ˈill-ˈwish, v.
[f. ill adv. (or n.) + wish v.]
trans. To wish evil to; to bring misfortune upon, or bewitch, by wishing evil, according to a popular belief in some rural districts (cf. evil eye). Also absol. Hence ill-wish n., the evil or misfortune wished.
| 1853 T. Q. Couch in J. Brand Observations Pop. Antiq. (1870) III. 101 The witch's malice, or, as it is termed, ‘the ill-wish’. 1865 R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. Ser. ii. 80, I believe I was illwished once. 1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Works I. 162, I fear they almost ill-wished her when her husband hired lodgings for her at the seaside. 1899 S. Baring-Gould Bk. of West II. 16 A bard, and after him a saint, might not ill-wish unless he had been refused a just request. Ibid., If he ill-wished unjustly, then it was held that the ill-wish returned on the head of him who had launched it. |