elf-craft

English

Noun

elf-craft (uncountable)

1. The magic and supernatural powers of elves.
   • 1833 September 1, The Gentleman's Magazine, London, page 262:

     For elf-craft and the works of night
     Evaporate in that orb of light,
     And leave their captives free:
     I waked, I found myself on earth,
     Restored (as if by second birth)
     To life and liberty.

   • 1891 January 3, I. Gollancz, “Widishins”, in The Academy, London, page 14, column 3:

     If Burd Ellen had gone “widishins" round the church, she would, I think, have used the best homoeopathic specific against the Elf-King's power; for "to go widishins" was the chief element in elfin practices, and if mortals wished to resist or unspell elf-craft, they, too, had "to go widershins," or they had to repeat the Paternoster backwards, which came to the same thing, or do something else contrariwise.

   • 1919, Pamela Bianco and Walter De la Mare, Flora, London: William Heinemann, page n.p.:

     Old as the woods rhyming Thomas snuffed sweet,
     When pillion he rode with the Queen:
     Lovely as elf-craft; wise as the street
     Where the roofs of the humble are seen.

   • 1973, Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword, London: Orbit, published 1992, page 154:

     At his music, a strong breeze sprang up and the boat surged forth into waves cold and green that threw salt spray onto the lips. Swift as elf craft were those of Mananaan, and erelong the grey land was not to be told from grey clouds on the world’s rim.