ill-wishv.
transitive. To wish evil to; to bring misfortune upon, or bewitch, by wishing evil, according to a popular belief in some rural districts (cf. evil eye n.). Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > ill-will > [verb]
ill-wish1865
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > unkindness > ill will, malevolence > intend ill [verb]
willa1500
ill-will1568
evil wished1577
ill-wish1865
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [verb (transitive)] > put an evil spell on
ill-wish1865
jinx1917
hex1932
to put the Indian sign on1948
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [verb (intransitive)] > put an evil spell on
ill-wish1899
1865 R. Hunt Pop. Romances W. Eng. 2nd Ser. 80 I believe I was illwished once.
1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Wks. I. 162 I fear they almost ill-wished her when her husband hired lodgings for her at the seaside.
1899 S. Baring-Gould Bk. of West II. 16 A bard, and after him a saint, might not ill-wish unless he had been refused a just request.
1899 S. Baring-Gould Bk. of West II. 16 If he ill-wished unjustly, then it was held that the ill-wish returned on the head of him who had launched it.
Derivatives
ill-wish n. the evil or misfortune wished.
ΚΠ
1853 T. Q. Couch in Brand's Pop. Antiq. Great Brit. (1870) III. 101 The witch's malice, or, as it is termed, ‘the ill-wish’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
<
v.1853