wight

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"[FN#294] Quoth the Chief, "This wight is a thief and that which he saith is leasing."

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Obsolete A living being; a creature.
  2. adjective Archaic Valorous; brave.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Anna was an industrious little wight, active in all housewifely labors and domestic accomplishments, and attentive to her lessons. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Diary of Anna Green Winslow, by Anna Green Winslow
  • So he continued to question the strange wight, and finally, after eliciting many unintelligible sounds, was able to make out the single word "butler Illustration: "HE came along dancing and singing in jerks and snatches, till, suddenly looking up from the ground, he saw Edward. —  Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North
  • The courtiers straightway fell to laughing at the presumption of the rural wight, as they derisively called him, but it was much to the credit of the court ladies that they admired the youth for his comely person, ingenuous manners, and brave determination. —  Second Book of Tales
  • A luckless wight, who had the misfortune to be plucked at his examination for the degree of B.A., when the Rev. T. Shelford was his examiner, made the following extemporaneous epigram I have heard they plucked geese upon Shelford Fen But never till now knew that Shelford plucked men CDXXXIV.--THE MEASURE OF A BRAIN ONE afternoon, when Jerrold was in his garden at Putney, enjoying a glass of claret, a friend called upon him. —  The Jest Book The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings
  • The vertuous and excellencie of whom, I beleeue cannot be placed in any other wight, as in hym, as well by your owne report as by the choyse of mine owne eyes. —  The Palace of Pleasure, Volume 1
 

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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old English wiht; see wekti- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English, from Old Norse vīgt, neuter of vīgr, able to fight; see weik-3 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English wight, wyght, wiʒt, wiht, from Anglo-Saxon wiht, wuht, wyht, neuter and feminine, a creature, animal, person, thing. = Old Saxon wiht. thing, plural demons, = Dutch wicht, a child, = Old High German wihd, masculine and neuter, thing, creature, person, Middle High German wiht, creature, thing, German wicht, being, creature, babe, =Icelandic våttr, a wight, vætta, a whit, = Swedish vätter, vätt = Danish vætte, an elf, = Goth, waihts, feminine, waiht, neuter, a thing; prob. orig. ‘something moving’ (a moving object indistinctly seen at a distance, whether man, child, animal, elf, or demon), from Anglo-Saxon wegan, etc., move, stir, carry: see weigh, wag.The word, by a phonetic change, also appears as modern English whit.It also appears unrecognized in aught, naught, not.
  2. from Middle English wight, wyght, wicht, wyte, wiht, wiʒt, nimble, active, strong, from Icelandic vīgr (neuter vīgt), serviceable for war, in fighting condition (= Swedish vig (neuter vigt), nimble, active, agile), from vīg (= Anglo-Saxon wīg), war; cf. vega, fight, smite, Goth, weihan, fight, strive, contend, Latin vincere, conquer: see victor, vincible. Cf. wie, wye, a warrior.
 

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/waɪt/
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