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assistance, of evil spirits, or the power of commanding evil spirits; magic; necromancy; witchcraft; enchantment. Adder's wisdom I have learned, To fence my ear against thy sorceries. Milton.

practice of drawing lots; divination by drawing lots. A woman infamous for sortileges and witcheries. Sir W. Scott.

To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm. "Spelled with words of power." Dryden. He was much spelled with Eleanor Talbot. Sir G. Buck.

the chamber he stalked him full still. Chaucer. [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, Pressing to be employed. Dryden.

A convulsive motion, twitch, or spasm; a spasmodic effort. For she did speak in starts distractedly. Shak. Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry. L'Estrange.

An habitual sudden twitching of the hinder leg of a horse, or an involuntary or convulsive contraction of the muscles that raise the hock. [Written also springhalt.]

A starting, twitching, or convulsive motion.

A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.

re freedom than if it sat in his noose, which, when he pleases to draw together with one twitch of his negative, shall throttle a whole nation, to the wish of Caligula, in one neck. Milton.

motion of certain muscles; especially, such a motion of some of the muscles of the face; twitching; velication; -- called also spasmodic tic. Dunglison. Tic douloureux (. Etym: [F., fr. tic a knack, a twitching + douloureux painful.] (Med.) Neuralgia in the face; face ague. See under Face.

erect or raking. -- Trim of sails (Naut.), that adjustment, with reference to the wind, witch is best adapted to impel the ship forward.

ve size, but sometimes as a giant, and fabled to inhabit caves, hills, and like places; a witch. Troll flower. (Bot.) Same as Globeflower (a).

mn, and is driven by the wind, as a light, rolling mass, over the fields and prairies; as witch grass, wild indigo, Amarantus albus, etc.

be occupied by one train while another is passing on a main track; a shunt; a siding; a switch.

To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch; as, to tweak the nose. Shak.

To twitch; to pull; to tweak. [Obs. or Scot.]

p. p. of Twitch. Chaucer.

imp. of Twitch. Chaucer.

To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak. When a man is past his sense, There's no way to reduce him thence, But twinging him by the ears or nose, Or laying on of heavy blows. Hudibras.