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& Flet.: Mad Lover, iv. *2. The five wits : An old expre ion, sometimes used for the five senses, but oftener defined common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, memory. "My five wits nor my five senses can Di uade one foolish heart from serving thee." Shakesp.: Sonnet, 141. *wit-cracker, s. One who breaks jests; a joker. "A college of wit - crackers cannot flout me out of my humor."-Shakesp.: Much Ado, v. 9. IMG:content-0959.png:[blocks in formation] *wit-tooth, s. A wisdom-tooth (q. v.). [ P. Hol land: Pliny , bk. xii., ch. xxv.) *wit-wanton, a. Over subtle. "Wit-wanton men."-Fuller: Church Hist ., x1V. 4. *wit-worm, s. One that feeds on wit; a canker of wit. "Thus to come forth so suddenly a wit -worm." Ben Jonson. *wit'-an, s. [A. S. = the wise men.] The Witen agemot (q. v.). 7. The faculty of a ociating ideas new and witch (1), *wicche, *witche, s. [A. S. wicca =a ingenious, and at the same time natural and pleasing way, exhibited in apt language and felicitous combination of words and thoughts, by which un wizard; wicce =a witch. Wicce is the fem. of wicca , and wicca is a corruption of witga , a common ab breviated form of witiga , witega a prophet, sooth. expected resemblances between things sayer, wizard...from witan to see. Cf. Icel. nike revividly before the app are pro duce a shock of pleasant surprise; facetiousne . "True wit is nature to advantage drest, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest. Pope : E ay on Criticism, ii. 97. Perhaps the clearest definition of wit would be that it is a combination of ideas which creates a feeling of surprise at the unexpected congruity of things apparently incongruous. Hence it would seem to be the power of comparison that creates wit; but there are many unexpected combinations of this character, which, as Sydney Smith justly observes, would be witty if they were not sublime or beautiful. A strong sense of grandeur or beauty overpowers or takes away the sense of wit. He instances the idea in Campbell's Lochiel- "Coming vitki a wizard, whence vitka to bewitch. The Icel. vitki is from vita =to know, as A. S. witga , orig.a seer, is from witan = to see, allied to witan to know. ( Skeat .)] [WISEACRE.] *1. A man given to the black art; a sorcerer, a wizard. "There was a man in that citie whose name was Sy mount a wicche." - Wycliffe: Acts viii. 9. 2. A woman supposed to have formed a compact with the devil or with evil spirits; and by their means to be enabled to operate supernaturally; a sorcere . 3. A term of reproach for an old and ugly woman, with no reference to the practice of sorcery. "Foul wrinkled witch , what makest thou in my sight?" -Shakesp.: Richard III . , i. 8. boil, boy; pout, jowl; cat, çell, chorus, chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; witchcraft 4. A bewitching or charming young woman; 8 woman po e ed of bewitching or fascinating attractions. To be no witch : To be rather stupid; to be not very clever. "The editor is clearly no witch at a riddle."-Carlyle: Miscell ., iii. 51. witch-balls, s . pl . Interwoven ma es of the stems of herbaceous plants, often met with on the steppes of Tartary. ( Treas . of Bot .) *witch-finder, s. A profe ional discoverer of witches; one whose services were taken advantage of formerly when the prosecution of so-called witches was in vogue. "A notorious witch -finder in the seventeenth century Matthew Hopkins. hanged one year no le than sixty reputed witches in his own county of E ex."-Addis & Arnold: Cath. Dict ., p. 864. witch-hag, 8. Ornith.: A local name for the Swallow (q. v.) in Caithne . "Among the superstitious of Caithne , the Swallow is called Witch -hag.' They say that if a swallow flies under the arm of a person it immediately becomes paralyzed. Is it because of the same superstition that in some parts of England the innocent Swift is called 'the Devel in'?"8. Smiles : Robert Dick , p. 97. witch-meal, subst . The powdery pollen of Lyco podium clavatum , or Club-mo . (LYCOPODIUM.] witch-meat, s . [WITCHES' BUTTER, 2.] *witch-note, s. A weird note or sound. (Scott: Glenfinlas .) witch-ointment, subst . An ointment made of repulsive ingredients and supposed to po e magical powers. "The medieval witch - ointments which brought visionary beings into the presence of the patient, transported him to the witches' sabbath, enabled him to turn into a beast."-Tylor: Prim. Cult . (ed. 1873), ii. 418. twitch-ridden, adj . Ridden or tormented by witches. [HAG-RIDDEN.] *witch-wolf, s. A werewolf (q. v.), "Called by the inhabitants lougarous, in English witch-wolves." Adams: Works , ii. 119. witch (2), wych (1), s. [A. S. wice a kind of tree.] A kind of tree, probably a witch-elm or witch-hazel, witch-elm, wych-elm, s . Bot.: Ulmus montana. It is a large, tree eighty to a hundred feet high; the trunk with an occasional girth of fifty feet; the twigs pubescent, the leaves doubly or trebly serrate, the stamens four to six with purple anthers, the seed in the center of the oblong or sub-orbicular samara. Indigenous in the north of England and in Scotland. Called also the Scotch or Mountain Elm. witch-hazel, wych-hazel, 8 . Botany : 1. The genus Hamamelis (q. v.); spec if., Hama mel is virginica. It is a shrub from eight to twelve feet high, with large, alternate, obovate, acute, dentate leaves and axillary clustered yellow flowers. It grows in most woods in North America; flowering in October and November. 2. ( Plural ): The order Hamamelidaceae (q. v.). ( Lindley .) 3. The Witch-elm (q. v.). witch-tree, s. The Mountain-ash (q. v.) witch, v . t . [A. S. wiccian .] [WITCH, subst .] To bewitch, to fascinate, to enchant. "Am I not witch'd like her? or thou not false like him?" Shakesp.: Henry VI., Pt. II . , iii. 2. witch'-craft, *witche-craft, s . [A. S. wiccecraft, from wicce =a witch, and craft =craft, art.] 1. The practices of witches; a supernatural power which persons were formerly supposed to obtain by entering into a compact with the devil. The compact was sometimes expre , whether oral or written, when the witch abjured God and Christ, and dedicated herself wholly to the evil one; or only implied, when she actually engaged in his service, practiced infernal arts, and renounced the sacraments of the church. The expre compact was sometimes solemnly confirmed at a general meeting, at which the devil presided, and sometimes privately made by the witch signing the articles of agreement with her own blood, or by the devil writing her name in his "black book." The contract was sometimes of indefinite duration, at other times for a certain number of years. The witch was bound to be obedient to the devil in everything, while the other party to the act delivered to the witch an imp, or familiar spirit, to be ready at call and to do whatever was directed. [FLY, s ., I. 1. (5), 1.] He further engaged that they should want for nothing, and be able to a ume whatever shape they pleased to visit and torment their enemies and accomplish their infernal ends. The belief in witchcraft is of great antiquity. The sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. punishment for witchcraft was death, generally by burning. The number of people put to death in England has been estimated at about 30,000, Statutes were pa ed against witchcraft in the reigns of Henry VI., Henry VII. (1541), Elizabeth (1563), and James I. (1604). During the sitting of the Long Parliament 3,000 persons are said to have been executed on the charge of witchcraft. Judicial convictions were checked chiefly by the firm ne of Judge Holt, who in about ten trials, from 1694 to 1701, charged the juries in such a manner as to cause them to bring in verdicts of acquittal. The first law against witchcraft in Scotland was pa ed in 1563. The last victims in England were Mrs. Hickes and her daughter, nine years of age, executed in 1716, and the last in Scotland suffered in 1722. Prosecution for witchcraft was abolished both in England and Scotland by 9 George II., c. 5 (1736), which made all persons pretending to use the name punishable by imprisonment. By a subsequent Act, pa ed in the reign of George IV., they were made punishable as rogues and vagabonds. Witchcraft was first practiced in America in 1692 at Salem, Ma achusetts. It broke out in the family of Mr. Parish, a minister. A company of girls had been in the habit of meeting a West Indian slave to study "black art." They suddenly began to act mysteriously, bark like dogs, and scream at something unseen. An old Indian servant was accused of bewitching them. The excite ment spread and impeachments multiplied. A special court was formed to try the accused, and as a result the jails rapidly filled, and many were condemned to death. It was unsafe to expre a doubt of a prisoner's guilt. Fifty-five persons suffered torture and twenty were executed. ( Barnes ' Popular History of the United States.) Witches were supposed to be able, with the a istance of the devil, not only to foretell events, but to produce mice and vermin, to deprive men and animals, by touching them or merely breathing on them, of their natural powers, and to afflict them with diseases, to raise storms, ., to change themselves into cats and other beasts, . General a emblies of witches, called "Witches' Sabbaths," were held yearly, or oftener, at which they appeared entirely naked, and besmeared with an ointment made from the bodies of unbaptized infants. To these meetings they were supposed to ride from great distances on broomsticks, pokers, goats, hogs, or dogs, the devil taking the chair under the form of a goat. Here they did homage to their master, and offered him sacrifices of young children, ., and practiced all sorts of license until cock-crowing. Neophytes were introduced to the devil at these meetings, and received his mark on their bodies, in token that they had sold their souls to him. [WALPURGIS-NIGHT.] 2. Power more than ordinary or natural; irresisti ble influence; fascination. "She loved me for the dangers I had pa 'd; And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used." Shakesp.: Othello , i. 3. twitch-en, 8. [WICKEN.] witch-er-ý, s. [Eng. witch (1), s.; -ery.] †1. Sorcery, enchantment, witchcraft. "Immured in cypre shades a sorcerer dwells Deep-skilled in all his mother's witcheries ." .. Milton: Comus, 523. IMG:content-0960.png:[blocks in formation] women,' who say that they attend great meetings by night, with Diana, the godde of the pagans, and do her bidding."- Addis & Arnold : Cath . Dict ., p. 864. †witches' thimble, s. Bot.: Silene maritima . witch-ět, s . [Etym. doubtful.] A kind of plane, with a conical aperture and inclined knife, which reduces to roundne a bar which is rotated as it is pa ed therethrough. witch'-ing, adj . [WITCH, v.] Bewitching, enchanting, fascinating. "All shall combine their witching powers to steep My convert's spirit in that softening trance."