wis
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Editorial by Johnny L. Wilson It CAN Happen Here Although Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair L.wis is probably best known for 'Main Street', 'Babbitt', 'Elmer Gantry', and 'Arrowsmith', my personal favorites are 'It Can't Happen Here' and 'Kingsblood Royal'.
View all »Definitions (5)
American Heritage Dictionary
Century Dictionary (3)
- Certain; sure: especially in the phrases to wisse, for certain, certainly; mid wisse, with certainty. That wite thu to wisse. Legend of St. Catherine (ed. Morton), l. 1543.
- Certainly; truly; indeed: same as iwis. “No, wis,” quod he, “myn owen nece dere.” Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 474. Knowell, Why, I hope you will not a-hawking now, will you? Stephen. No, wusse; but I'll practise against next year, uncle. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 1.
- A spurious word, arising from a misunderstanding of the Middle English adverb iwis, often written i-wis, and in Middle English manuscripts i wis, I wis, whence it has been taken as the pronoun I with a verb wis, vaguely regarded as connected with wit (which has a preterit wist). See iwis, and, for the real verb, see wit. Which book, advisedly read, and diligently followed but one year at home in England, would do a young gentleman more good, I wiss, than three years' travell abroad. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 65. Where my morning haunts are he wisses not. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
GNU Webster's 1913 (2)
WordNet
Elsewhere on the web
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- Mud-je-ke-wis, a minor chief of Grand Traverse Bay, surrenders a belt of blue and white wampum, and a gilt gorget, which he had received from some officer of the British Indian Department in Canada, saying he renounces allegiance to that government, and reports himself, from this day, as an American. — Memoirs of 30 Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers
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Editorial by Johnny L. Wilson It CAN Happen Here Although Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair L.wis is probably best known for 'Main Street', 'Babbitt', 'Elmer Gantry', and 'Arrowsmith', my personal favorites are 'It Can't Happen Here' and 'Kingsblood Royal'.
— Computer Underground Digest Volume 1, Issue #1.13 - They should be thrilled to trade their service for the wis'dom that we have gathered! " — Elvenborn
- Like Erekose I do not seek swords but wis - dom. " — The Vanishing Tower
- I was in need of new wis - dom. — The Gospel according to the Son
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Wis has been looked up 101 times, favorited 0 times, listed twice, commented on once, and has a Scrabble score of 6.
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View all »Etymologies (4)
American Heritage Dictionary
Century Dictionary (2)
- from Middle English wis, certain, sure, for certain, to wisse, certainly, mid wisse, with certainty; = Icelandic viss, certain, = Swedish viss, certain (visst, certainly), = Danish vis, certain (vist, certainly); in Anglo-Saxon D. and G. the word appears with a prefix, Anglo-Saxon gewis = Dutch gewis = German gewiss, certain, certainly: see wis, wis, iwis.
- Early modern English (dial.) wusse; from Middle English wis, by apheresis from iwis: see iwis.