English

Noun

witch ‎(plural witches)

1. A person who practices witchcraft; a woman or (archaic outside dialects and Wicca) man who practices witchcraft.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter viij, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     Some of the kynges had merueyl of Merlyns wordes and demed well that it shold be as he said / And som of hem lough hym to scorne / as kyng Lot / and mo other called hym a wytche / But thenne were they accorded with Merlyn that kynge Arthur shold come oute and speke with the kynges.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Wyclif Bible (Acts viii. 9)

     There was a man in that city whose name was Simon, a witch.

   1. (now usually particularly) A woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft.
      • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare:

        He cannot abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch.

2. (derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.

   I hate that old witch.‎

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

3. One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
4. One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
5. (geometry) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
6. The stormy petrel.
7. Any of a number of flatfish:
   1. Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Torbay sole), found in the North Atlantic.
   2. Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis (megrim), found in the North Atlantic.
   3. Arnoglossus scapha, found near New Zealand.

Synonyms

• (female magic user): wizardess, sorceress
• (male magic user): wizard, sorcerer, warlock
• (an ugly or unpleasant woman): See Wikisaurus:old woman, Wikisaurus:ugly person

Derived terms

Translations

External links

• Arnoglossus scapha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Arnoglossus scapha on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Arnoglossus scapha on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Verb

witch ‎(third-person singular simple present witches, present participle witching, simple past and past participle witched)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To practise witchcraft.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To bewitch.
   • 1900, Gilbert Murray, Andromache: A Play in Three Acts:

     She has witched the Queen's womb long ago, and witched the whole harvest.

3. (transitive) To dowse for water.
   • 1964, Hilda E. Webb, Water Witching and Other Folk Talents in the Neighborhood of Bloomington, Indiana:

     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.

   • 2006, Helen Ayers, Appalachian Daughter: The Exodus of the Mountaineers from Appalachia:

     Nothing would make him shut up until I brought my dogwood stick into his office and witched for water.

   • 2010, C.J. Ott, True Stories: Memories, Musings, Odds and Ends:

     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.

Derived terms

• witcher

References

1. ↑ Guus Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 586.

See also

Etymology 2

Compare wick.

Noun

witch ‎(plural witches)

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