witch

A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives.

Noun

  1. A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives.
    • He cannot abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch. - c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
    • It was easy to understand that they were witches, who had turned themselves into ravens. - 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 186:
    • However, the word "witch" came to be applied almost exclusively to women who were believed to achieve their power by making a blood pact with the Devil, sealed with their blood. They were usually old and ugly, and for...
  2. A person who follows Wicca or similar New Age pagan beliefs.
    • To be considered a Witch of a particular tradition you will have to be initiated into that tradition by someone else within that tradition, after following their specific program of study. - 2013 November 8, Edain...
    • For many neopagan witch traditions the moon is seen as both a symbol of the Goddess and of the witch's power, symbolically, and the belief is that the full moon is the best time for all acts of magic. - 2019 March 29,...
  3. An ugly or unpleasant woman.
    • I hate that old witch.
  4. One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
  5. One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
  6. A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
  7. A storm petrel.
  8. Any of a number of flatfish of species:

    1. Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, the witch flounder or Torbay sole, found in the North Atlantic.

    2. Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis (megrim), found in the North Atlantic.

    3. Arnoglossus scapha, found near New Zealand.

  9. An Indomalayan butterfly, of Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.

Origin

Etymology tree Old English wiċċe Proto-Germanic *wikkōną Proto-West Germanic *wikkōn Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *wikkō Old English wiċċa Middle English wicche English witch The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“(female) witch; sorceress”) and wiċċa (“(male) witch; sorcerer; warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell; to warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse; to divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; to separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit वि॒नक्ति॑ (vinákti, “to set apart; to separate out”). Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more. The verb...

Forms

witches

Synonyms

magician wizardess sorceress wizard sorcerer warlock old woman ugly woman shrew white sole

Derived

as nervous as a witch bewitch black witch cold as a witch's tit half-witch hedge witch kitchen witch man-witch nonwitch shadow witch steppe-witch water-witch white witch wind-witch witch alder witch ball Witchblr witch bottle witchcamp witchcraft witch craze witch cult witch doctor witch doctress

Noun Entry 2

  1. A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat and used as a taper.

Origin

Compare wick.

Forms

witches

Noun euphemistic

  1. A bitch.

Origin

Chosen for its euphemistic rhyme.

Forms

witches

Verb intransitive, obsolete

  1. To practise witchcraft.
  2. To bewitch.
    • She has witched the Queen's womb long ago, and witched the whole harvest. - 1900, Gilbert Murray, Andromache: A Play in Three Acts:
    • The little man was seething and shaking, near collapse with fear and anger. “Tell 'em, Alvy.” “A tenday ago, Will came to the Cockatoo acting crazy, so scared he'd pissed hisself. Said the sorcerer had found him in the...
    • “Maybe the Mormonhater witched him. There's lot of stories being told around about that old man.” “Them's lies,” denied South Boy hotly. “He may have scared Havek, but he never witched him.” - 2014, Charles L....

    Synonyms: bespell hex jinx bechat becry beglammer bewitch conjure enchant englamour ensorcell enspell forspeak glamour maleficiate mojo spell spellbind spellcast witch

Origin

From Middle English wicchen, from Old English wiċċian, from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk-. In the senses arising in Middle English and later probably aphetic from bewitch.

Forms

witches witching witched

Verb Entry 5

  1. To dowse for water.
    • And I told him there's a vein down there, I know 'caus I used to—uh, I went out here and witched one for this house, at the corner. - 1964, Hilda E. Webb, Water Witching and Other Folk Talents in the Neighborhood of...
    • Nothing would make him shut up until I brought my dogwood stick into his office and witched for water. - 2006, Helen Ayers, Appalachian Daughter: The Exodus of the Mountaineers from Appalachia:
    • Eventually, Don and Jim built nice big houses on their lots. We enjoyed watching them being built. I remember Don's builder came out and “witched” for a well. - 2010, C.J. Ott, True Stories: Memories, Musings, Odds and...

Forms

witches witching witched

Related

athame black magic channelling chiromancer coven crystal ball curse enchantment esbat familiar fortuneteller galdur grimoire hex hoodoo jinx lamia medium necromancy occultism palmist poppet sabbat Satanism

Derived

witcher