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.]
Witch \Witch\, n. [OE. wicche, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.; perhaps the same word as AS. w[=i]tiga, w[=i]tga, a soothsayer (cf. {Wiseacre}); cf. Fries. wikke, a witch, LG. wikken to predict, Icel. vitki a wizard, vitka to bewitch.] 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.
There was a man in that city whose name was Simon, a witch. --Wyclif (Acts viii. 9).
He can not abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch. --Shak.
2. An ugly old woman; a hag. --Shak.
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.]
4. (Geom.) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
5. (Zo["o]l.) The stormy petrel.
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}.
witch \witch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {witched}; p. pr. & vb. n. {witching}.] [AS. wiccian.] To bewitch; to fascinate; to enchant.
[I 'll] witch sweet ladies with my words and looks. --Shak.
Whether within us or without The spell of this illusion be That witches us to hear and see. --Lowell.
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. [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]
A mob of 40 people stoned to death a 72-year-old woman reputed to be a witch doctor, and hundreds of attackers with clubs killed another purported witch doctor, authorities said.
A mob of 40 people stoned to death a 72-year-old woman reputed to be a witch doctor, and hundreds of attackers with clubs killed another purported witch doctor, authorities said.
But she got her first glimpse of White House Executive Chef Hans Raffert's gingerbread house, dressed up as the witch's cottage from Hansel and Gretel.
The Mazowiecki camp argues that Poland's delicate transition to full democracy could be thwarted if the government engages in a large-scale "witch hunt" for ex-Communists.
They had a long feature on political witch hunting in the post-Carthyism era and an interesting piece on Shakespeare-In-The-Park, which is staging a modern-dress version of "Beth."
"He has to give the state a role without giving the impression that he's renationalizing, change men without making it appear like a witch hunt, and follow a political logic without hurting the corporate logic," he says.
The East might still have arranged marriages, but it has avoided the witch hunts of the West's social workers. Dominic Lawson is Editor of The Spectator.
A Miami grand jury Thursday returned drug-trafficking indictments against him and a band of confederates that includes a brother and a former beauty queen who considers herself a witch.
So the analogy conjured by the modern term 'witch hunt' - with the show trials of Stalin or McCarthy is weak.
The long-lost text of a sermon delivered 271 years ago by Puritan leader Cotton Mather has been rediscovered, offering a more complex portrait of the man best known for his role in the Salem witch trials.
Trades Union General Secretary Norman Willis, addressing the representatives of the 85 affiliate unions, denied any witch hunt and said the electricians' union had refused every opportunity to scrap the no-strike deals.
Until this is done, the suspicion will remain that some are using their old links either to blackmail those now in power, enrich themselves, or both. A witch hunt must be avoided.
One of the more famous, according to Gary Boyd Roberts of the New England Genealogical Society, is Joan Kennedy, former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose ancestry dates back to accused witch Mary Esty.
A witch doctor using a monkey as bait captured the companion of a notorious man-eating crocodile, but the 200-year-old killer croc remains at large, a newspaper said today.
She is a witch.
It's as if The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe suddenly turned out to have no lion and no witch.
Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., was "condemned" by the Senate in 1954 for his witch hunts of supposed communists.
Such is the case in Salem, Mass., where one of the potential candidates for mayor is a self-proclaimed witch.
However, he is probably best known for his role in support of the Salem witch trials of 1692, during which 20 people were executed.
Owen said he found it "appropriate that this witch hunt culminated on Halloween," and charged the investigation was politically motivated.
Ipsita Roy Chakrabarty, self-described witch and former schoolteacher, is accusing officials of failing to protect witches in West Bengal state, where at least 20 suspected sorcerers were murdered last year.
"A piece of cake," says Bratton, a self-proclaimed voodoo witch doctor in this Washington suburb who says he's licensed by the state of Virginia to administer herbs and potions.
The wicked witch (Bernadette Peters) who lives next door has put a curse on them but tells them that if they will find four items for her, she will lift the curse.
A satanic witch voluntarily sells his soul to the devil in exchange for wealth and power," the book says.
In response papers, LaBella called the motion "a witch's brew concocted to stultify this prosecution in a bewildering search for `evidence' that is irrelevant to this fraud case." U.S. District Judge John Keenan has not ruled on the request.
"There is no such woman as the storybook witch," Mrs. Chakrabarty told a news conference in Calcutta, capital of West Bengal state.
Ms. Peters as the witch has her trademark cutesy-poo gestures that let us know she is very aware of the witch's power and panache.
Ms. Peters as the witch has her trademark cutesy-poo gestures that let us know she is very aware of the witch's power and panache.
The occasional media witch hunt about some politician's private peccadilloes notwithstanding, the general inclination is to offer a version of the old refrain, "Who am I to judge?"
Arson investigators sifted through debris that included a shrunken head, the shoes of an Icelandic giant purported to be the largest man ever and some bones the museum said were used by Aborigine witch doctors to kill enemies without touching them.