sowlth
(saʊlt)
[ad. Ir. samhailt likeness, apparition.]
A formless, luminous spectre. Chiefly in the writings of W. B. Yeats.
| 1829 G. Griffin Collegians II. xxviii. 289 The Sowlth was seen upon the Black Lake last week. 1892 W. B. Yeats Countess Kathleen iii. 54 Call hither now the sowlths and tevishes. 1895 ― Poems 79 Pooka, sowlth, or demon of the pit. 1963 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Feb. 78/4 In the first version [of The Countess Kathleen]..there is a naive elaboration, in which ‘sheogues’, ‘tevishies’, ‘sowlths’, and other rustic spirits appear. |