witchcraft
(ˈwɪtʃkrɑːft, -æ-)
Forms: see witch n.2
[OE. wiccecræft, f. wicca, wicce witch n.1 and n.2 + cræft craft n.]
1. The practices of a witch or witches; the exercise of supernatural power supposed to be possessed by persons in league with the devil or evil spirits.
| c 1000 [see witch n.2 1]. a 1100 Aldhelm Gloss. i. 4055 (Napier 107/2) Necromantia, .i. demonum inuocatio, ᵹaldre, wiccecræfte. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1301 Þu yelpest of selliche wisdome; Þu nustest hwenne hit þe come Bute hit of wicchecrafte were. a 1300 Cursor M. 28310, I..folud wichecrafte and frete, And charmyng. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4044 His wif with wichecraft to a wolf him schaped. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxi. (Clement) 705 He..wend [þat] he begabbit had bene Be wesch-crafte. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. xv. 563 Whiche sacramentis and her vsis summe of the lay peple holden to be pointis of wicche craft and blindingis. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 12 Thay sine aganis this [first] command quhilk wsis wich craft. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. ii. 7 As for Witches, I think not that their witchcraft is any reall power. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. i. xxv. 51 The Sickness is more than natural, and Witchcraft is to be feared. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 117 ¶2, I cannot forbear thinking that there is such an Intercourse and Commerce with Evil Spirits, as that which we express by the Name of Witch⁓craft. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. iv. 60 To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence, of witchcraft and sorcery, is..to contradict the revealed word of God. a 1862 Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 425 There are few superstitions which have been so universal as a belief in witchcraft. |
b. pl. Acts or instances of this; magic arts; also † occas. with a, a kind of magic.
| c 935 Laws of Athelstan i. vi, We cwædon be þam wiccecræftum & be liblacum [etc.]. c 1200 Ormin 7077 Driȝmenn, weppmenn & wifmenn ec, Þatt follȝhenn wicche crafftess. a 1225 Ancr. R. 268 Hit bringeð to nout alle þes deofles wieles,..his wrenchfule wicchecreftes. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lx. (Bodl. MS.), Wicches also vse þe herte and þee lyuoure of þis beeste in many wicchecraftes. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 93 Wit þer wichecraftis and enchauntingis. a 1500 Hist. K. Boccus & Sydracke (? 1510) D iv b, Us thou hast now forsakyn And to a wychcrafte the takyn. 1569 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 43 Scho will confess no wytchcreftis nor gilt. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 45 All these witchcrafts ceased after the comming of Christ. 1670 R. T. Opinion of Witchcraft Vind. 43 Killing of Men or Beasts by Witchcrafts. 1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. II. i. 49 Commissioners..were appointed for the trial of witchcrafts. |
2. fig. Power or influence like that of a magician; bewitching or fascinating attraction or charm.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 301 You haue Witch-craft in your Lippes, Kate. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 18 He hath a Witchcraft Ouer the King in's Tongue. 1647 Cowley Mistr., Vain Love 1 What new-found Witchcraft was in thee, With thine own Cold to kindle Me? a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §126 Whether the raising this spirit [of the Levellers] was a piece of Cromwell's ordinary witchcraft, in order to some of his designs, or whether [etc.]. 1747 Richardson Clarissa I. viii. 47, I tell you, I see thro' your witchcrafts—that was her strange word. 1818 Shelley Rosal. & Helen 652 The subtle witchcraft of his tongue Unlocked the hearts of those who keep Gold. 1844 Kinglake Eothen iii, By some unfailing witchcraft she [sc. the sea] entices the breezes to follow her. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 265 His Blindnesse and Infidelity betrayeth him to this Stupidity, and Witchcraft-adhæsion to the Creature. 1796 G. M. Woodward Eccentric Excurs. 135 Among the most approved witchcraft remedies, we find nailing horse-shoes at the thresholds of doors. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 877/1 The latest witchcraft frenzy was in New England, about 1692. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 452 Human sacrifice is very rare in Congo Fran{cced}ais, the killing of people being nine times in ten a witchcraft palaver. |
Hence † witchcraftical a. (nonce-wd.).
| 1676 Doctrine of Devils 84 Away with witchcraftical Doctors, away with the doctrine of Devils. |