wit

Definitions · Examples · Pronunciations · Etymologies · Related · Statistics · Comments (8) ·

“

And dull wit is un chiste alemán ` a German joke. '

—VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XVIII No 3

View all »Definitions (40)

American Heritage Dictionary (12)

noun The natural ability to perceive and understand; intelligence.
noun Keenness and quickness of perception or discernment; ingenuity. Often used in the plural: living by one's wits.
noun Sound mental faculties; sanity: scared out of my wits.

9 more from this dictionary »

Century Dictionary (23)

To know; be or become aware: used with or without an object, the object when present often being a clause or statement. Present tense: I wot (wote), thou wost (erroneously wottest, wotst), he wot (erroneously wotteth); plural we, ye (you), they wit. [Archaic.] But natheles, yit wot I wel also That ther nis noon dwelling in this contree, That either hath in heven or helle ybe, Ne may of it non other weyes witen, But as he hath herd seyd or founde it writen. Chaucer, Good Women, l. 7. Thei seyn to hir Womman, what wepist thou? She seid to hem, For thei han takun a wey my lord, and I woot not where thei have putt him. Wyclif, John xx. 13. Dead long ygoe, I wote, thou haddest bin. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 18. Wottest thou what I say, man? The World and the Child (O. E. Plays, I. 264). But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house. Gen. xxxix. 8. I wot well where he is. Shak., R. and J., iii. 2. 139. Nay, nay, God wot, so thou wert nobly born, Thou hast a pleasant presence. Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette.
Preterit tense: I, etc., wist (erroneously wotted). [Archaic.] Whanne she hadde seid thes thingis, she was turnyd a bak, and syʒ Jhesu stondinge, and wiste not for it was Jhesu. Wyclif, John xx. 14. I whych woted best His wretched dryftes. Sackville, Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham. He stood still, and wotted not what to do. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i.
Infinitive: wit (to wit); hence, to do to wit, to cause (one) to know. For thoughe thou see me hidouse and horrible to loken onne, I do the to wytene that it is made be Enchauntement. Mandeville, Travels, p. 25. And first it is to wyt that the Holy Londe, which was delyuered to the .xij. tribes of Israell, in parte it was called ye kyngdome of Jude. Sir P. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 47. What wit haue we (poore fooles) to wit what wil serue vs? Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), fol. 14. And his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him. Ex. ii. 4. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. 2 Cor. viii. 1. Now please you wit The epitaph is for Marina writ. Shak., Pericles, iv. 4. 31.

20 more from this dictionary »

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (3)

Elsewhere on the web

View all » Examples

And dull wit is un chiste alemán ` a German joke. ' — VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XVIII No 3
The manner in which his characters use puns lends support to the contention that the function of verbal wit is to afford a safe outlet for repressed impulses. — VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VII No 1
"Your wit is as small and shriveled as certain other parts of you, Neraka," she returned, grinning at his embarrasment. — Dragons Of A Lost Star
"I see that your wit is as sharp as ever!" said the ponderous fellow. — Magicians of Gor
"And besides I am not known as a wit --" — Hard to be a god

More examples »

Stats

Wit has been looked up 782 times, favorited 4 times, listed 27 times, commented on 8 times, and has a Scrabble score of 6.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

View all »Etymologies (8)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

Middle English, from Old English; see weid- in Indo-European roots.
Middle English, from Old English witan; see weid- in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (4)

A preterit-present verb whose forms have been much confused and misused in modern English, in which, except in the set phrase to wit, it is now used only archaically; early modern English also weet, wete, from Middle English weten, witen (present 1st person wot, wat, 2d person wost, wast, 3d person wot, woot, wat (also 1st person wite, 2d person witest, 3d person witeth, wites, witez, contr. wit), plural witeth, weteth (subjunctive wite, witen), preterit wist, wiste, wuste, sometimes by assimilation wisse, present participle witand, wittand), from Anglo-Saxon witan (present indicative 1st person wāt, 2d person wāst, 3d person wāt, plural witon—an old preterit used as present; preterit wiste, plural wiston), = Old Saxon witan (present indicative wēt) = OFries. wita, weta (present wēt) = Dutch weten (present weet, preterit wist, past participle geweten) = Low German weten = Old High German wizzan, Middle High German wizzen, German wissen, know (present 1 weiss, 2 weisst, 3 weiss, plural wissen, preterit wusste, past participle gewusst), = Icelandic vita (present veit, preterit vissa, past participle vitathr) = Swedish veta (present vet, preterit visste, past participle vetat) = Danish vide (present veed, preterit vidste, past participle vidst) = Gothic (Moesogothic) witan (present wait, preterit wissa, past participle not found), know: the infinitive witan, with short vowel, and sense ‘know,’ being a later form and sense, developed from the preterit and subjunctive of witan, preterit *wāt, see, the present wāt, know, being orig. this preterit *wāt, saw, ‘I have seen’ (see wite); Teutonic √ wit, see, = Old Bulgarian vidieti = Servian vidjeti = Bohemian widĕti = Russian vidietĭ, see, = Latin vīdēre, see, = Greek ἰδεῑν, see (perfect ο̄)δα, I know, = English wot), = Sanskrit √ vid, see, perceive. From the verb wit are ult. English wit, n., wit, wise, wise (guise, disguise), wise, wiss, wisdom, etc., witch, wick, wicked, wiseacre, iwis, wis, wis, witness, witter, witterly, wizard, etc. (see also wite, wite); from the L. vīdēre are ult. English visage, vision, visit, visual, etc. (see under vision); from the Greek, idea, idol, idolon, eidolon, etc., and the element -eid- in kaleidoscope, -id in the termination -oid, etc.
from Middle English wit, wyt (plural wittes), from Anglo-Saxon wit, knowledge, = Old Saxon *wit in comp. firewit, curiosity, = OFries. wit = Middle Low German wife, wete = Old High German wizzī, Middle High German witze, German witz, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, = Icelandic vit = Swedish vett = Danish vid, wit, knowledge; cf. Gothic (Moesogothic) un-wits, without understanding, foolish, un-witi, ignorance, foolishness; from the verb.
Prob. another use, and certainly now regarded as another use, of wit, n.; cf. spirit, a person of lively mind or energy, from spirit, liveliness, energy; witness, a person who has knowledge, from witness, knowledge. But wit as applied to a person may in part represent, as it may phonetically descend from, the Middle English *wit, wet, wite, weote, from Anglo-Saxon wita, weota, also gewita, a man of knowledge, an adviser, counselor, = Old French wita, a witness, = Old High German wizo, a witness: literally ‘one who knows,’ with formative a- (-an) of agent, from witan, know: see wit, v. This Anglo-Saxon wita appears in the historical term witenagemot, Anglo-Saxon witena gemōt, ‘wits,’ moot. moot of counselors,’ a council, parliament.

1 more from this dictionary »

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet

Record your own »
Pronunciations

/ (wĭt)/

ahd pronounces "wit"

by American Heritage Dictionary

Charts

Occurrences of the word "wit" per million words:

See more charts and stats »

wit

View all »Definitions (40)

American Heritage Dictionary (12)

Century Dictionary (23)

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (3)

Elsewhere on the web

View all » Examples

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

View all »Etymologies (8)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

Century Dictionary (4)

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet

Record your own »
Pronunciations

Charts

Recent Lookups

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

wit

View all »Definitions (40)

American Heritage Dictionary (12)

Century Dictionary (23)

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (3)

Elsewhere on the web

View all » Examples

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »Related

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

cross reference:

related word:

synonym:

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

cross reference:

synonym:

Wordniks Suggest

rhyme:

View all »Etymologies (8)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

Century Dictionary (4)

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet

Record your own » Pronunciations

Charts

Recent Lookups

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

stop updating
On Twitter

Record your own »
Pronunciations