n. pl. [A. S. gîfre = rapacious, used as an epithet of the devil, wildfire, etc., and as noun, a glutton, vide Grein]:—witches, fiends, = Germ. unhold, Vsp. 52, Hkv. Hjörv. 15; freq. in poetry, al-gífri, pandemonium, Bragi; gífrs grand, ‘witch-bane’ = the god Thor, Eb. (in a verse); wolves are gífrs hestar, ‘witch-horses,’ Jd., and hræ-gífr, carrion beasts, Gkv. 2. 29, Lex. Poët.: the simple word is never used in prose, but in compds; it however remains in prose in the following adv.