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Wit definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WIT, v.i. [G., to know. See Wise.] To know. This verb is used only in the infinitive, to wit, namely, that is to say. [L.]
WIT, n. [See the verb and Wise.]
1. Primarily, the intellect; the understanding or mental powers.
Will puts in practice what the wit deviseth.
For wit and power their last endeavors bend t outshine each other.
2. The association of ideas in a manner natural, but unusual and striking, so as to produce surprise joined with pleasure. Wit is defined.
What oft was thought, but neer so well expressd.
Wit consists in assembling and putting together with quickness, ideas in which can be found resemblance and congruity, by which to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy.
Wit consists chiefly in joining things by distant and fanciful relations, which surprise us because they are unexpected.
Wit is a propriety of thoughts and words; or in other terms, thoughts and words elegantly adapted to the subject.
3. The faculty of associating ideas in a new and unexpected manner.
4. A man of genius; as, the age of Addison abounded with wits.
A wit herself, Amelia weds a wit.
5. A man of fancy or wit.
Intemperate wits will spare neither friend nor foe.
6. Sense; judgment.
He wants not wit the danger to decline.
7. Faculty of the mind.
8. Wits, in the plural, soundness of mind; intellect not disordered; sound mind. No man in his wits would venture on such an expedition. Have you lost your wits? Is he out of his wits?
9. Power of invention; contrivance; ingenuity. He was at his wits end.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter [syn: wit, humor, humour, witticism, wittiness]
2: mental ability; "he's got plenty of brains but no common sense" [syn: brain, brainpower, learning ability, mental capacity, mentality, wit]
3: a witty amusing person who makes jokes [syn: wag, wit, card]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (wist; witting; present first & third singular wot) Etymology: Middle English witen (1st & 3d singular present wot, past wiste), from Old English witan (1st & 3d singular present w?t, past wisse, wiste); akin to Old High German wizzan to know, Latin vid?re to see, Greek eidenai to know, idein to see Date: before 12th century 1. archaic know 2. archaic to come to know ; learn II. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German wizzi knowledge, Old English witan to know Date: before 12th century 1. a. mind, memory b. reasoning power ; intelligence 2. a. sense 2a — usually used in plural <alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits — Alfred Tennyson> b. (1) mental soundness ; sanity — usually used in plural (2) mental capability and resourcefulness ; ingenuity 3. a. astuteness of perception or judgment ; acumen b. the ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse c. (1) a talent for banter or persiflage (2) a witty utterance or exchange d. clever or apt humor 4. a. a person of superior intellect ; thinker b. an imaginatively perceptive and articulate individual especially skilled in banter or persiflage Synonyms: wit, humor, irony, sarcasm, satire, repartee mean a mode of expression intended to arouse amusement. wit suggests the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception especially of the incongruous <a playful wit>. humor implies an ability to perceive the ludicrous, the comical, and the absurd in human life and to express these usually without bitterness <a sense of humor>. irony applies to a manner of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is seemingly expressed <the irony of the title>. sarcasm applies to expression frequently in the form of irony that is intended to cut or wound <given to heartless sarcasm>. satire applies to writing that exposes or ridicules conduct, doctrines, or institutions either by direct criticism or more often through irony, parody, or caricature <a satire on the Congress>. repartee implies the power of answering quickly, pointedly, or wittily <a dinner guest noted for repartee>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 (in sing. or pl.) intelligence; quick understanding (has quick wits; a nimble wit). 2 a the unexpected, quick, and humorous combining or contrasting of ideas or expressions (conversation sparkling with wit). b the power of giving intellectual pleasure by this. 3 a person possessing such a power, esp. a cleverly humorous person. Phrases and idioms: at one's wit's (or wits') end utterly at a loss or in despair. have (or keep) one's wits about one be alert or vigilant or of lively intelligence. live by one's wits live by ingenious or crafty expedients, without a settled occupation. out of one's wits mad, distracted. set one's wits to argue with. Derivatives: witted adj. (in sense 1); (also in comb.). Etymology: OE wit(t), gewit(t) f. Gmc 2. v.tr. & intr. (1st & 3rd sing. present wot; past and past part. wist) (often foll. by of) archaic know. Phrases and idioms: to wit that is to say; namely. Etymology: OE witan f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wit Wit, v. t. & i. [inf. (To) Wit; pres. sing. Wot; pl. Wite; imp. Wist(e); p. p. Wist; p. pr. & vb. n. Wit(t)ing. See the Note below.] [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. w[=a]t, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wizzan, Icel. vita, Sw. veta, Dan. vide, Goth. witan to observe, wait I know, Russ. vidiete to see, L. videre, Gr. ?, Skr. vid to know, learn; cf. Skr. vid to find. ????. Cf. History, Idea, Idol, -oid, Twit, Veda, Vision, Wise, a. & n., Wot.] To know; to learn. ``I wot and wist alway.'' --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wit Wit, v. t. & i. [inf. (To) Wit; pres. sing. Wot; pl. Wite; imp. Wist(e); p. p. Wist; p. pr. & vb. n. Wit(t)ing. See the Note below.] [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. w[=a]t, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wizzan, Icel. vita, Sw. veta, Dan. vide, Goth. witan to observe, wait I know, Russ. vidiete to see, L. videre, Gr. ?, Skr. vid to know, learn; cf. Skr. vid to find. ????. Cf. History, Idea, Idol, -oid, Twit, Veda, Vision, Wise, a. & n., Wot.] To know; to learn. ``I wot and wist alway.'' --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wit Wit, n. [AS. witt, wit; akin to OFries. wit, G. witz, OHG. wizz[=i], Icel. vit, Dan. vid, Sw. vett. [root]133. See Wit, v.] 1. 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. --Shak. Will puts in practice what wit deviseth. --Sir J. Davies. He wants not wit the dander to decline. --Dryden. 2. 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. --Shak. 3. 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. 4. 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. The five wits, the five senses; also, sometimes, the five qualities or faculties, common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. --Chaucer. Nares. But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee. --Shak. Syn: Ingenuity; humor; satire; sarcasm; irony; burlesque. Usage: Wit, Humor. Wit primarily meant mind; and now denotes the power of seizing on some thought or occurrence, and, by a sudden turn, presenting it under aspects wholly new and unexpected -- apparently natural and admissible, if not perfectly just, and bearing on the subject, or the parties concerned, with a laughable keenness and force. ``What I want,'' said a pompous orator, aiming at his antagonist, ``is common sense.'' ``Exactly!'' was the whispered reply. The pleasure we find in wit arises from the ingenuity of the turn, the sudden surprise it brings, and the patness of its application to the case, in the new and ludicrous relations thus flashed upon the view. Humor is a quality more congenial to the English mind than wit. It consists primarily in taking up the peculiarities of a humorist (or eccentric person) and drawing them out, as Addison did those of Sir Roger de Coverley, so that we enjoy a hearty, good-natured laugh at his unconscious manifestation of whims and oddities. From this original sense the term has been widened to embrace other sources of kindly mirth of the same general character. In a well-known caricature of English reserve, an Oxford student is represented as standing on the brink of a river, greatly agitated at the sight of a drowning man before him, and crying out, ``O that I had been introduced to this gentleman, that I might save his life! The, ``Silent Woman'' of Ben Jonson is one of the most humorous productions, in the original sense of the term, which we have in our language.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wits) 1. Wit is the ability to use words or ideas in an amusing, clever, and imaginative way. Boulding was known for his biting wit... 2. If you describe someone as a wit, you mean that they have the ability to use words or ideas in an amusing, clever, and imaginative way. Holmes was gregarious, a great wit, a man of wide interests. N-COUNT 3. If you say that someone has the wit to do something, you mean that they have the intelligence and understanding to make the right decision or take the right action in a particular situation. The information is there and waiting to be accessed by anyone with the wit to use it. = sense N-SING: the N to-inf 4. You can refer to your ability to think quickly and cleverly in a difficult situation as your wits. She has used her wits to progress to the position she holds today. N-PLURAL: usu poss N 5. You can use wits in expressions such as frighten someone out of their wits and scare the wits out of someone to emphasize that a person or thing worries or frightens someone very much. You scared us out of our wits. We heard you had an accident. N-PLURAL: usu out of poss N [emphasis] 6. If you have your wits about you or keep your wits about you, you are alert and ready to act in a difficult situation. Travellers need to keep their wits about them. PHRASE: V inflects 7. If you say that you are at your wits' end, you are emphasizing that you are so worried and exhausted by problems or difficulties that you do not know what to do next. We row a lot and we never have time on our own. I'm at my wit's end. PHRASE: usu v-link PHR [emphasis] 8. If you pit your wits against someone, you compete against them in a test of knowledge or intelligence. He has to pit his wits against an adversary who is cool, clever and cunning. PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n 9. To wit is used to indicate that you are about to state or describe something more precisely. (LITERARY) He'd like 'happiness' to be given a new and more scientifically descriptive label, to wit 'Major affective disorder, pleasant type'. = namely PHRASE: PHR with cl, PHR n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Intellect, understanding, mind, sense, reason, genius, mental power, intellectual faculties, thinking principle, mother-wit. 2. Quick perception (as of partial resemblance in things mostly unlike), keen discernment, acumen, penetration, discernment, insight. 3. Facetiousness, humor, fun, drollery, waggery, waggishness, jocularity, sparkle, readiness, quickness at repartee, Attic salt. 4. Humorist, wag, bright man, bright woman, bright person.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

He has as much wit as three folks, two fools and a madman.

Moby Thesaurus

ESP, IQ, Italian hand, ability, acumen, acuteness, address, adeptness, adroitness, airmanship, alertness, apprehension, art, artfulness, artifice, artisanship, artistry, assume, astuteness, awareness, balance, banana, brain, brains, bravura, brilliance, burlesquer, cageyness, caliber, callidity, canniness, capability, capacity, caricaturist, clairvoyance, cleverness, clown, comedian, comic, command, competence, comprehension, conceit, conceive, conception, control, coordination, craft, craftiness, craftsmanship, cunning, cunningness, cutup, deductive power, deftness, dexterity, dexterousness, dextrousness, diplomacy, discernment, discrimination, divination, droll, efficiency, epigrammatist, esemplastic power, esprit, expertise, facility, fine Italian hand, finesse, foxiness, funnyman, gag writer, gagman, gagster, gamesmanship, gather, grace, grasp, gray matter, grip, guile, handiness, head, horsemanship, humor, humorist, ideation, imagine, ingeniousness, ingenuity, insidiousness, insight, integrative power, intellect, intellectual grasp, intellectual power, intellectualism, intellectuality, intelligence, intelligence quotient, inventiveness, ironist, jester, joker, jokesmith, jokester, keenness, know-how, knowledge, lampooner, lucidity, madcap, marbles, marksmanship, mastership, mastery, mental age, mental capacity, mental grasp, mental ratio, mentality, mind, mother wit, native wit, one-upmanship, parodist, penetration, perception, percipience, perspicacity, power of mind, practical ability, prankster, proficiency, prowess, prudence, punner, punster, quick-wittedness, quickness, quipster, rationality, readiness, reason, reasoning power, reckon, reparteeist, resource, resourcefulness, sagaciousness, sagacity, sageness, saneness, sanity, sapience, satanic cunning, satirist, savoir-faire, savvy, scope of mind, seamanship, sense, senses, sensing, sharpness, shiftiness, shrewdness, skill, skillfulness, slipperiness, slyness, smartness, sneakiness, sophistry, stealth, stealthiness, style, subtilty, subtleness, subtlety, suppleness, suppose, tact, tactfulness, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill, technique, think, thinking power, timing, trickiness, understanding, virtuosity, wag, wagwit, wariness, wiles, wiliness, wisdom, wisecracker, witlessness, witling, wizardry, workmanship, zany