witch

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[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

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Old English wiċċe (sorceress, witch) and wicca (wizard, sorcerer, warlock), from Proto-Germanic *wikjô (necromancer, waker of the dead) (compare West Frisian wikke (witch), Low German wikken, wicken (to use witchcraft), Old High German wīhan (to consecrate), Old English wiġle (divination)), from Proto-Indo-European *weik- 'to choose, sacrifice, conjure'; akin to Latin victima (sacrificial victim), Lithuanian viekas (life-force), Sanskrit vinákti (to sift, separate out).

[edit] Noun

witch (plural witches)

  1. (archaic or dialectal) A man who practises witchcraft.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I.8:
      And som of hem lough [Merlin] to scorne, as kyng Lot, and mo other called hym a wytche.
  2. A woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft.
  3. (derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.
    I hate that old witch.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

[edit] Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

[edit] Noun

witch (plural witches)

  1. An Atlantic flatfish, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus; Torbay sole.
[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

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

  1. (obsolete) To practise witchcraft
    'It approaches the witching hour'.
  2. To bewitch
  3. To dowse for water
[edit] Derived terms
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