[WITCH sb.3]
1. = WITCH sb.3 a. Also, the hornbeam.
1541–2. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 9 § 3. That everie bowyer … for every bowe that he maketh of Ewe, make fower other bowes … of Elme, wyche hasill, ashe, or other Wood.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Obier,… a Wych hasell, as some thinke.
1588. Harriot, Brief Rep. Virginia, D 4 b. Maple, and also Wich-hazle, wherof the inhabitants vse to make their bowes.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. cix. 1296. Called … Hornbeame, Hardbeame, Yoke Elme, and in some places Witch hasell.
1633. T. Johnson, Gerarde’s Herbal, III. cxvi. 1481. Vlmus folio latissimo scabro. Witch Hasell, or the broadest leaued Elme…. This hath little affinitie with Carpinus, which in Essex is called Witch Hasell.
c. 1767. G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, ii. In the court of Norton farmhouse … stood within these twenty years a broad-leaved elm, or wych hazel.
1830. Strutt, Sylva Brit., 66. The Wych Elm, or Wych Hazel, as it is sometimes called.
1855. Bailey, Mystic, 85. Wych-hazel, for divining treasures used.
attrib. 1886. A. Winchell, Geol. Talks, 137. Some men … even resorted to the witch-hazel fork in quest of knowledge on which capital might venture investment.
2. A North American shrub, Hamamelis virginica; also, an extract of the leaves and bark of this shrub, used as an astringent remedy.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 332. Witch Hazel, Hamamelis.
1778. J. Carver, Trav. N. Amer., xix. 508. The Witch Hazle…. It has been said, that it is possessed of the power of attracting gold or silver, and that twigs of it are made use of to discover where the veins of these metals lie hid.
1824. Longf., Autumn, 26. The purple finch … pecks by the witch-hazel.
1908. R. W. Chambers, Firing Line, viii. ‘Sentiment? Yes,’ she said; ‘but oh! it’s the kind that offers witch-hazel and hot-water bottles to the best beloved!’
