Also water witcher. a person skilled at water witching; dowser.
a witch believed to haunt lakes, ponds, etc.
An Americanism dating back to 1810–20
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gyatso said 90 percent of the ink he uses is from a company called Eternal Ink and is made from organic pigments, distilled water, witch hazel and alcohol.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 8, 2017
After the valley’s most popular dowser died in recent years, Mondavi has become the go-to water witch in Napa Valley.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2014
When Susan Lynch played a selkie in Roan Inish, she was otherworldly, like some crazy, albeit gorgeous, water witch.
From Time ● Jun. 3, 2010
The Woodvilles were convinced that they were descended from a French water witch named Melusine who lived during the tag end of the Wars of the Roses.
From Time Magazine Archive
“He knows more about water than anybody around here. He’s a water witch and a well-digger too. He’ll tell you. He’s put down half the wells in this part of the valley.”
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
And when Beowulf heard the mournful tale he comforted the King with brave and kindly words, and quickly he set forth to the dreadful mere, the dwelling of the water-witch, Grendel's mother.
From English Literature for Boys and Girls by Marshall, H. E. (Henrietta Elizabeth)
The water-witch was slain, and rejoicing, the hero returned to Hrothgar.
From English Literature for Boys and Girls by Marshall, H. E. (Henrietta Elizabeth)
The water-witch fled, but in doing so carried off the best beloved of all the King's warriors.
From Young Folks Treasury, Volume 2 (of 12) by Various
I must indeed have been exhausted to chop logic with a water-witch.
From Henry Brocken His Travels and Adventures in the Rich, Strange, Scarce-Imaginable Regions of Romance by De la Mare, Walter
Chonita looked like a water-witch in pale green covered with lace that stirred with every breath of air; her mantilla was as delicate as sea-spray.
From The Doomswoman An Historical Romance of Old California by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
