Wit

Wit (wit) , verb, transitive and intransitive

[Old English witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, Anglo-Saxon witan, pres. wāt, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, Old Saxon witan, Dutch weten, German wissen, Old High German wizzan, Icelandic vita, Swedish veta, Danish vide, Gothic witan to observe, wait I know, Russ. vidiete to see, Latin videre, Greek {not transcribed}, Sanskrit vid to know, learn; compare Sanskrit vid to find. {not transcribed}. Compare History, Idea, Idol, -oid, Twit, Veda, Vision, Wise, a. & n., Wot.]

To know; to learn.

I wot and wist alway. — Chaucer

Brethren, we do you to wit [make you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. — 2 Cor. viii. 1

Thou wost full little what thou meanest. — Chaucer

We witen not what thing we prayen here. — Chaucer

When that the sooth in wist. — Chaucer

The present tense was inflected as follows; sing. 1st pers. wot; 2d pers. wost, or wot(t)est; 3d pers. wot, or wot(t)eth; pl. witen, or wite. The following variant forms also occur; pres. sing. 1st & 3d pers. wat, woot; pres. pl. wyten, or wyte, weete, wote, wot; imp. wuste (Southern dialect); p. pr. wotting. Later, other variant or corrupt forms are found, as, in Shakespeare, 3d pers. sing. pres. wots.

This verb is now used only in the infinitive, to wit, which is employed, especially in legal language, to call attention to a particular thing, or to a more particular specification of what has preceded, and is equivalent to namely, that is to say.

Wit , noun

[Anglo-Saxon witt, wit; akin to OFries. wit, German witz, Old High German wizzī, Icelandic vit, Danish vid, Swedish vett. r133. See Wit, v.]

Mind; intellect; understanding; sense.

Who knew the wit of the Lord? or who was his counselor? — Wyclif (Rom. xi. 34)

A prince most prudent, of an excellent And unmatched wit and judgment. — Shakespeare

Will puts in practice what wit deviseth. — Sir J. Davies

He wants not wit the dander to decline. — Dryden

A mental faculty, or power of the mind; -- used in this sense chiefly in the plural, and in certain phrases; as, to lose one's wits; at one's wits' end, and the like.

Men's wittes ben so dull. — Chaucer

I will stare him out of his wits. — Shakespeare

Felicitous association of objects not usually connected, so as to produce a pleasant surprise; also. the power of readily combining objects in such a manner.

The definition of wit is only this, that it is a propriety of thoughts and words; or, in other terms, thoughts and words elegantly adapted to the subject. — Dryden

Wit which discovers partial likeness hidden in general diversity. — Coleridge

Wit lying most in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, thereby to make up pleasant pictures in the fancy. — Locke

A person of eminent sense or knowledge; a man of genius, fancy, or humor; one distinguished for bright or amusing sayings, for repartee, and the like.

In Athens, where books and wits were ever busier than in any other part of Greece, I find but only two sorts of writings which the magistrate cared to take notice of; those either blasphemous and atheistical, or libelous. — Milton

Intemperate wits will spare neither friend nor foe. — L'Estrange

A wit herself, Amelia weds a wit. — Young

But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee. — Shakespeare

Collocations (1)

The five wits , the five senses; also, sometimes, the five qualities or faculties, common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. — Chaucer. Nares