Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A man claiming or popularly believed to practice sorcery or witchcraft.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fetterlock.
  • noun A deceiver; a truce-breaker; a traitor.
  • noun A person in league with the devil; a sorcerer; a wizard.
  • noun A monster.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A male witch; a wizard; a sprite; an imp.
  • adjective rare Of or pertaining to a warlock or warlock; impish.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The male equivalent of witch.
  • noun obsolete A traitor or oath-breaker.
  • noun obsolete The Devil, Satan; a demon.
  • noun A man in league with the Devil; a male magic-user, a wizard.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a male witch or demon

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English warloghe, from Old English wǣrloga, oath-breaker : wǣr, pledge; see wērə-o- in Indo-European roots + -loga, liar (from lēogan, to lie; see leugh- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English wǣrloga, from wǣr ("promise") (from Proto-Indo-European *wēr- (“true”); compare veritable) + loga ("liar"), from lēogan ( > English lie); the ending in -ock is from Scottish & Northern English.

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  • From Merriam-Webster Dictionary

    noun

    Etymology: Middle English warloghe, from Old English wǣrloga one that breaks faith, the Devil, from wǣr faith, troth + -loga (from lēogan to lie); akin to Old English wǣr true — more at very, lie

    Date: 14th century

    1 : a man practicing the black arts : sorcerer — compare witch

    2 : conjurer

    January 27, 2008

  • Never used to describe a modern male practitioner of Wicca...a male witch is simply a male witch. To a Wiccan, warlock is at worst considered a derogatory term and at best a comic one.

    January 27, 2008