witch window

plural witch windows

1. A window placed diagonally, with its long edge parallel to the roof, in the gable-end wall of a house (chiefly in Vermont in the United States), where a window oriented vertically or horizontally would not fit.

   You might see the oddity of a “witch window” sideways by the peak of the pointy roof. The porch swing moves.

   2021 June 13, Jenay Zapparelli, The Book of Beautiful Feelings: Thee Quintessential Guide to Deliberate Creation, BookonFire Press, →ISBN, page 86

   2 more examples

   At the end of the room a witch window hung at an angle in the wall. She smiled. “Witch window. How quaint.” “Vermont is famous for them.[…]"

   2019 April 24, Peggy Chambers, Witches' Cliff, The Wild Rose Press Inc, →ISBN

   "[…] you've also got maybe eight to ten window,s and that's not counting the second floor and the windows in the attic—" / "Witch windows." / "What?" blurted Kenway. "Seriously? Why do they call 'em witch windows?" / "They're not witch windows," said Gendreau. "Witch windows are sashed windows half-rotated to one side. They were designed crooked to confuse witches back in the colonial days, to keep them from getting [inside]."

   2020 September 15, S. A. Hunt, The Hellion, Macmillan + ORM, →ISBN

   Synonyms: coffin window