witch1 (wich)

[ tk > kk, in AS. written cc ), of AS. wit ga, a syncopated form of witiga, witega, a seer, prophet, soothsayer, magician (cf. deóful - witga, 'devil prophet,' wizard) (= OHG. wizago, wiz zago, a prophet, soothsayer), responding masc. is wizard (the two words forming one of the pairs of masc. and fem. correlatives given in the grammars); but witch is historically masc. as well as fem. (being indeed orig., in the AS. form witga, only masc.), and wizard has no immediate relation to witch. Cf. wiseacre, ult. 6951 line together with a cubic to which that line is the inflectional asymptote, this cubic having an acnode at infinity in a direction perpendicular to the line. If x = 0 is the equation of the line, ( y.c )2 +1 = ( c / x ) 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. witch1 (wich), v. t. [ Ne schuld he with wicchecraft be wicched neuer-more. William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4427. For she has given me poison in a ki - She had it 'twixt her lips - and with her eyes She witches people. Beau, and Fl . , King and No King, iii. 1. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1. Thou hast witched me, rogue. witching as in boat-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- elms that counterchange the floor Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright. Tennyson, In Memoriam, lxxxix. witchen (wich'n), n. [Also witch in ; a var. of witch2 (with suffix conformed to -en2), wiche , wice , the service-tree: see witch2 .] The mountain-ash or rowan, Pyrus aucuparia . [Prov. Eng.] witchery (wich'er-i), n.; pl. witcheries (-iz). [ He never felt The witchery of the soft blue sky. Words worth, Peter Bell. 2. To work by charms or witchcraft; effect, witches'-besom (wich'ez-bē"zum), n. Same as cause, or bring by or as by witchcraft. Did not she witch 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 Ellery witched himself into the good graces of every one 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.