Witch-meal
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A flash powder made from club moss; vegetable sulphur. obsolete, uncountable
"[…] substance which Graine knew to be 'witch-meal'; the seeds of dried lycopodium moss; the other set the dust on fire with a burning stick, the flame pursuing the flying particles till they were consumed, when the light flashed out[…]"
Example
More examples"[…] substance which Graine knew to be 'witch-meal'; the seeds of dried lycopodium moss; the other set the dust on fire with a burning stick, the flame pursuing the flying particles till they were consumed, when the light flashed out[…]"
Etymology
A figurative use of the word meal, prompted by fancied resemblance.
More for "witch-meal"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.