witch alder (wichal"der)

A low shrub with alder-like leaves, Fothergilla Garden i ( F. alnifo lia ), of the witch-hazel family, found in Virginia and North Carolina. witch-ball (wich'bal), n. A name given to in terwoven ma es of the stems of herbaceous plants, often met with in the steppes of Tatary. of change in orchard (AS. orceard 〈 orcgeard "Crucifige," quod a cacchepolle. "I warante hym a witche!" Piers Plowman (B), xviii. 46. There was a man in that citee, whos name was Symount, Wyclif, Acts viii. 9. a wicche. Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee: Blood will I draw on thee; thou art a witch. Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 5. 6. When a Country-wench cannot get her Butter to come, she says, The Witch is in her Churn. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 82. 2. An old, ugly, and crabbed or malignant woman; a hag; a crone: a term of abuse. Foul wrinkled witch, what makest thou in my sight? Shak., Rich. III., i. 3. 164. 3. A fascinating woman; a woman, especially a young woman or a girl, po e ed of peculiar attractions, whether of beauty or of manners; a bewitching or charming young woman or girl. [Colloq.]-4. A charm or spell. [Rare.] If a man but dally by her feet, He thinks it straight a witch to charm his daughter. Greene, George-a-Greene, p. 262. ( Davies.) 5. A petrel: doubtle so called from its ince ant flight, often kept up in the dark.-6. A water-witch.-7. The pole, pole-dab, or craigfluke, a kind of flatfish.- Black witch. Same as ani (which see, with cut). P. H. Go e. [Jamaica.] -The riding of the witch. See riding1.- White witch or wizard, a witch or wizard of a beneficent or good-natured disposition. Sorcerers are too common; cunning men, wizards, and white-witches, as they call them, in every village. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 271. And, like white witches, mischievously good. Dryden, The Medal, 1. 62. Witches' Sabbath. See Sabbath, 5. — Witch of Agnesi, in math. a plane curve discu ed by Donna Maria Gaetana Agnesi, profe or of mathematics in the University of Bologna, who died a nun in 1799. It consists of a straight