wit 
If you examine the sayings of Charles Lamb, Sydney 
Smith, and other great wits, you will perceive that what 
amuses you is the sudden perception of some fine resem- 
blance. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 145. 
•Wit^ (wit), V. i. [< wU~, «.] To play the wit; 
be witty: with an indefinite it. 
Burton doth pretend to wit it in his pulpit-libeU. 
Heytin, Life of Laud, p. 260. (Davia.) 
■wit*t. See wite^. 
Witan (wit'an), n. pi. [AS., pi. of wita (ME. 
utile, weote, wete), a man of knowledge, member 
of a council or parliament : see M)i<2.] In Anglo- 
Saxon hist, members of the witenagemot. 
As witan from every quarter of the land stood about his 
throne, men realized how the King of Wessex had risen 
into the King of England. 
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng. , p. 215. 
Thou art the mightiest voice in England, man ; 
Thy voice will lead the Witan. 
Tennyton, Harold, ii. 2. 
wltch^ (wich), n. [< ME. witche, wicche, loichche, 
iciche, a witch (man or woman), < AS. wicca, m., 
wicce, f. (pi. wiccan in both genders), a sorcerer 
or sorceress, a wizard or witch, = Fries, wikke 
= L6. icikke, a witch ; cf . Icel. vilH, m. , a witch, 
wizard, prob. after AS.; prob. a reduction, witli 
shortened vowel and assimilation of conso- 
nants (i^ > tk > kk, in AS. written cc), of AS. wit- 
ga, a syncopated form of witiga, witega, a seer, 
prophet, soothsayer, magician (cf. dedful-witga, 
'devil prophet,' wizard) (= OHG. wizago, wiz- 
zago, a prophet, soothsayer), < *wilig, seeing, a 
form parallel to mtig (with short vowel), know- 
ing, tcitan, know, 'witan, see: see wifl, and cf. 
tcitly. The notion that witch is a fem. form is 
usually accompanied by the notion that the cor- 
responding masc. is wizard (the two words 
forming one of the pairs of masc. and fem. cor- 
relatives given in the grammars); but witch is 
historically masc. as well as fem. (being indeed 
orig., in the AS. form wilga, only masc), and 
wizard has no immediate relation to witch. Cf. 
toiseacre, ult. < OHG. wizago, and so a doublet 
of voileh. Hence ult. (< AS. wicca) ME. wikkc, 
Kicke, evil, wicked, and wikked, wicked, wicked : 
gee wick'' and wicked^. The change of form 
(AS. wicca < wilga) is paralleled by a similar 
change in orchard (AS. orceard < orcgeard < ort- 
geard), and the development of sense ( ' wicked,' 
'witched') is in keeping with the history of 
other words which have become ultimately as- 
sociated with popular superstitions — supersti- 
tion, whether religious or etymological, tending 
to pervert or distort the forms and meanings of 
words.] 1. A person (of either sex) given to 
the black art ; a sorcerer ; a conjurer ; a wizard ; 
later and more particularly, a woman supposed 
to have formed a compact with the devil or 
with evil spirits, and to be able by their aid to 
operate supematurally ; one who practises sor- 
cery or enchantment ; a sorceress. 
"Cniciflge," quod & cacchepolle. "I warante hym a 
witehe!" Piers Plowman (B), xviiL 46. 
There was a man in that citee, whi>8 name was Symount, 
a wiccht. Wyclif, Act» viiL 9. 
Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee : 
Blood will I draw on thee ; thou art a witch. 
Shai., 1 Hen. VI., i. 6. H. 
When a Country-wench cannot get her Butter to come, 
ihe says, The Witch is in her Chum, 
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 82. 
2. .An old, ugly, and crabbed or malignant 
woman; a hag; a crone: a term of abuse. 
Fool wrinkled vntch, what makest thou in my sight? 
Skak., Kich. III., i. 3. IW. 
3. A fascinating woman ; a woman, especially 
a young woman or a girl, possessed of peculiar 
attractions, whether of beauty or of manners ; 
a bewitching or charming young woman or girl. 
[CoUoq.] — 4. A charm or spell. [Rare.] 
If a man but dally by her feet, 
He thinks it straight a teitch to charm his daughter. 
Greene, George-a-Greene, p. 262. (Davies.) 
6. A petrel : doubtless so called from its inces- 
sant flight, often kept up in the dark. — 6. A 
water-witch. — 7. The pole, pole-dab, or craig- 
fluke, a kind of flatfish Black witch. Same as 
ani(which see, with cut). P. ff.GoKse. {Jamaica.] — The 
riding of the witch. See ridtm/i. — White witch or 
wizard, a witch or wizard of a beneficent or good-natured 
disposition. 
Sorcerers are too common ; cunning men, wizards, and 
Vfhite-witcheg, as they call them, in every village. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 271. 
And, like white witches, mischievously good, 
Dryden, The .Medal, 1, B2, 
Witches' Sabbath. See .SaftfcotA, 6. — Witch of Agnesl, 
in math, a plane curve discussed by Donna .Maria Gaetana 
Agnesi, professor of mathematics in the Tniversity of B<j- 
Itjgna, who die<l a nun in 17rH>. It consists of a straight 
6951 
line together with a cubic to which that line is the in- 
flectional asymptote, this cubic having an acnode at in- 
finity in a direction perpendicular to the line. If a: = is 
the equation of the line, iy:cy^ -f 1 = (cjx) is that of the 
cubic. The area of the curve is four times that of the 
circle having four-pointic contact with the cubic and 
two-pointic contact with the line. Also called versiera. 
witcn.! (wich), !!. t. [< ME. witchen, wicclien, 
wichen, < AS. wiccian, bewitch; cf. D. LG. wik- 
ken = Icel. vitka, soothsay, divine ; from the 
noun. Cf. iewilch.'i 1 . To bewitch ; fascinate ; 
enchant. 
Ne schuld he with wicchecraft be wicched neuer-more. 
Watiam o/Palente(E. E. T. S.), 1. 442". 
For she has given me poison in a kiss — 
She had it 'twixt her lips — and with her eyes 
She witches people. 
Beatu and Fl., King and No King, iii, 1. 
I'hou hast witched me, rogue. 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iL 1. 
2. To work by charms or witchcraft; effect, 
cause, or bring by or as by witchcraft. 
Did not she vjitch the devil into my son-in-law, when he 
killed my poor daughter? 
Ford and Dekker, Witch of Edmonton, v. 2. 
And so in one evening EUery witched himself into the 
good graces of everyone in the simple parsonage; and 
when Tina at last appeared she found him reigning king 
of the circle. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 492, 
All round, upon the river's slippery edge, 
Witching to deeper calm the drowsy tide, 
Whispers and leans the breeze-entangling sedge. 
Lowell, Indian-Summer Reverie, 
witch^ (wich), n. [Also, in comp., wich, wych, 
weech ; < ME. wiche, < AS. wice, the sorb or ser- 
vice-tree ; appar. applied to several trees vrith 
pendulous branches, < wican (pp. wicen), bend, 
yield: see ireak. Hence witchen, and in comp. 
wilch-elm, witch-hazel, q. v.] The witch-elm, Ul- 
mus montana. 
witch-alder (wich'al''der), n. A low shrub with 
alder-like leaves, Fothergilla Gardeni (F. alnifo- 
lia), of the witch-hazel family, found in Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina. 
witch-ball (wich'bal), n. A name given to in- 
terwoven masses of the stems of herbaceous 
plants, often met with in the steppes of Tatary. 
witch-bells, witches'-bells (wich'belz, wich'- 
ez-belz), n. pi. The harebell. Campanula ro- 
lundifolia; also, the bluebottle, Centaurea Cya- 
nus. Britten and Holland. [Provincial, chiefly 
Scotch.] 
witch-chick (wich'chik), n. A swallow: from 
an old superstition. See swallow-struck. Also 
witchuck and witch-hag. 
'Witchcraft (wich'kr&ft), n. [< ME. wicchecraft, 
< AS. wiccecreeft, wiccrmft, witchcraft, < wicca, 
m., wicce, t., witch, -I- craft, craft: see witch^ 
and cra/<l.] 1. The practices of witches; sor- 
cery ; a supernatural power which persons were 
formerly supposed to obtain by entering into 
compact with the devil. The belief m witchcraft 
was common in Europe till the sixteenth century, and 
maintained its ground with tolerable firmness till themid- 
dle of the seventeenth century ; indeed it is not altogether 
extinct even at the present day. Numbers of reputed 
witches were formerly condemned to be burned. One con- 
spicuous outbreak of popular excitement over supposed 
demoniacal manifestations took place about 1692 in New 
England, especially in and near Salem. 
There was thane an Enchantour in the Contree, that 
deled with Wycche craft, that men clepten Taknia. 
Mandevdle, Travels, p. 13'2, 
Now the anival of Sir William Phips to the government 
of New-England was at a time when . , , scores of poor 
people had newly fallen under a prodigious possession of 
devils, which it was then generally thought had been by 
witchcrafts introduced. C, Mather, Mag. Christ,, ii. 13. 
2. E.xtraordinary power; irresistible influence ; 
fascination; witchery. 
You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate. 
Shak., Hen. V., v. 2. 301. 
There 's witchcraft in thy language, in thy face. 
In thy demeanours. Ford, Lover's Melancholy, iv. 3. 
The subtle witchcraft of his tongue 
Unlocked the hearts of those who keep 
Gold, the world's bond of slavery. 
Shelley, Rosalind and Helen. 
■witch-doctor (wich'dok'tor), n. Same as medi- 
cinc-man. Eneyc. Brit., Xin. 820. 
witch-elm (wich'elm), n. [Also wich-elni, and 
archaically wych-elm ; also weech-elm ; < witch'^ 
-\- elm. In this word and witch-hazel, the archaic 
spelling is much affected in modem use.] An 
elm, Vlmus montnna, of hilly districts in west- 
ern and northern Europe and northern Asia: 
the common wild elm of Scotland, Ireland, and 
the northern and western parts of England. 
It is less tall than the common English elm {U. campcs- 
tris), hut is a considerable tree, of picturesque habit, the 
trunk branch I ng naturally near the base, the leaves broad- 
ly ovate. The wood has the fine-grained, tough, and elns- 
tic quality i>f U. campestn'K, and is preferred for bent work. 
witching 
as in hoat-building. In southeastern England a variety 
of the common elm is also called by this name. 
The witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's Spring, 
Scott, L, of the L., i.. Int. 
Witch-elins that counterchange the floor 
Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxxix. 
■witchen (wich'n), «. [Also witchin; a var. of 
witch^ (with suffix conformed to -e«2), < ME. 
wiche, < AS. wice, the service-tree : see witch^.'] 
The mountain-ash or rowan, Pyrus aucuparia. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
witchery (wich'6r-i), n. ; pi. witcheries (-iz). 
[< wJteAl + -ery."] 1. Sorcery; enchantment; 
witchcraft. — 3. Fascination; charm. 
He never felt 
The witchery of the soft blue sky. 
Wordsicorth, Peter Bell. 
witches'-besom (wich'ez-be''''zum), ». Same as 
witches'-broom. 
■witches'-broom (wich'ez-brom), n. A popular 
name for the broom-like tufts of branches de- 
veloped on the silver-fir, birch, cherry, and 
other trees in consequence of the attack of a 
uredineous fungus, Peridermium elatinum. 
witches'-butter (wich'ez-bufer), «. An alga. 
See Xostoc, 2. 
■witches'-thimble (wich'ez-thim''''bl), n. See 
thimble and Silene. 
■witchet (wich'et), n. [Origin obscure.] A 
rounding-plaue. 
■witch-findert (wich'fin"d^r), n. A professional 
discoverer of witches, whose services were 
sometimes employed when the persecution of 
so-called witches was in vogue. 
He [Matthew Hopkins] then set up as "Witch Finder 
General!," and, on the invitation of several towns, made 
journeys for the discovery of witches through Essex, 
Suffolk, Norfolk, and Huntingdonshire, , , , Supposed 
witches were urged to confess, and on the strength of 
their own confession were hanged. 
Diet. Nat. Biog., XXVII. 336. 
■witch-grass (wich'gras), n. 1. Same as old- 
witch grass. — 2. The quitch-grass or couch- 
grass, Agropyrnm repens. 
■witch-hag (wieh'hag), n. Same as witch-chick. 
■witch-hazel (wich'ha''''zl), «. [Also wich-hazel, 
wych-hazel ; < witch^ + hazel. Cf. witch-elm.] 
1. The witch- or wych-elm, Vlmus montana, its 
broad leaves resembling those of hazel. [Prov. 
Eng.] — 2. A shrub or small tree, Bamamelis 
Virginiana, of eastern North America. It is no- 
ticeable for its flowers with four yellow strap-shaped pet- 
als, appearing when the leaves are falling, the fruit, which 
is a woody capsule, ripening the next season. The leaves 
Branch with Fruits of Witch-hazel (//a»»aw*tf/ij yiri^niana). 
a, male flower ; b, fruit, 
are broad and straight-veined, wavy-margined. The leaves 
and bark of witch-liazel alxiuud in tanniti, and the bark af- 
fords also a reputed sedative application for various cases 
of external Influmination, The leaves are said to possess 
similar properties, and an Infusion of them is given in- 
ternally for bowel-complaints and hemorrhages. While 
witch-hazel is now much in vogue as a cure for bruises 
and sprains, as also for various internal difficulties, and is 
even officiiially recognized, its real virtue, if any, is still 
quite in doubt, 
witching (wich'ing), )i. [< ME. wicehiitg, wicch- 
ingc ; verbal n. of witch^, r.] The practices 
of witches; enchantment. 
witching (wieh'ing), p. a. 1. Bewitching: 
■suited to enchantment or witchcraft; weird. 
'TIs now the very unlchinj time of nipbt. 
When churchyards yawn, Shak., Hamlet, iii, 2, 406, 
2. Fascinating; enchanting. 
Let neither flatteix nor the witching sound 
Of high and soft preferment, touch your goodness, 
Fletcher {and another), False One, iv, 3, 
