witching

English

witching (comparative more witching, superlative most witching)

Of or pertaining to witchcraft or sorcery, or to witches or sorcerers.
- a. 1822 (date written), John Keats, “[Supplementary Verses.] A Prophecy: To George Keats in America.”, in [Horace Elisha Scudder], editor, The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats, Cambridge edition, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], published 1899, →OCLC, page 249, column 1:
  'Tis the witching time of night, / Orbed is the moon and bright, / And the Stars they glisten, glisten, / Seeming with bright eyes to listen.
Of a person: having the power to bewitch someone or something.
(archaic) Bewitching, enchanting.
- 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:
  But who is this witching beauty by his side, who would fain impress you with a belief that that mischief which will not remain concealed for the briefest period, is not her entire composition?

witching

From Middle English wicchinge, from Old English wiċċung (“witching, witchcraft”), equivalent to witch ‎ -ing.

witching (plural witchings)

gerund of witch: an act of witchcraft.
- 2002, Christine Gentry, When Spirits Walk, page 28:
  There was a lot of information to draw upon because his occupation exposed him to more witchings every month than most individuals experienced in a life time.