One who professes to cure disease and to counteract witchcraft by magic arts.
1718. Bp. Hutchinson, Witchcraft, viii. 110. The said Dorothy Durent, having been with a Witch Doctor, acknowledges … that [etc.].
1901. Lancet, 19 Oct., 1085/2. He was considered to be a ‘witch doctor’ and … farmers and females went to him to have the ‘evil eye’ removed.
b. A magician among African tribes, esp. Kaffirs, whose business it is to detect witches, and to counteract the effects of magic. (Cf. medicine-man.)
1836. R. M. Martin, Hist. S. Africa, I. iv. 168. So infatuated [are the Kaffirs] in a belief of the infallibility of the wizard or witch doctor.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 445. One witch doctor may have … particular influence over one class of spirit and another over another class.
So Witch-doctress.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, vii. The most famous witch-doctress … a woman whose scent was as keen as a dog’s.
