enchanter
(ɛnˈtʃɑːntə(r), -æ-)
Forms: 4 enchantour, -eor, enchauntur, -or, (enchauntonour), 4–5 enchauntour, 4–6 -ter, 5 -eure, 6 inchaunter, 6–7 inchanter, 3– enchanter.
[f. enchant v. + -er; but the ME. forms in -ur, -or, -our, etc., are formally a. OF. enchanteor:—L. incantātōrem.]
1. One who enchants, uses magic (see enchant v. 1); formerly also, a ‘conjuror’, one who practises sleight of hand.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 28 Þe kyng Baþulf..gret enchanter was. c 1305 St. Lucy in E.E.P. (1862) 104 Myne enchantours bynyme schulle þi wicchinge. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶615 Fflatereres been the deueles Enchauntours. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xl. (1495) 566 This stone Eliotrop dyscerneth the foly of enchauntours. c 1430 Pilg. Life Manhode ii. cxxii. (1869) 121 If evere thou seye an enchantour pleye with an hat, how he maketh the folk to wene there be somewhat under. c 1450 Merlin vii. 113 Now hath the enchauntor well spoken. 1541 Elyot Image Gov. 7 Using the counsayle of witches and inchaunters, he made his sacrifice with young children. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 56 He must pay a great summe of money to the inchanter to be purified. 1634 Milton Comus 645 By this means I knew the foul enchanter. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 58 Whether..we consider the Magicians to be philosophers, or..enchanters and conjurers. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 215 The art of the enchanter is a mode of charming snakes and spiders. |
b. transf. A ‘charmer’, bewitching woman.
| a 1704 T. Brown Beauties (1730) I. 42 With sure success each fair enchanter set Toyles for my heart. |
2. enchanter's nightshade, Circæa lutetiana.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal ii. lix. 280 Inchaunters Nightshade hath leaues like vnto Petimorell. 1775 Ash, Enchanters-nightshade. The name of a plant, the circæa. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 290 Order Onagrariæ. Circæa Lutetiana (common Enchanter's Night-shade). |