witch
To dowse for waterTo dowse for water.
» The wicked witch cast an evil spell on the man and turned him into an insect.
Зла чаклунка наслала злі чари на чоловіка і перетворила його на комаху. — ChickenKiev
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(intransitive)To dowse for water.
(transitive)To bewitch.
(intransitive, obsolete)To practise witchcraft.
- cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something
Examples
179 sentencesThe wicked witch cast an evil spell on the man and turned him into an insect.
Зла чаклунка наслала злі чари на чоловіка і перетворила його на комаху. — ChickenKiev
The witch hunt has begun.
Розпочалося полювання на відьом. — deniko
ruОхота на ведьм началась. — paul_lingvo
deDie Hexenjagd hat begonnen. — Zaghawa
Tom thinks Mary is a witch.
The witch cursed the poor little girl.
ruВедьма прокляла бедную маленькую девочку. — sharptoothed
deDie Hexe belegte das arme kleine Mädchen mit einem Fluch. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
I used to think that witches were real.
Origin
The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“(female) witch; sorceressThe noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“(female) witch; sorceress”) and wiċċa (“(male) witch; sorcerer; warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell; to warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse; to divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; to separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit वि॒नक्ति॑ (vinákti, “to set apart; to separate out”). Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more. The verb derives from the noun.
From Middle English wicchen, from Old English wiċċian, from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk-. In the senses arising in Middle English and later probably aphetic from bewitch.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
witches, witching, witched, witchedSynonyms
20 synonymsWord family
31 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.