Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A female fortune-teller.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Scot. A female fortune teller.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
female fortuneteller .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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That was one thing settled and sealed, so no more need be said about it; yet, notwithstanding of Nanse's being satisfied that the spaewife was a deceitful gipsy, perfectly untrustworthy, she would aye have a finger in the pie, and try to persuade me in a coaxing way.
The Life of Mansie Wauch tailor in Dalkeith David Macbeth Moir 1824
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That was one thing settled and sealed, so no more need be said about it; yet, notwithstanding of Nanse's being satisfied that the spaewife was a deceitful gipsy, perfectly untrustworthy, she would aye have a finger in the pie, and try to persuade me in a coaxing way.
The Life of Mansie Wauch Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself David Macbeth Moir 1824
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A great ease came upon my mind; it was lightened of a load that had lain on it since ever my Tynree spaewife found, or pretended to find, in my silvered loof such an unhappy portent of my future.
John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro
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"Plague on her, for an auld Highland witch and spaewife," said a farmer from the Carse of Stirling; "she'll cast some of her cantrips on the cattle."
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 280, October 27, 1827 Various
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We had unyoked the horses and got astride, and when we came to the gate there was the bonny spaewife carrying a bairn in a tartan shawl.
The McBrides A Romance of Arran John Sillars
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For a long period almost every one, far and near, knew her as a spaewife of no ordinary knowledge.
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I have told you the spaewife -- if spaewife you would call her, for I think sorceress fitted her better -- I have said she came close to
The McBrides A Romance of Arran John Sillars
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Lightfoot, the spaewife; and to her he went for assistance.
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The thing was done circumspectly, mind you -- nae high-handedness -- but Belle's folk were about Glen Scaur, a droll wandering band, claiming great descent from Eastern folk, and with horses and dogs and spaewife among them; and Belle (as they will be calling her) was the daughter o 'the Chief, a very proud man.
The McBrides A Romance of Arran John Sillars
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Just for an instant she wanted to push Louis over the roof, hear him smash far below on the street for daring to say the spaewife was afraid.
Captivity M. Leonora Eyles 1924
whichbe commented on the word spaewife
Female fortune teller. (from WordCraft)
May 20, 2008
fbharjo commented on the word spaewife
The term Spaewife was used as the title for several fictional works: Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "The Spaewife"; John Galt's historical romance The Spaewife: A Tale of the Scottish Chronicles; and John Boyce's The Spaewife, or, The Queen's Secret (under the pen-name Paul Peppergrass).
edit Melville
Francis Melville describes a spae-wife as a type of elf in The Book of Faeries.
"No taller than a human finger, fairy spae wives are usually dressed in the clothes of a peasant. However, when properly summoned, the attire changes from common to magnificent: blue cloak with a gem-lined collar and black lambskin hood lined with catskin, calfskin boots, and catskin gloves. Like human spae wives, they can also predict the future, through runes, tea leaves and signs generated by natural phenomena, and are good healers. They are said to be descended from the erectors of the standing stones."
wikipedia
September 10, 2010
jmjarmstrong commented on the word spaewife
JM just cannot see much future for a spaewife in these troubled times.
February 17, 2011