What does weeviled mean?
Weeviled is a rare English word used chiefly as a participial adjective meaning infested with weevils. It describes grain, seed, timber, or other material in which small snout-nosed beetles have become established. The related transitive verb, “to weevil,” means to infest something with weevils, and weeviled functions as its past tense and past participle. In ordinary modern English, speakers usually say infested, pest-ridden, or simply name the particular pest. Weeviled is therefore more characteristic of agricultural, historical, specialist, or deliberately literary prose. Its unusual form and literal specificity give it a vivid, slightly comic quality, but its basic distinction remains clear: a weevil is the insect, while weeviled describes material affected by such an infestation. Recognizing both the adjective and verb forms also prevents confusion with the much older noun weevil.
Infested with weevils.
"The miller rejected the weeviled wheat before it could be ground."
Normally used predicatively or as a past participle, as in “the grain was weeviled.”
To infest something with weevils.
"Warehouse staff discovered that the grain shipment had been weeviled by insects already present in the storehouse."
This transitive verb use is uncommon in modern English; infested is normally preferred.
A sack of grain does not merely have weevils—it can be weeviled.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of weeviled
Weeviled is an English derivation of weevil with the ending -ed, used either as a verb form or as a participial adjective. Weevil came through Middle English from Old English wifel, although the deeper origin of the older word is uncertain. The productive English ending -ed directly creates the meanings “infested with weevils” and “to infest with weevils.”
How weeviled is actually used
Rare and chiefly found in agricultural, historical, specialist, or deliberately literary prose. As an adjective, it normally follows the affected noun; as a verb, it takes the infested thing as its object.