Versiera

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Witch \Witch\, n. [OE. wicche, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.;
     perhaps the same word as AS. w[imac]tiga, w[imac]tga, a
     soothsayer (cf. {Wiseacre}); cf. Fries. wikke, a witch, LG.
     wikken to predict, Icel. vitki a wizard, vitka to bewitch.]
     [1913 Webster]
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There was a man in that city whose name was Simon, a
              witch.                                --Wyclif (Acts
                                                    viii. 9).
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He can not abide the old woman of Brentford; he
              swears she's a witch.                 --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An ugly old woman; a hag. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Geom.) A certain curve of the third order, described by
        Maria Agnesi under the name {versiera}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Zool.) The stormy petrel.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. A Wiccan; an adherent or practitioner of {Wicca}, a
        religion which in different forms may be paganistic and
        nature-oriented, or ditheistic. The term witch applies to
        both male and female adherents in this sense.
        [PJC]
  
     {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}.
        [1913 Webster]