▪ I. † whitch Obs. or dial.
Forms: 1 hwicce, 4 whichche, 4–5 whicche, whucche, 4–6 whiche, wyche, 5 whyche, wheche, whoche, wucche, 6 whytch(e, whitche, (9 dial. wytch).
[OE. hwicce (also in cornhwycce), cognate with the synonymous hwæcce.]
A chest, coffer, ark; = hutch n. 1, 1 b; a coffin.
| a 1100 Aldhelm Gloss xviiib. 11 (Napier 186/1) Clustella, hwicce. 13.. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LVII. 254/1 Whon þis corn to þis kniht was solde He dude hit in a whucche to holde. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 362 Alle woned in þe whichche [sc. Noah's ark] þe wylde & þe tame. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) l. 29 Pannes mouled in a whicche [v.r. wyche]. 1415 Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 401 And nether wheche, ne leede to be layde in, bote a grete clothe to hely my foule caryin. c 1430 Hymns Virgin (1867) 11 A table..Vnder þat auter In a whucche is done. 1541 Will of John Hoper of Keynsham 19 Jan. (MS.), ij coffers & ij whytchys. 1596 Unton Inv. (1841) 2, j olde whitche, and one musterd mill. [1856 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 727 Wytch, (Herefords.), same as hutch [= body of a waggon].] |
▪ II. whitch
variant of witch, flat fish.