资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Witch \Witch\, n. [OE. wicche, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.;
   perhaps the same word as AS. w[=i]tiga, w[=i]tga, a
   soothsayer (cf. {Wiseacre}); cf. Fries. wikke, a witch, LG.
   wikken to predict, Icel. vitki a wizard, vitka to bewitch.]
   1. One who practices the black art, or magic; one regarded as
      possessing supernatural or magical power by compact with
      an evil spirit, esp. with the Devil; a sorcerer or
      sorceress; -- now applied chiefly or only to women, but
      formerly used of men as well.

            There was a man in that city whose name was Simon, a
            witch.                                --Wyclif (Acts
                                                  viii. 9).

            He can not abide the old woman of Brentford; he
            swears she's a witch.                 --Shak.

   2. An ugly old woman; a hag. --Shak.

   3. One who exercises more than common power of attraction; a
      charming or bewitching person; also, one given to
      mischief; -- said especially of a woman or child.
      [Colloq.]

   4. (Geom.) A certain curve of the third order, described by
      Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.

   5. (Zo["o]l.) The stormy petrel.

   {Witch balls}, a name applied to the interwoven rolling
      masses of the stems of herbs, which are driven by the
      winds over the steppes of Tartary. Cf. {Tumbleweed}.
      --Maunder (Treas. of Bot.)

   {Witches' besoms} (Bot.), tufted and distorted branches of
      the silver fir, caused by the attack of some fungus.
      --Maunder (Treas. of Bot.)

   {Witches' butter} (Bot.), a name of several gelatinous
      cryptogamous plants, as {Nostoc commune}, and {Exidia
      glandulosa}. See {Nostoc}.

   {Witch grass} (Bot.), a kind of grass ({Panicum capillare})
      with minute spikelets on long, slender pedicels forming a
      light, open panicle.

   {Witch meal} (Bot.), vegetable sulphur. See under
      {Vegetable}.



   {Blazing star}, {Double star}, {Multiple star}, {Shooting
   star}, etc. See under {Blazing}, {Double}, etc.

   {Nebulous star} (Astron.), a small well-defined circular
      nebula, having a bright nucleus at its center like a star.
      

   {Star anise} (Bot.), any plant of the genus Illicium; -- so
      called from its star-shaped capsules.

   {Star apple} (Bot.), a tropical American tree ({Chrysophyllum
      Cainito}), having a milky juice and oblong leaves with a
      silky-golden pubescence beneath. It bears an applelike
      fruit, the carpels of which present a starlike figure when
      cut across. The name is extended to the whole genus of
      about sixty species, and the natural order
      ({Sapotace[ae]}) to which it belongs is called the
      Star-apple family.

   {Star conner}, one who cons, or studies, the stars; an
      astronomer or an astrologer. --Gascoigne.

   {Star coral} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of stony
      corals belonging to {Astr[ae]a}, {Orbicella}, and allied
      genera, in which the calicles are round or polygonal and
      contain conspicuous radiating septa.

   {Star cucumber}. (Bot.) See under {Cucumber}.

   {Star flower}. (Bot.)
      (a) A plant of the genus {Ornithogalum};
          star-of-Bethlehem.
      (b) See {Starwort}
      (b) .
      (c) An American plant of the genus {Trientalis}
          ({Trientalis Americana}). --Gray.

   {Star fort} (Fort.), a fort surrounded on the exterior with
      projecting angles; -- whence the name.

   {Star gauge} (Ordnance), a long rod, with adjustable points
      projecting radially at its end, for measuring the size of
      different parts of the bore of a gun.

   {Star grass}. (Bot.)
      (a) A small grasslike plant ({Hypoxis erecta}) having
          star-shaped yellow flowers.
      (b) The colicroot. See {Colicroot}.

   {Star hyacinth} (Bot.), a bulbous plant of the genus {Scilla}
      ({S. autumnalis}); -- called also {star-headed hyacinth}.
      

   {Star jelly} (Bot.), any one of several gelatinous plants
      ({Nostoc commune}, {N. edule}, etc.). See {Nostoc}.

   {Star lizard}. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Stellion}.

   {Star-of-Bethlehem} (Bot.), a bulbous liliaceous plant
      ({Ornithogalum umbellatum}) having a small white starlike
      flower.

   {Star-of-the-earth} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Plantago}
      ({P. coronopus}), growing upon the seashore.

   {Star polygon} (Geom.), a polygon whose sides cut each other
      so as to form a star-shaped figure.

   {Stars and Stripes}, a popular name for the flag of the
      United States, which consists of thirteen horizontal
      stripes, alternately red and white, and a union having, in
      a blue field, white stars to represent the several States,
      one for each.

            With the old flag, the true American flag, the
            Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the
            chamber in which we sit.              --D. Webster.

   {Star showers}. See {Shooting star}, under {Shooting}.

   {Star thistle} (Bot.), an annual composite plant ({Centaurea
      solstitialis}) having the involucre armed with radiating
      spines.

   {Star wheel} (Mach.), a star-shaped disk, used as a kind of
      ratchet wheel, in repeating watches and the feed motions
      of some machines.

   {Star worm} (Zo["o]l.), a gephyrean.

   {Temporary star} (Astron.), a star which appears suddenly,
      shines for a period, and then nearly or quite disappears.
      These stars are supposed by some astronometers to be
      variable stars of long and undetermined periods.

   {Variable star} (Astron.), a star whose brilliancy varies
      periodically, generally with regularity, but sometimes
      irregularly; -- called {periodical star} when its changes
      occur at fixed periods.

   {Water star grass} (Bot.), an aquatic plant ({Schollera
      graminea}) with small yellow starlike blossoms.