Word.ws English Dictionary

pixy-lead

pixy-lead verb: to lead (a traveller) astray or cause them to lose their way by means of enchantment.

Verb

pixy-lead (third-person singular simple present pixy-leads, present participle pixy-leading, simple past and past participle pixy-led)

  1. (usually, fairy) to lead (a traveller) astray or cause them to lose their way by means of enchantment.
    • The office of some is to steal children; ofothers, to lead travellers astray, as Will o’ the Wisps. or to Pixy-lead them, as it is termed.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 299
    • As Will o’ the Wisp, the ignis fatuus, an imp would pixy-lead men on heaths and deserted places late at night.1950, Herbert Spencer Robinson, Knox Wilson, Myths and Legends of All Nations, New York: Bantam Books, page 245

Examples of pixy-lead in a sentence

  • The mischievous Colepexy, for they are never seen in herds, is known to ‘pixy-lead’ domesticated horses and travellers, and has also been known to play Throwing the Rider.2002, Robert J. Newland, Mark J. North, Dark Dorset, Weston-Super-Mare: Oakmagic Publications, page 80:
  • For example, fairies plait your horse's mane, or perhaps they pixy-lead you in the forest.2016 November, Fortean Times, page 23, column 2:

Forms of pixy-lead

third-person singular presentpixy-leads
present participlepixy-leading
past participlepixy-led
pastpixy-led

Questions about pixy-lead

What does pixy-lead mean?
Pixy-lead means to lead (a traveller) astray or cause them to lose their way by means of enchantment.
How do you use pixy-lead in a sentence?
The mischievous Colepexy, for they are never seen in herds, is known to ‘pixy-lead’ domesticated horses and travellers, and has also been known to play Throwing the Rider.
What part of speech is pixy-lead?
Pixy-lead is a verb.
What is the past tense of pixy-lead?
The past tense of pixy-lead is pixy-led.

Words near pixy-lead in the dictionary

  1. Pixton
  2. Pixtons
  3. pixy
  4. pixy ring
  5. pixy rings
  6. pixy-lead
  7. pixy-leading
  8. pixy-leads
  9. pixy-led
  10. pixy-stool
  11. pixy-stools

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pixy-lead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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