archwitch
English
Alternative forms
- arch-witch
Etymology
From arch- + witch.
Noun
archwitch (plural archwitches)
- A very powerful witch.
- 1894, William Crooke, An Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, Allahabad: […] the Government Press, […], page 350:
- Others, like the archwitch Kálarátri or “black night,” are of repulsive appearance; she has dull eyes, a depressed flat nose; […]
- 1907, William McChesney Martin, Shoes of Iron: A Tale of Witch Town, Mayhew Publishing Co., page 183:
- And it was strange that these two archwitches should slumber when the whole world of shadows was astir.
- 1954, Donald N. Ferguson, Masterworks of the Orchestral Repertoire: A Guide for Listeners, published 1968, page 381:
- The poetic basis of this composition is the Russian legend that on the night of Ivan Koupalo the archwitch, Baba-Yaga, with sorcerers and sorceresses, comes to the Bald (or Bare) Mountain to celebrate the witches’ Sabbath.