witch
- a person, now especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery; a sorceress.Compare warlock.
- a woman who is supposed to have evil or wicked magical powers: witches in black robes and pointed hats.
- an ugly or mean old woman; hag: the old witch who used to own this building.
- a person who uses a divining rod; dowser.
- to bring by or as by witchcraft (often followed by into, to, etc.): She witched him into going.
- Archaic. to affect as if by witchcraft; bewitch; charm.
- to prospect with a divining rod; dowse.
- of, relating to, or designed as protection against witches.
Origin of witch
Examples from the Web for witch
Contemporary Examples
Breitbart forced her to correct a small part of her story, but witch hunts like these will leave every victim cowering.
She faces a jury of famous villains and a judge from the Salem witch trials.
Likewise, pressure must be placed on Egypt to abandon its witch hunt of the Muslim Brotherhood.
To Beat ISIS, the Arab World Must Promote Political and Religious ReformsRula Jebreal
September 15, 2014
Opponents of same-sex marriage say that even liberals have started to feel the effects of the witch hunt.
The film will feature two new songs: one called “Rainbows,” and another for the Witch.
‘Into the Woods’ Gets Disney-ed: Sondheim Confirms Movie Changes to His MusicalTim Teeman
June 18, 2014
Historical Examples
Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her witch's glances.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
She was so old no one knew exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
The schooner sailed like a witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
So died the witch, and nevermore do mothers say when children misbehave.
Indian Legends of Vancouver IslandAlfred Carmichael
The house was filled with people, they being curious to see the witch.
The Works of Whittier, Volume V (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
witch1
- historically, in mythology and fiction, a woman believed to practise magic or sorcery, esp black magic
- a practitioner of a Nature-based religion founded on ancient beliefs, which honours both a male and female divine principle and includes the practice of magic, esp healing magic, and divination
- informal, derogatory an ugly or wicked woman
- a fascinating or enchanting woman
- short for water witch
- (tr) to cause or change by or as if by witchcraft
- a less common word for bewitch
Word Origin
witch2
- a flatfish, Pleuronectes (or Glyptocephalus) cynoglossus, of N Atlantic coastal waters, having a narrow greyish-brown body marked with tiny black spots: family Pleuronectidae (plaice, flounders, etc)
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for witch
n.
Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress," in later use especially "a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits and to be able by their cooperation to perform supernatural acts," fem. of Old English wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic," from verb wiccian "to practice witchcraft" (cf. Low German wikken, wicken "to use witchcraft," wikker, wicker "soothsayer").
OED says of uncertain origin; Liberman says "None of the proposed etymologies of witch is free from phonetic or semantic difficulties." Klein suggests connection with Old English wigle "divination," and wig, wih "idol." Watkins says the nouns represent a Proto-Germanic *wikkjaz "necromancer" (one who wakes the dead), from PIE *weg-yo-, from *weg- "to be strong, be lively."
That wicce once had a more specific sense than the later general one of "female magician, sorceress" perhaps is suggested by the presence of other words in Old English describing more specific kinds of magical craft. In the Laws of Ælfred (c.890), witchcraft was specifically singled out as a woman's craft, whose practitioners were not to be suffered to live among the W. Saxons:
Ða fæmnan þe gewuniað onfon gealdorcræftigan & scinlæcan & wiccan, ne læt þu ða libban."
The other two words combined with it here are gealdricge, a woman who practices "incantations," and scinlæce "female wizard, woman magician," from a root meaning "phantom, evil spirit." Another word that appears in the Anglo-Saxon laws is lyblæca "wizard, sorcerer," but with suggestions of skill in the use of drugs, because the root of the word is lybb "drug, poison, charm." Lybbestre was a fem. word meaning "sorceress," and lybcorn was the name of a certain medicinal seed (perhaps wild saffron). Weekley notes possible connection to Gothic weihs "holy" and German weihan "consecrate," and writes, "the priests of a suppressed religion naturally become magicians to its successors or opponents." In Anglo-Saxon glossaries, wicca renders Latin augur (c.1100), and wicce stands for "pythoness, divinatricem." In the "Three Kings of Cologne" (c.1400) wicca translates Magi:
Þe paynyms ... cleped þe iij kyngis Magos, þat is to seye wicchis.
The glossary translates Latin necromantia ("demonum invocatio") with galdre, wiccecræft. The Anglo-Saxon poem called "Men's Crafts" has wiccræft, which appears to be the same word, and by its context means "skill with horses." In a c.1250 translation of "Exodus," witches is used of the Egyptian midwives who save the newborn sons of the Hebrews: "Ðe wicches hidden hem for-ðan, Biforen pharaun nolden he ben." Witch in reference to a man survived in dialect into 20c., but the fem. form was so dominant by 1601 that men-witches or he-witch began to be used. Extended sense of "young woman or girl of bewitching aspect or manners" is first recorded 1740. Witch doctor is from 1718; applied to African magicians from 1836.
At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch,' or 'she is a wise woman.' [Reginald Scot, "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," 1584]