[OE. wiccung, vbl. n. of wiccian WITCH v.: see -ING1.]
1. The use or practice of witchcraft.
c. 1000. Confess. Ecgberti, xxix. in Thorpe, Laws (1840), II. 154. Ʒif hwylc wif wiccunga bega.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 213. Wicching & swikedom stale & leoð & lesiug & refloc, & alle þe luðere lastes þe man hafeð þurch deules lore.
c. 1290. St. Lucy, 126, in S. Eng. Leg., 104. Þou art strong wichche,… Mine clerkes and nine enchauntours, bi-nime schullen þi wichchingue.
1382. Wyclif, Acts viii. 11. Moche tyme he hadde maad hem mad,… with his wicchingis [1388 witche craftis].
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxxi. 121. All the enchantments or witchings of Circe.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., I. iii. 8. Bodin himselfe confesseth, that not aboue two in a hundred of their witchings or wishings take effect.
1603. Harsnet, Pop. Impost., 137. Geoffry Chaucer,… spying that all these brainlesse imaginations, of witchings, possessings, house-hanting, and the rest, were the forgeries … of craftie priests.
1896. Gratiana Chanter, Witch of Withyford, viii. 86. Why be the folks always telling of witches and witching?
1914. J. Mackay, Ch. in Highlands, iv. 152. Witching and charming were severely punished [in 17th c.].
2. fig. Enchantment, fascination.
1827–44. N. P. Willis, Contempl., 26. Life had been like the witching of a dream.
1882. ‘F. Anstey,’ Vice Versâ, iii. He felt far from hungry, and was conscious that his palate would require the adroitest witching.
