[Of obscure origin.
Although Grose in our first quot. assigns the word to the north of England, there seems to be no other evidence that the simple sb. was ever in popular use elsewhere than in Ireland. The supposition that it is shortened from FETCH-LIFE, or some equivalent compound of the vb.-stem, would plausibly account for the sense. On the other hand, it may be noted that the Corpus Glossary a. 800 has ‘Faecce maere.’ As fæcce seems to admit of no explanation as a Lat. word, it may be conjectured to be OE., and the source of the present sb.; in the archetype followed fæcce and mære (nightmare) may have been given as alternative English glosses on some Lat. word, and the compiler may have mistaken the former for a Lat. lemma.]
1. The apparition, double, or wraith of a living person; see quot. 1825.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Fetch, the apparition of a person living. N[orth Country].
1825. J. Banim, Tales O’Hara Fam., The Fetches. In Ireland, ‘a fetch’ is the supernatural fac-simile of some individual, which comes to ensure to its original a happy longevity, or immediate dissolution; if seen in the morning, the one event is predicted; if in the evening, the other.
1830. Scott, Demonol., vi. 177. His … fetch or wraith, or double-ganger.
1862. Mary Leadbeater, Ann. Ballitore, I. vi. 188. She believed she had seen his fetch as a forerunner of his death.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 408. The Earl of Cornwall met the fetch of his friend William Rufus.
fig. 1839. New Monthly Mag., LV. 342. Presentiment is the Fetch of danger.
2. ? Comb. fetch-like = sense 1.
1841. S. C. Hall, Irel., I. 13. Seeing his fetch-like before me.
