that grow from seeds, such as chamberbitters, spurge, annual bluegrass and chickweed.

— NOLA.com, "How to wage war on weeds," 26 Aug. 2017
Apply Gallery to prevent germination of clover, dandelions, henbit and chickweed.

— neil sperry, star-telegram, "Brave the heat for these critical gardening tasks for the second half of August," 8 Aug. 2017
There are homemade potato chips freckled with nutritional yeast; a vivid herb salad loaded with red orach, chickweed and oxalis flowers; and a statement on the brief menu declaring that all of the ingredients except the cheese are local and organic.

— rebecca flint marx, New York Times, "At Bay Area Restaurant, Roadside Food With a California Accent," 26 May 2017
The wildflower blooms in May, mixed in with white chickweed and purple violets, New Jersey’s state flower.

— USA TODAY, "Rare wildflower blooms in only one place on Earth – New Jersey," 12 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chickweed.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.