Widdershins describes movement in a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction, specifically counterclockwise.
In a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction: counterclockwise.
| Front | widdershins \WID-er-shinz\ |
|---|---|
| Back | adverb In a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction: counterclockwise. [Legend holds that demons always approached the devil widdershins. Not surprisingly, such a path was considered evil and unlucky. By the mid-1500s, English speakers had adopted "widdershins," (from the Old High German "widar," meaning "back" or "against," and "sinnen," meaning "to travel") for anything following a path opposite to the direction the sun travels across the sky (that is, counterclockwise). But in its earliest known uses "widdershins" was far less malignant; it was used simply to describe a case of bad hair in which unruly locks stood on end or fell the wrong way.] "We turned right out of the gates and walked the exterior perimeter of the gardens slowly before turning around and walking it again widdershins." |
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