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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sorcery \Sor"cer*y\, noun; pl. {Sorceries}. [OE. sorcerie, OF. sorcerie, fr. OF. & F. sorcier a sorcerer, LL. sortiarius, fr. L. sors, sortis, a lot, decision by lot, fate, destiny. See {Sort}, noun] Divination by the assistance, or supposed assistance, of evil spirits, or the power of commanding evil spirits; magic; necromancy; witchcraft; enchantment.
Adder's wisdom I have learned, To fence my ear against thy sorceries. --Milton.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
sorcery
noun: the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world [syn: {black magic}, {black art}, {necromancy}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
75 Moby Thesaurus words for "sorcery": Black Mass, Prospero, Satanism, airiness, appearance, astrology, augury, bewitchment, black art, black magic, chthonian worship, clairvoyance, crystal ball, crystal gazing, delusiveness, demonism, demonography, demonolatry, demonology, demonomancy, demonomy, demonry, devil lore, devil worship, devilry, diablerie, diabolism, diabology, diabolology, divination, divining, enchantment, fallaciousness, false appearance, false light, false show, falseness, fortunetelling, haruspication, haruspicy, horoscopy, idealization, illusionism, illusionist, illusiveness, immateriality, incantation, magic, magic act, magic show, magician, mantic, mantology, necromancy, palm-reading, palmistry, prestidigitation, pythonism, seeming, semblance, shamanism, show, simulacrum, sleight of hand, sorcerer, sortilege, specious appearance, thaumaturgy, unactuality, unreality, unsubstantiality, white magic, witchcraft, witching, wizardry
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
SORCERY, noun The ancient prototype and forerunner of political influence. It was, however, deemed less respectable and sometimes was punished by torture and death. Augustine Nicholas relates that a poor peasant who had been accused of sorcery was put to the torture to compel a confession. After enduring a few gentle agonies the suffering simpleton admitted his guilt, but naively asked his tormentors if it were not possible to be a sorcerer without knowing it.
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