α. 1600s witches teate, 1700s witches teat, 1900s– witch's teat.
β. 1800s– witch teat.
witch's teatn.
/ˌwɪtʃᵻz ˈtiːt/, U.S. /ˌwɪtʃᵻz ˈtit/ A supernumerary nipple, or another nipple-like protuberance on the skin, believed to be a distinguishing mark of a witch. Cf. witch-pap n., witch's tit n. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > blemish > [noun] > mole
molea1398
honey spot1547
tongue-mole1562
mould1573
molehill1650
witch's teat1654
honey drop?a1800
honey-marka1803
rose-mole1877
witch-pap1886
witch's tit1932
α.
β. 1839 A. Cushing Hist. Lett. on 1st Charter Mass. Govt. xviii. 132 An excresence [sic] supposed to be a witch teat was found on her body.1934 E. Reynard Narrow Land iv. 161 One night, when he came home late, he found Satan in the form of a baby imp, suckling at a witch teat on her breast.2019 Daylight Atheism (Nexis) 18 Mar. Accused women were stripped by inquisitor priests who searched their bodies for ‘witch marks’ or ‘witch teats’.1654 in Rec. Colony New Haven: 1653 to Union (1858) 81 Other women went to search..Knapp..and goodwife Staplyes handled her verey much, and..said, these were no witches teates, but such as she herselfe had.
1716 E. Ward St. Paul's Church 11 Others, with hairy Moles and Wens, Like Witches Teats beneath their Chins.
1948 E. Chamberlain Snare for Witches xvii. 193 There is the search for the secret mark, the witch's teat.
2017 Racked (Nexis) 20 Feb. Called the ‘witch's teat’, moles and any other bodily ‘abnormality’ were seen as signs of witchcraft and were the devil's mark on his subject, where he or the witch's familiar suckled.
Phrases
colloquial. In various similative phrases indicating extreme coldness, dryness, or another property held to be characteristic of such a mark or protuberance, or (more generally) of a witch's breast, such as (as) cold as a witch's teat, (as) dry as a witch's teat. In later use also colder (also drier, etc.) than a witch's teat in the same sense.Perhaps sometimes showing euphemistic alteration of similar expressions at witch's tit n. Phrases.
ΚΠ
1939 T. Thayer Three Musketeers xv. 437 Rosy says du Plessis was sore as a witch's teat when they found the Count dead in your room.
1945 M. Whipple This is Place: Utah iii. 177 It [sc. Utah] is a land that has even its own language... The weather is ‘colder than a witch's teat’.
1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye 4 It was cold as a witch's teat, especially on top of that stupid hill.
2004 Canberra Times (Nexis) 11 Feb. Basically..Mars has been dry as a witch's teat for about a billion years.
2014 R. Madeley Way you look Tonight lx. 277 He..put the keys in the ignition... The battery was flatter than a witch's teat.
2018 V. L. Smith Life of Exper. Econ. I. iv. 53 Upstairs were two bedrooms with no heat, and believe me they were as cold as a witch's teat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1654