Witch

8 definitions found

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

  Wicca \Wic"ca\ (w[i^]k"k[.a]), prop. n. [OE. wicche wizard, AS.
     wicce, fem., wicca, masc.; see also {witch} and {wicked}.]
     1. A religion derived from pre-Christian times, also called
        {Witchcraft}[4], which practices a benevolent reverence
        for nature, and recognizes two deities, variously viewed
        as Mother & Father, Goddess & God, Female & Male, etc.;


        its practitioners are called Wiccans, Wiccas, or witches.
        Since there is no central authority to propagate dogma,
        the beliefs and practices of Wiccans vary significantly.
        [PJC]
  
              Encouraged by court rulings recognizing witchcraft
              as a legal religion, an increasing number of books
              related to the subject, and the continuing cultural
              concern for the environment, Wicca -- as
              contemporary witchcraft is often called -- has been
              growing in the United States and abroad. It is a
              major element in the expanding "neo-pagan" movement
              whose members regard nature itself as charged with
              divinity.                             --Gustav
                                                    Niebuhr (N. Y.
                                                    Times, Oct.
                                                    31, 1999, p.
                                                    1)
        [PJC]
  
              "I don't worship Satan, who I don't think exists,
              but I do pray to the Goddess of Creation." said
              Margot S. Adler, a New York correspondent for
              National Public Radio and a Wiccan practitioner.
              "Wicca is not anti-Christian or pro-Christian, it's
              pre-Christian."                       --Anthony
                                                    Ramirez (N. Y.
                                                    Times Aug. 22,
                                                    1999, p. wk 2)
        [PJC]
  
     Note: Wicca is a ditheistic religion, also called Witchcraft,
           founded on the beliefs and doctrines of pre-Roman
           Celts, including the reverence for nature and the
           belief in a universal balance. Though frequently
           practiced in covens, solitary practitioners do exist.
           The modern form of the religion was popularized in 1954
           by Gerald Gardener's Witchcraft Today. It is viewed as
           a form of neo-paganism.
           Wicca recognizes two deities, visualized as Mother &
           Father, Goddess & God, Female & Male, etc. These
           dieties are nameless, but many Wiccans adopt a name
           with which they refer to the two: Diana is a popular
           name for the Goddess to take, among others such as
           Artemis, Isis, Morrigan, etc. Some of her symbols are:
           the moon; the ocean; a cauldron; and the labrys
           (two-headed axe), among others. The God is of equal
           power to the Goddess, and takes on names such as
           Apollo, Odin, Lugh, etc. A small number of his symbols
           are: the sun; the sky; a horn (or two horns); and
           others.
           Witchcraft is not a Christian denomination; there is no
           devil in its mythos, thus the devil cannot be
           worshiped, and the medieval view of Witches as
           Satan-worshipers is erroneous. Satanists are not
           Witches and Witches are not Satanists. Both have a
           tendency to be offended when the two are confused.
           In the Wiccan religion male Witches are not "Warlocks".
           The term Warlock comes from Scottish, meaning
           'oathbreaker', 'traitor', or 'devil'. Its application
           to male witches is of uncertain origin.
           The Wiccan Rede, "An it harm none, do what thou wilt"
           comes in many variations. All of them say the same
           thing, "Do as you wish, just don't do anything to harm
           anyone." It is implied that 'anyone' includes one's
           self.
           Witches practice in groups called Covens or as solitary
           practitioners, and some practice "magic", which is to
           say, they pray. Since the one rule that Witches have
           requires that they can not do harm, harmful magic does
           not exist in Wicca. In Wicca, "magic" is simply subtly
           altering small things, to gain a desired effect.
           Wicca, sometimes called Neo-Witchcraft, was revived in
           the 1950s, when the last laws against Witchcraft were
           repealed. Gerald Gardner founded Gardnerian Wicca
           sometime after his book, Witchcraft Today, was
           published in 1954. Raymond Buckland, in America, did
           much the same that Gardner did in Europe -- stood up to
           the misconceptions about Witchcraft.
           Two other books describing the modern practice of Wicca
           are:
           Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott
           Cunningham, Llewellyn Publications, 1988.
           Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, by Raymond
           Buckland, Llewellyn Publications, 1975.
           A Web site devoted to elucidation of modern witchcraft
           is:
           [a href="http:]/www.witchvox.com">Witchvox --Cody Scott
           [PJC]
  
     2. A practitioner of Wicca, also commonly called a {Wiccan},
        {Wicca}, or {witch} .
        [PJC]
  
              For at least one person who has seen "The Blair
              Witch Project", the surprise hit movie of the summer
              did not so much terrify as infuriate. One long slur
              against witches, said Selena Fox, a witch, or Wicca,
              as male and female American witches prefer to call
              themselves.                           --Anthony
                                                    Ramirez (N. Y.
                                                    Times, Aug.
                                                    22, 1999, p.
                                                    wk 2)
        [PJC]

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

  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.]
     [1913 Webster]

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]

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

  witch \witch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {witched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {witching}.] [AS. wiccian.]
     To bewitch; to fascinate; to enchant.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           [I 'll] witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
                                                    --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Whether within us or without
           The spell of this illusion be
           That witches us to hear and see.         --Lowell.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

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

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  142 Moby Thesaurus words for "witch":
     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
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Witch
     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."
     

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  WITCH, n.  (1)  Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league
  with the devil.  (2)  A beautiful and attractive young woman, in
  wickedness a league beyond the devil.