necromanceress

English

Etymology

From necromancer +‎ -ess.

Noun

necromanceress (plural necromanceresses)

1. A female necromancer.

   Synonym: necromancess

   • 1829 December, [John Wilson], “Noctes Ambrosianæ. No. XLVII.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXVI, number CLX, page 871:

     And with her wit she shall brighten the dimness her pathos brings into our eyes, till tears and smiles struggle together beneath the witchery of the fair necromanceress.

   • 1840, [Joseph Holt Ingraham], The Quadroone; or, St. Michael’s Day, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], page 277:

     “And now that I remember,” he added, with a coolness that ill-concealed his anticipated triumph, “beneath her mantle she wore the dress of a necromanceress.”

   • 1867, Sidney Lanier, Tiger-Lilies, New York, N.Y.: […] Hurd and Houghton, […], page 193:

     Of these, one’s face showed dim through a cloud of smoke from a hot dish of stewed oysters, like the face of your future husband in one of those charming visions conjured up by the great second-sight necromanceress, Madame ⸺ from Paris; […]

   • 1874, George H. Wilson, Ena, or The Ancient Maori, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], page 274:

     Hot and parching tears rolled down the withered face of Mahora, as she pressed the vermeiled cheek of the lovely being who had won her way to the grim and seared heart of the necromanceress.

   • 1911, William C[ollin] Levere, Vivian of Mackinac, Chicago, Ill.: Forbes & Company, pages 223–224:

     The woman approached closer to her with outstretched hand as if inviting her into communion with evil powers. She swayed back and forth for a moment and then for the second time lay senseless at the feet of the necromanceress.

   • 1916 November 22, T., “At the Play. “The Widow’s Might.””, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume CLI, London: […] the Office, […], page 370, column 2:

     Miss Nancy Price can’t be blamed for overdoing her necromanceress. The author had done that already. And I didn’t see how she could have dealt with it better.

   • 1951, H[enry] St J[ohn] Hart, A Foreword to the Old Testament: An Essay of Elementary Introduction, Neww York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, page 64:

     The dramatic sequel of these verses show that the woman was a necromanceress. Saul consulted her because he wished to consult the dead, and to consult the dead was a very ancient practice in Israel.

   • 1975, Frank Ephraim Talmage, David Kimhi: The Man and the Commentaries, Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 41:

     Radak expresses wonder at these remarks: If God raised Samuel in order to inform Saul of his fate, why did he not tell him through dreams or through the Urim or through a prophet instead of this necromanceress?

   • 1975, Ugarit-Forschungen, →ISBN, page 309:

     Is not thy grave-pit (delivered) to a howling jackal (lntn ‘tq) / (in)to the hands/chant of the necromanceress (lit. ‘pit-lady’, OT ’ēšet) ’o(w)b; cf. “St. Ug. II”, op. cit.)

   • 1988 July, Zzap!64, number 39, page 61:

     Just as I was contemplating moving on I was summoned again . . . this time by a Necromanceress who took great delight in trying to end my adventure with the sharp end of her sword.

   • 1994, Dafydd ab Hugh, Far Beyond the Wave (Arthur War Lord; book two), New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 278:

     But what can I do? I’m not a necromanceress, you know. I can’t summon up King Bran and ask him to finger your she-demon for you.

   • 2000, James Nicolopulos, The Poetics of Empire in the Indies: Prophecy and Imitation in La Araucana and Os Lusíadas, University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, →ISBN, page 107:

     But it is Lucan himself who brings the locus to its apogee (Morford 67), glorying first in the exploits of the witches of Thessaly (Pharsalia 6.434–506), then outdoing himself with the bizarrely hyperbolic excesses of the arch-necromanceress Erictho (Pharsalia 6.507–68).