witch

English Online Dictionary. What means witch‎? What does witch mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭch, IPA^(key): /wɪt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ
• Homophones: which (wine–whine merger); wich, wych

Etymology 1

The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female), sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer, warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more. The verb derives from the noun.

Noun

witch (plural witches)

1. A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:witch.
2. A woman who follows Wicca or similar New Age pagan beliefs.
3. (figurative, chiefly derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.

4. One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
5. One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
6. (geometry) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
7. The storm petrel.
8. 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.
9. The Indomalayan butterfly Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.

Synonyms

• (person who uses magic): See Thesaurus:magician
• (female magic user): wizardess, sorceress
• (male magic user): wizard, sorcerer, warlock
• (an ugly or unpleasant woman): See Thesaurus:old woman or Thesaurus:ugly woman or Thesaurus:shrew
• (a fish (both types)): white sole

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To dowse for water.

Derived terms

• witcher

See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English wicchen, from Old English wiċċian, from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk-. In the senses arising in Middle English and later probably aphetic from bewitch.

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To practise witchcraft.
2. (transitive) To bewitch.

Etymology 3

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.

Etymology 4

Chosen for its euphemistic rhyme.

Noun

witch (plural witches)

1. (euphemistic) A bitch.

References

• 1998, David Roediger, "What to Make of Wiggers: A Work in Progress", Generations of Youth, pp. 358–366.
• Arnoglossus scapha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Arnoglossus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Arnoglossus scapha on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Scots

Alternative forms

• wutch, whitch

Etymology

From Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female),sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer”) m., deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”).

Noun

witch (plural witchs)

1. witch; A person, chiefly a woman, skilled in sorcery.
   1. warlock
2. (transferred) Various animals, insects and objects in some way associated with witches.
   1. A moth in general; a tortoiseshell butterfly.
   2. The Torbay sole, pole flounder or dab, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus.
   3. The seaweed, Laminaria saccharina.
   4. A red clay marble, generally one that is considered effective in winning games, a “wizard”.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Verb

witch (third-person singular simple present, present participle witching, simple past witchit, past participle witchit)

1. (transitive) To harm (a person, etc.) by means of witchcraft; to bewitch, cast a spell on.
2. (figurative) To affect or influence as by witchcraft.

References

Further reading

• “witch”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.