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  1. widdershins love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adv. In a contrary or counterclockwise direction: "The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins” ( Anthony Bailey).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. See withershins.

Wiktionary

  1. adv. obsolete The wrong way.
  2. adv. dialectal, Wicca Anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.

Etymologies

  1. From Middle Low German weddersins, weddersinnes, from Middle High German widersinnes, from wider- ("wither-") + genitive of sin ("direction, way"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle Low German weddersinnes, from Middle High German widersinnes : wider, back (from Old High German widar; see wi- in Indo-European roots) + sinnes, in the direction of (from sin, direction, from Old High German; see sent- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “We move naturally in a circle around the grave, going to the left, facing outward—what we call widdershins.”

    Simon & Schuster: Breath

  • “Move clockwise, called deosil, to charge up with energy, and move counterclockwise, called widdershins, to banish energy!”

    Simon & Schuster: Where To Park Your Broomstick

  • “More interestingly, the old (especially Scottish) word widdershins or withershins, etymologically suggesting ` a contrary direction, 'similarly refers to a movement against the apparent course of the sun and therefore considered unlucky or unnatural.”

    Verbatim: VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XIII No 1

  • “I can't remember the last time I heard the word "widdershins" outside of a fairy tale, but reading it had a big impact on how I read the novel and read the characters.”

    Truth and Consequences

  • “Plus, you know, it's just fun to say "widdershins" over and over.”

    Monday TV stuff

  • “As the dancers faced outwards, this would mean that they moved 'widdershins', i.e. against the sun.”

    The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology

  • “House, that is walking "widdershins" or "against the sun" ( "with the sun" being like the movement of a watch).”

    Arabian nights. English

  • “To cast a successful love spell, he says, one must circle such trees "widdershins”

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed

  • “The stingy butter fell a bit over the shelf and I stayed just widdershins to the beam and flipped my nossly nossler, not before a couple turns of the head, mind you.”

    Fictionaut: Magic X

  • “Sometimes he walked clockwise into Bayswater, down to the Bayswater Road and home again, sometimes widdershins, in a loop up to Campden Hill and back to the high street.”

    Simon & Schuster: Portobello

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reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. withershins
  1. widdershins

tags (6)

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  1. magic
  1. scots
  1. fun to say
  1. wicca
  1. away from the sun
  1. cvccvcccvcc

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‘widdershins’ has been looked up 4266 times, loved by 21 people, added to 115 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 19.