The supernatural spirit agent of a witch or sorcerer. The familiar is a feature pirmarily of the witchcraft tradition of England and Scotland, for the few records exist of unwordly assistants elsewhere. Familiars typically took the form of domestic animals, most often cats, dogs and black birds, but witches examined by witchfinders of the seventeenth century admitted to harbouring all manner of demons, which they were said to feed with their own blood. Admissions such as this were once sufficient 'proof' for a witch to be condemned to death, and many old and ignorant women died because they had not the wits to deny associating with such imps.
The widespread fear of such familiars, which might enter a house and perform deeds ranging from souring the milk to comitting murder, lay at the root of much superstition concerning various specias of animal.