Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Preterit of wit.
  • A spurious word, improperly used as present indicative (wists) of wit.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb Knew.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic Simple past tense and past participle of wit.
  • verb nonstandard To know, be aware of.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Past indicative of wit: from Old English witan, from Proto-Germanic *witanan, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-, *wid- (“see, know”). Cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Swedish veta, and Latin videō ("I see"). Compare guide.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A misunderstanding, or a joking use of the past indicative of wit: from Old English witan, from Proto-Germanic *witanan, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-, *wid- (“see, know”). Cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Swedish veta, and Latin videō ("I see"). Compare guide.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Chapter 137, in which CDC gets all peeved up.

    December 16, 2013

  • OED

    wist. - To have cognizance or knowledge of; to be aware of; to know (as a fact or an existing thing).

    September 12, 2018