Dictionary

witchery en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree Old English wiċċe Proto-Germanic *wikkōną Proto-West Germanic *wikkōn Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *wikkō Old English wiċċa Middle English wicche English witch Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Old French -ier Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Old French -ie Old French -eriebor. Middle English -erie English -ery English witchery From witch + -ery.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Witchcraft.
   • They are determined that I shall be burnt as a witch; and they sent their doctor to cure me; but he was forbidden to bleed me because the silly people believe that a witch’s witchery leaves her if she is bled; so he only called me filthy names. 1923 December 28 (first performance), [George] Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play […], London: Constable and Company, published 1924, →OCLC, scene vi, page 79:
   • You are right to some extent in what you say. In the olden days people had a stronger belief in all kinds of witchery; now they pretend not to believe in it, that they may be looked upon as sensible and educated people, as you say. 1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], translated by H. L. Brækstad, Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 156:
2. (countable) An act of witchcraft.
   • It may be they know something of the witcheries of this woman. 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XXXVI, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
3. (figuratively, uncountable) Allure, charm, magic.
   • I am influenced—conquered; and the influence is sweeter than I can express; and the conquest I undergo has a witchery beyond any triumph I can win. 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XXIV, in Jane Eyre. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:
   • [A]lready his imagination, leaping ahead of the engagement ring, the betrothal kiss and the march from Lohengrin, pictured her at his side in some scene of old European witchery. 1920, Edith Wharton, chapter I, in The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
   • He beheld the scene in his mind’s eye, through the witchery of many intervening years, and faintly illuminated it as if with starlight instead of this broad glow of moonshine. 1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter XVII, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
   • The witchery of the dawn turned the grey river-reaches to purple, gold, and opal; and it was as though the lumbering dhoni crept across the splendors of a new heaven. 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 141:
   • At noon, when by the forest's edge / He lay beneath the branches high, / The soft blue sky did never melt / Into his heart,—he never felt / The witchery of the soft blue sky! 1798 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Part First”, in Peter Bell, a Tale in Verse, London: […] Strahan and Spottiswoode, […]; for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 20:

Forms

Deriveds

Jewitchery

Synonyms

witching · jugglery · thaumaturgy · sortilege · witchery · magic · witchcraft · dweomercraft · warlockry · bewitching · charmwork · bewitchery · bewitchment · craft · conjuring · witchwork · whistness · spellcraft · mojo · goety · enchantment · hexcraft · dwimmer · witchdom · witchery · enchanting · witchwork · ensorcellment · incantation · hexerei · witching · spellcasting · enchantment · diablerie · spellwork · druidcraft · wonderworking · sorcery · fascination · wizardry · gypsycraft · witchdom · wizardcraft · conjuration · whistness · wandwork · spellcasting · black arts · dwimmercraft · dark arts