Adjacent Words

Witch definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WITCH, n.
1. A woman who by compact with the devil, practices sorcery or enchantment.
2. A woman who is given to unlawful arts.
3. A winding sinuous bank.
WITCH, v.t. To bewitch; to fascinate; to enchant.
Ill witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a female sorcerer or magician [syn: enchantress, witch]
2: a being (usually female) imagined to have special powers derived from the devil
3: a believer in Wicca [syn: Wiccan, witch]
4: an ugly evil-looking old woman [syn: hag, beldam, beldame, witch, crone] v
1: cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something [syn: hex, bewitch, glamour, witch, enchant, jinx]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English wicche, from Old English wicca, masculine, wizard & wicce, feminine, witch; akin to Middle High German wicken to bewitch, Old English wigle divination, and perhaps to Old High German w?h holy — more at victim Date: before 12th century 1. one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural powers; especially a woman practicing usually black witchcraft often with the aid of a devil or familiar ; sorceress — compare warlock 2. an ugly old woman ; hag 3. a charming or alluring girl or woman 4. a practitioner of Wicca 5. witch of Agnesi • witchlike adjective • witchy adjective II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to affect injuriously with witchcraft 2. archaic to influence or beguile with allure or charm intransitive verb dowse

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a sorceress, esp. a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits. 2 an ugly old woman; a hag. 3 a fascinating girl or woman. 4 a flat-fish, Pleuronectes cynoglossus, resembling the lemon sole. --v.tr. archaic 1 bewitch. 2 fascinate, charm, lure. Phrases and idioms: witch-doctor a tribal magician of primitive people. witches' sabbath see SABBATH 3. witch-hunt 1 hist. a search for and persecution of supposed witches. 2 a campaign directed against a particular group of those holding unpopular or unorthodox views, esp. communists. the witching hour midnight, when witches are supposedly active (after Shakesp. Hamlet III. ii. 377 the witching time of night). Derivatives: witching adj. witchlike adj. Etymology: OE wicca (masc.), wicce (fem.), rel. to wiccian (v.) practise magic arts

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Witch Witch, n. [Cf. Wick of a lamp.] A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat, and used as a taper. [Prov. Eng.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Witch Witch, n. [OE. wicche, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.; perhaps the same word as AS. w[=i]tiga, w[=i]tga, a soothsayer (cf. Wiseacre); cf. Fries. wikke, a witch, LG. wikken to predict, Icel. vitki a wizard, vitka to bewitch.] 1. One who practices the black art, or magic; one regarded as possessing supernatural or magical power by compact with an evil spirit, esp. with the Devil; a sorcerer or sorceress; -- now applied chiefly or only to women, but formerly used of men as well. There was a man in that city whose name was Simon, a witch. --Wyclif (Acts viii. 9). He can not abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch. --Shak. 2. An ugly old woman; a hag. --Shak. 3. One who exercises more than common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person; also, one given to mischief; -- said especially of a woman or child. [Colloq.] 4. (Geom.) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera. 5. (Zo["o]l.) The stormy petrel. Witch balls, a name applied to the interwoven rolling masses of the stems of herbs, which are driven by the winds over the steppes of Tartary. Cf. Tumbleweed. --Maunder (Treas. of Bot.) Witches' besoms (Bot.), tufted and distorted branches of the silver fir, caused by the attack of some fungus. --Maunder (Treas. of Bot.) Witches' butter (Bot.), a name of several gelatinous cryptogamous plants, as Nostoc commune, and Exidia glandulosa. See Nostoc. Witch grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Panicum capillare) with minute spikelets on long, slender pedicels forming a light, open panicle. Witch meal (Bot.), vegetable sulphur. See under Vegetable.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Witch Witch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Witched; p. pr. & vb. n. Witching.] [AS. wiccian.] To bewitch; to fascinate; to enchant. [I 'll] witch sweet ladies with my words and looks. --Shak. Whether within us or without The spell of this illusion be That witches us to hear and see. --Lowell.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(witches) 1. In fairy stories, a witch is a woman, usually an old woman, who has evil magic powers. Witches often wear a pointed black hat, and have a pet black cat. N-COUNT 2. A witch is a man or woman who claims to have magic powers and to be able to use them for good or bad purposes. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Occurs only in Ex. 22:18, as the rendering of _mekhashshepheh_, the feminine form of the word, meaning "enchantress" (R.V., "sorceress"), and in Deut. 18:10, as the rendering of _mekhashshepheth_, the masculine form of the word, meaning "enchanter."

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Sorceress, enchantress. II. v. a. Charm, enchant, fascinate, enamour, captivate, ravish, bewitch.

Moby Thesaurus

Jezebel, Mafioso, Weird Sisters, Young Turk, baboon, bag, bat, battle-ax, beast, becharm, bedevil, beguile, beldam, berserk, berserker, bewitch, biddy, bitch, bitch-kitty, blemish, blot, bomber, brute, captivate, carry away, cast a spell, cat, charm, common scold, coven, crone, dame, demon, demonize, devil, diabolize, dog, dowager, drab, dragon, enchant, enchantress, enrapture, enravish, enthrall, entrance, eyesore, fascinate, fiend, fire-eater, firebrand, fishwife, fright, frump, fury, gargoyle, goon, gorilla, grandam, grandmother, granny, grimalkin, gunsel, hag, hardnose, harridan, hell-raiser, hellcat, hellhag, hellhound, hellion, hex, holy terror, hood, hoodlum, hoodoo, hothead, hotspur, hypnotize, incendiary, infatuate, intrigue, jinx, killer, lamia, mad dog, madcap, mesmerize, mess, monster, monstrosity, mugger, no beauty, obsess, old battle-ax, old dame, old girl, old granny, old lady, old trot, old wife, old woman, overlook, possess, rapist, revolutionary, savage, scarecrow, scold, shamaness, she-devil, she-wolf, shrew, sight, siren, sorceress, spell, spellbind, spitfire, teratism, termagant, terror, terrorist, tiger, tigress, tough, tough guy, transport, trot, ugly customer, ugly duckling, vamp, violent, virago, vixen, voodoo, war-horse, wild beast, wildcat, witchwife, witchwoman, wolf