Forms: 1 wiccian, 4 wicc(h)e, (4 witche, Sc. weche, 4–5 wiche, wyche, 5 wyc(c)hyn, wysshyn), 5–6 wytche, 6– witch. [OE. wiccian, corresp. to MG., LG. wikken, wicken, of obscure origin. In the senses arising in ME. and later prob. aphetic from bewitch.]
† 1. intr. To practise witchcraft; to use sorcery or enchantment. Obs.
c. 1000. Pœnit. Ecgbert, xviii. in Thorpe, Laws (1840), II. 208. Ʒif hwa wicciʓe ymbe æniʓes mannes lufe.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter lvii[i]. 5. A neddre def … Þat noght sal here þe steuen of wicchand.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2539. Were þei boþe here, Þei schuld wicche wel ȝif þei a-wei went.
1623. T. Scott, Projector, 30. Hath not Iesabell painted, and whored, and plotted, and witched, and waded through blood?
2. trans. To affect (a person) with witchcraft or sorcery; to put a spell upon; = BEWITCH 1.
13[?]. Evang. Nicod., 216, in Herrig’s Archiv, LIII. 395. Wyched þi wyf has he.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 4427. Þat neuer man vpon mold miȝt it [sc. the ring] him on haue, no schuld he with wicchecraft be wicched neuer-more.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, iii. (Andreas), 64. Þane þat ȝong manis kyne in hy Sad, he was wechyt, sekyrly!
c. 1400. Rowland & Otuel, 1151. Foully there thou wichede was.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. ccxx. [ccxvi.] 282 b/1. They … sayd, that the duchesse Ualentyne of Orlyaunce, doughter to the duke of Myllayn, hadde witched the kynge.
1596. in Spalding Club Misc., I. 87. His wyiff was witchit be his narrest nychtbour.
1605. London Prodigal, I. ii. 63. I thinke I am sure crossed, or witcht with an owle.
1647. J. March, Actions for Slaunder, 15. Thou art a Witch … and diddest procure Mother Bale to witch the Cattell of J. S.
1883. Folk-Lore Jrnl., I. 354. A servant … told me when her mother was confined a man in the village ‘witched her,’ so that she could not move in bed.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, III. ii. Our woodland Circe that hath witch’d the King.
1884. ‘Mark Twain,’ Huck. Finn, xxxiv. He said the witches was pestering him … and he didn’t believe he was ever witched so long, before, in his life.
b. (with prep. or adv.) To bring, draw, put, or change by witchcraft.
1597. Jas. VI., Dæmonol., II. i. 28. If Witches had such power of Witching of folkes to death (as they say they haue).
1608. Chapman, Byron’s Trag., IV. i. O 2. O that in mine eyes Were all the Sorcerous poyson of my woes, That I might witch ye headlong from your height.
1693. I. Mather, Cases Consc., 26. See if you can Witch them into a Fit,… and … Witch them well again.
1855. G. Meredith, Shav. Shagpat (1909), 223. He’s witched there for an ill purpose.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. iv. 103. Hindus settled in Chota-Nagpur … believe that the Mundas … can witch away the lives of man and beast.
1892. Northall, Eng. Folk-Rhymes, 59. People say that the remarkable stones at Rollwright … are a regiment of soldiers witched into stones.
3. fig. To influence as by witchcraft; to enchant, charm; = BEWITCH 2. Also with prep. or adv.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 10. Thy … pleasing charmes, With which weake men thou witchest, to attend.
1592. Greene, Groat’s W. Wit (1617), 10. [Loue] Witching chast eares with trothlesse tongs of men.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. i. 110. As if an Angell dropt downe from the Clouds, To … witch the World with Noble Horsemanship.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., III. With her eyes She witches people.
1812. Cary, Dante, Purg., XIV. 112. The ladies and the knights, the toils and ease, That witch’d us into love and courtesy.
1824. Campbell, Theodric, 30. Her fingers witch’d the chords they passed along.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., I. iv. Her witching the world with her grace on horseback.
b. intr. To use enchanting wiles; to practise fascination.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 407. Applied to those that witch with the eyes, not to those that wooe with their eyes.
1824. Byron, Juan, XVI. xcv. Adeline was … watching, witching, condescending.
