Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for BE-WITCH'
BE-WITCH', v.t. [be and witch.]
- To fascinate; to gain an ascendancy over by charms or incantation; an operation which was formerly supposed to injure the person bewitched, so that he lost his flesh, or behaved in a strange unaccountable manner, – ignorant people being inclined to ascribe to evil spirits what they could not account for. Look, how I am bewitched; behold, mine arm Is like a blasted sapling withered up. – Shak.
- To charm; to fascinate; to please to such a degree as to take away the power of resistance. The charms of poetry our souls bewitch. – Dryden.
- To deceive and mislead by juggling tricks or imposture. – Acts viii. 9.
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