spaewife

A spaewife reads a client's palm in her cozy cottage.

Definition

Noun:
- A female fortune-teller: "spaewife" refers to a woman who claims to have the ability to predict the future, especially through supernatural means such as reading omens, casting lots, or interpreting dreams. The term is primarily used in Scottish and Northern English contexts.

Usage Examples

Advanced Usage

"to consult a spaewife": to seek a female fortune-teller's guidance.
- The farmer consulted a spaewife to learn if the harvest would be good. (He asked a female seer for a prediction about the crops.)
"spaewife's prophecy": a prediction made by a female fortune-teller.
- The spaewife's prophecy of a great storm caused the sailors to delay their voyage. (The fortune-teller's forecast influenced their actions.)

Variants and Related Words

Spae (verb, Scottish): to foretell or predict.
- She claimed she could spae the future by reading tea leaves. (She could predict the future by interpreting tea-leaf patterns.)
Spaeing (noun): the act or practice of fortune-telling.
- The old woman was known for her skill in spaeing. (She was renowned for her fortune-telling abilities.)
Wife (noun): an archaic or dialectal term for a woman, especially an older or married one.
- The spaewife was a respected elder in the community. (The fortune-telling woman was a respected older member of the village.)

Synonyms

Related Idioms

Read someone's fortune: to predict a person's future, often as a spaewife would.
- The spaewife read the young woman's fortune and saw a long journey ahead. (She predicted a distant travel for the woman.)
Cast the runes: to use ancient symbols or charms for divination, similar to a spaewife's methods.
- The spaewife cast the runes to determine the outcome of the battle. (She used runic symbols to divine the battle's result.)