Sc. [f. SPAE- + WIFE sb. Cf. ON. and Icel. spákona, Da. spaakone, Sw. spåqvinna; NFris. spuaiwüf.] A female fortune-teller; a sybil; a witch.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Hallow-Fair, iv. Poems (1789), II. 27. What cairds and tinklers come,… An’ spae-wives fenzying to be dumb.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., li. Many remembered that Annaple Bailzou wandered through the country as a beggar and fortune-teller, or spae-wife.
1872. Kingsley, Poems, Little Baltung, xxvi. Oh a spae-wife laid a doom on me.
1876. A. Laing, Lindores Abbey, xxvi. 382. He was going to consult a spaewife in the neighbourhood.
