witch hazel
1
4.9
- noun
- /ˈwɪtʃ ˈheɪzəl/
:
hamamelis
- Dipping a sponge in witch hazel, she carefully wiped off the skin from the clavicle to the line of the shirt.
- witch hazel blooms
Examples
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Can you hand me the witch hazel?
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The herbs growing there are labeled: "Henbane," "Witch Hazel," "Deadly Nightshade."
Fiction book (1993) -
Dipping a sponge in witch hazel, she carefully wiped off the skin from the clavicle to the line of the shirt.
Fiction book (1991) -
You can get the witch hazel tincture at your local drug store or supermarket pharmacy section.
-
To refresh tired eyes, treat with cotton balls soaked in cool water or witch hazel.
Synonyms
A small tree with yellow flowers whose bark is used to make a skin lotion
Small trees or bushes called witch hazel that lose their leaves
A shrub from eastern North America with small yellow flowers in late autumn, commonly called witch hazel
A small fragrant shrub from the lower Mississippi valley with tiny flowers that bloom in winter and spring
A small fragrant bush with bright yellow flowers that bloom from late winter to spring
Surface Forms
Morphology
witch + hazel
A B1 learner who knows 'witch' and 'hazel' would likely infer that this is a kind of hazel (i.e., a plant), so the compound partly follows expected composition. However, the conventionalized sense referring specifically to a medicinal astringent or lotion made from the plant is not fully predictable from the constituents and 'witch' may misleadingly suggest magical connotations, so the meaning is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Witch hazel may get its name from people using the plant's flexible twigs like a 'witching' stick to find water or hidden things. Because the shrub's bark and leaves were also used for healing, that name stuck to the plant and its medical uses.