verb (old).—To lynch. [The two De Witts, opponents of William of Orange, were massacred by the mob in 1672, without subsequent enquiry.] Cf., BOYCOTT, BURKE, CELLIER.

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  1690.  Modest Enquiry into the Present Disasters (The Life of Thomas Ken, p. 561). It is a wonder, the English Nation … have not in their fury DE WITTED some of these men, who have brought all this upon us. And I must tell them, that the crimes of the two unhappy brothers in Holland (which gave rise to that word) were not fully so great as some of theirs.

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  d. 1721.  PRIOR, The Viceroy.

        To her I leave thee, gloomy peer!
  Think on thy crimes committed;
Repent, and be for once sincere,
  Thou ne’er wilt be DE-WITTED.

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  1849–61.  MACAULAY, The History of England, xvi. One writer … expressed his wonder that the people had not … DEWITTED the nonjuring Prelates.

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