# witch

Pronunciation: say "WICH" /wɪt͡ʃ/

## Noun

1. A person, now usually a woman, who uses magic or other supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
   - Simple: A person, usually a woman, who uses magic to make things happen or to tell the future.
   - _The townspeople accused her of being a witch after their cattle fell sick._
   - _In the old tales, witches could turn themselves into cats and slip out at night._
2. A person who follows Wicca or a similar New Age pagan belief system.
   - Simple: A person who follows Wicca or another New Age religion like it.
   - _As a practicing witch, she keeps a small altar at home and marks the solstices with her coven._
   - _Modern witches often gather outdoors for seasonal rituals._
3. An insulting word for a woman regarded as ugly, spiteful or unpleasant, sometimes used as a milder stand-in for bitch.
   - Simple: A rude word for a woman thought to be ugly or nasty.
   - _He described his landlady as a sour-faced old witch who never fixed anything._
   - _The children hid whenever the mean old witch across the street came out to yell at them._
4. A person inclined to mischief, especially a woman or child.
   - Simple: A person, often a woman or child, who likes to play tricks and cause trouble.
   - _Their youngest was a cheeky little witch, forever hiding her father's keys and giggling while he searched._
   - _"Give me back my keys, you little witch," he said, grinning at his niece._
5. A person with an unusually strong power to attract and charm others.
   - Simple: A person who is so charming that others are drawn to them almost like magic.
   - _Every man at the dinner was under the spell of the young witch at the head of the table._
   - _He called her a lovely witch, half in love already after one dance._

## Verb

6. To look for underground water by dowsing, using a forked stick or rod.
   - Simple: To look for water under the ground by walking with a special stick.
   - _Before drilling, the farmer hired a neighbor to witch for water along the fence line._
   - _She witched for a well with a forked willow branch, and the rod dipped near the old oak._
7. To put a spell on someone or something; to bewitch. An older use meaning simply to practice witchcraft is obsolete. *(literary)*
   - Simple: To put a magic spell on someone or something.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In geometry, a particular curve of the third order, which Maria Agnesi described under the name versiera.
- (noun) A flatfish of the North Atlantic, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, also called the witch flounder or Torbay sole.
- (noun) The megrim, Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis, a flatfish of the North Atlantic.
- (noun) A storm petrel, a small seabird.
- (noun) A flatfish, Arnoglossus scapha (also classified as Caulopsetta scapha), found in the waters around New Zealand.
- (noun) A butterfly of the Indomalayan region, Araotes lapithis, belonging to the family Lycaenidae.
- (noun) A paper cone stood in a container of lard or other fat and lit to serve as a taper.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6** — The noun reached English through Middle English wicche, continuing Old English wiċċe (a female witch or sorceress) and wiċċa (a male witch, sorcerer or warlock). The usual explanation derives these nouns from wiċċian, meaning "to practice sorcery," although some scholars suggest that the verb came from the noun instead. One proposed ancestry traces wiċċian through Proto-Germanic *wikkōną to Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, formed from *weyk- ("to consecrate, separate"). Comparisons include Dutch wikken ("to dowse, divine") and Latin victima ("sacrificial victim"). A connection with wicked is possible. The modern verb witch meaning "to dowse" was formed from the noun.
**Meaning 7** — Old English wiċċian became Middle English wicchen. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *wikkōną and then to Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, itself derived from *weyk-. Meanings that appeared in Middle English or later probably come from bewitch, shortened by the loss of its first syllable.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/witch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).