sb. pl. Also whished, whisht, wished. [WISHT a. 2.] Local name for a ghostly pack of hounds popularly believed to hunt over Dartmoor (Devon) by night. So Wish-hunt, Wish-hunter.
1847. Athenæum, 27 March, 334/2. It [the Abbot’s Way] is the especial haunt of the Wish, or Wisked [sic] Hound;—the wildest and most remarkable of the supernatural beings.
1865. R. Hunt, Pop. Rom. W. Eng., Ser. I. Introd. p. xix. Wistman’s Wood … is the very home of the Wish hounds, which hunt so fiercely over the Moor.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 202. On Dartmoor … the [Wild Huntsman’s] chase continues: it is called the Wisht hunt. Ibid. (1865), Were-wolves, viii. On Heathfield, near Tavistock, the wild huntsman rides by full moon with his ‘wush hounds.’ Ibid. (1897), Guavas, xiv. ’Tis no Wish Hunter’s gold.
