Now only dial. Forms: 1 wicca, wycca, 3–6 wiche, etc. (as next). [OE. wicca wk. masc. (see next).] A man who practises witchcraft or magic; a magician, sorcerer, wizard. See also WHITE WITCH.
c. 890. Laws of Ælfred, xxx. Ða fæmnan, þe ʓewuniað onfon ʓealdorcræftiʓan, & scinlæcan, & wiccan.
c. 1100. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 183/31. Augur uel ariolus, wicca.
a. 1225. Juliana, 41. Ich hit am þat spec þurh simunes muð þe wicche.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3028. Ðe wicches hidden hem for-ðan, Bi-foren pharaun nolden he ben.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxi. (Clement), 532. Sayand he was ane enchantore, A wech and a trigetouyre.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 46. ‘Crucifige,’ quod a cacchepolle ‘I warante hym a wicche!’
c. 1400. Three Kings Cologne, 84. Þe paynyms … cloped þes iij kyngis Magos, þat is to seye wicchis.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. viii. 45. Som of hem lough hymn [sc. Merlin] to scorne, and mo other called hym a wytche.
1533. More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., Wks. 1063/2. The turning of Aarons rod … into suche a serpent as deuoured vp all ye serpentes of ye Egipciane witches.
1563. Winȝet, Vincent. Lirin., xxx. Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 63/7. Simon the weche, quha wes strukin be the Apostolis cursing.
1627. R. Bernard, Guide Grand-Jury Men, 240. The examination of that grand Witch, Lewis Gaufredy, before noble Commissioners.
1668. Rolle, Abridgment, I. 44. Home dit I. S. Is a Witch, and I will prove him so.
1712. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 17 June. Am I a Laplander? am I witch?… can I make easterly winds?
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Witch, this word … is frequently used for wizard, or fortune teller.
1913. in Expositor (1914), Jan., 20. [Near Criccieth] there lives a long-haired, haggard old man whom the people about speak of as a ‘witch.’
1832. Carlyle, Misc., Boswell’s Johnson (1857), III. 51. The Editor is clearly no witch at a riddle.
1840. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. III. vii. And she keeps a sayin’—Well, he ’s a witch! Well, how strange!
