[1] : WordNet (r) 2.0

weeds
     n 1: a black garment dress worn by a widow as a sign of
          mourning syn: widow's weeds
     2: a black band worn by a man on the arm or hat as a sign of
        mourning syn: mourning band
see also:
widow's weeds mourning band 

[2] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

weeds n. 1. refers to development projects or algorithms that have no
   possible relevance or practical application. comes from `off in the
   weeds'. used in phrases like "lexical analysis for microcode is serious
   weeds...." 2. at cdc/eta before its demise, the phrase `go off in the
   weeds' was equivalent mainstream hackerdom's jump off into never-never
   land.


see also:
jump off into never-never land 

[3] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

weeds
     
        1. refers to development projects or algorithms that have no
        possible relevance or practical application.  comes from "off
        in the weeds".  used in phrases like "lexical analysis for
        microcode is serious weeds."
     
        2. at cdc/eta before its demise, the phrase "go off in the
        weeds" was equivalent to ibm's branch to fishkill and
        mainstream hackerdom's jump off into never-never land.
     
        jargon file
     
     
see also:
algorithm microcode cdc eta ibm branch to fishkill 
jump off into never-never land jargon file 

Weeds >> W Words
Weeds, definition of term: Weeds
weeds_pag1.html