Forms: α. 7 weech, 7–8 wich, 7–9 witch elm. β. 8– wych elm. (Also hyphened.) [f. WITCH sb.3 + ELM. Cf. the slightly earlier witchen elm.] A species of elm, Ulmus montana, having broader leaves and more spreading branches than the Common elm; the witch hazel or Scots elm; also, the wood of this.
α. 1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 475. A Cions of a Weech-Elme, grafted vpon the Stocke of an Ordinary Elme, will put forth Leaues, almost as broad as the Brimme of ones Hat.
1633. T. Johnson, Gerarde’s Herbal, 1482. Vlmus folio glabro, Witch Elme, or smooth leaued Elme.
a. 1691. Aubrey, Nat. Hist. Wilts. (1847), 54. Wich-hazells, as we call them in Wilts (in some counties wich-elmes).
1715. Addison, Drummer, II. i. There’s a good deal of Virtue in that [Conjurer’s] Wand—I fancy ’tis made out of Witch-Elm.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 115. I here write of … the common Elm, and the witch Elm.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. Introd. 2. The witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan’s spring.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxvii. Witch-elms that counterchange the floor Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright.
β. 1769. Barrington, in Phil. Trans., LIX. 34. The Wych (or broad-leaved) elm.
1778. Lightfoot, Flora Scot., I. 152. The variety with a smooth bark and leaf, commonly called the Wych-Elm.
1845. Faber, Rosary, etc., 86. Many a bay, By … a drooping wychelm fanned.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1189. Forked branches of Wych Elm,… were used as divining-rods.
1875. Encycl. Brit., II. 317. The Wych elm is a hardy tree, of rapid growth.
b. attrib., as wych-elm faggot, foliage, tree.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 28. To fill up the drains with witch-elm faggots.
1862. Lytton, Str. Story, II. 11. In this yard there stood an old wych-elm tree.
1897. Daily News, 12 Nov., 8/3. Bunches of wych-elm foliage.
