witch Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a female sorcerer or magician
    enchantress.
  2. noun a being (usually female) imagined to have special powers derived from the devil
  3. noun a believer in Wicca
    Wiccan.
  4. noun an ugly evil-looking old woman
    crone; beldam; beldame; hag.
  5. verb cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something
    bewitch; hex; glamour; enchant; jinx.

WordNet

Witch noun
Etymology
Cf. Wick of a lamp.
Definitions
  1. A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat, and used as a taper. Prov. Eng.
Witch noun
Etymology
OE. wicche, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.; perhaps the same word as AS. witiga, witga, a soothsayer (cf. Wiseacre); cf. Fries. wikke, a witch, LG. wikken to predict, Icel. vitki a wizard, vitka to bewitch.
Definitions
  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. (Zoöl.) The stormy petrel.
Witch transitive verb
Etymology
AS. wiccian.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Witched ; present participle & verbal noun Witching
Definitions
  1. 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.

Webster 1913