coven, covin Sc.
(ˈkʌvɪn)
Also 6 covan.
[Var. of covent, convent.]
An assembly, meeting, or company. Obs.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Quhen mony benefices vakit Wks. (1885) 205 Lat anis the cop ga round about, And wyn the covanis [v.r. couenis] banesoun. |
b. spec. A gathering of witches; a ‘convent’ or company of thirteen witches; cf. convent 1, 2.
| 1662 in Pitcairn Crim. Trials Scot. III. 606 Ther vold meit bot sometymes a Coven..Ther is threttein persones in ilk Coeven. 1830 Scott Demonol. ix. 286 The witches of Auldearne..were told off into squads, or Covines. 1886 C. Rogers Soc. Life Scot. III. xx. 278 To their covens or gatherings the foul sisterhood were borne through the air. |