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wit

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wit

1  [wit]
Use wit in a Sentence
–noun
1. the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.
2. speech or writing showing such perception and expression.
3. a person having or noted for such perception and expression.
4. understanding, intelligence, or sagacity; astuteness.
5. Usually, wits.
a. powers of intelligent observation, keen perception, ingenious contrivance, or the like; mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness: using one's wits to get ahead.
b. mental faculties; senses: to lose one's wits.
—Idioms
6. at one's wit's end. end 1 (def. 33).
7. keep or have one's wits about one, to remain alert and observant; be prepared for or equal to anything: to keep your wits about you in a crisis.
8. live by one's wits, to provide for oneself by employing ingenuity or cunning; live precariously: We traveled around the world, living by our wits.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE: mind, thought; c. G Witz, ON vit; akin to wit 2

Synonyms:
1. drollery, facetiousness, waggishness, repartee. See humor. 4. wisdom, sense, mind.

wit

2  [wit]
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object), present singular 1st person wot, 2nd wost, 3rd wot, present plural wit or wite; past and past participle wist; present participle wit⋅ting.
1. Archaic. to know.
—Idiom
2. to wit, that is to say; namely: It was the time of the vernal equinox, to wit, the beginning of spring.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME witen, OE witan; c. D weten, G wissen, ON vita, Goth witan to know; akin to L vidēre, Gk ideîn to see, Skt vidati (he) knows. See wot
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To wit
wit 1   (wĭt)   
n.  

  1. The natural ability to perceive and understand; intelligence.

    1. Keenness and quickness of perception or discernment; ingenuity. Often used in the plural: living by one's wits.

    2. wits Sound mental faculties; sanity: scared out of my wits.

    3. The ability to perceive and express in an ingeniously humorous manner the relationship between seemingly incongruous or disparate things.

    4. One noted for this ability, especially one skilled in repartee.

    5. A person of exceptional intelligence.

    1. The ability to perceive and express in an ingeniously humorous manner the relationship between seemingly incongruous or disparate things.

    2. One noted for this ability, especially one skilled in repartee.

    3. A person of exceptional intelligence.


[Middle English, from Old English; see weid- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: These nouns denote forms of expression that elicit amusement or laughter. Wit implies intellectual keenness and the ability to perceive and express in a diverting way analogies between dissimilar things: "Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words" (Dorothy Parker).
Humor suggests the faculty of recognizing what is amusing, comical, incongruous, or absurd: "Man's sense of humor seems to be in inverse proportion to the gravity of his profession" (Mary Roberts Rinehart).
Repartee implies a facility for answering swiftly and cleverly: "framing comments ... that would be sure to sting and yet leave no opening for repartee" (H.G. Wells).
Sarcasm is a form of caustic wit intended to wound or ridicule another: "[His] tone seemed as if meant to be kind and soothing, but yet had a bitterness of sarcasm in it" (Nathaniel Hawthorne).
Irony is a form of expression in which an intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words used: "A drayman in a passion [a rage] calls out, 'You are a pretty fellow,' without suspecting that he is uttering irony" (Thomas Macaulay). See Also Synonyms at mind.
wit 2   (wĭt)   
v.   wist (wĭst), wit·ting (wĭt'ĭng), first and third person singular present tense wot (wŏt) Archaic

v.   tr.
To be or become aware of; learn.
v.   intr.
To know.

[Middle English, from Old English witan; see weid- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

wit  (n.)
"mental capacity," O.E. wit, more commonly gewit, from P.Gmc. *witjan (cf. O.S. wit, O.N. vit, Dan. vid, Swed. vett, O.Fris. wit, O.H.G. wizzi "knowledge, understanding, intelligence, mind," Ger. Witz "wit, witticism, joke," Goth. unwiti "ignorance"), from PIE *woid-/*weid-/*wid- "to see," metaphorically "to know" (see vision). Related to O.E. witan "to know" (source of wit (v.)). Meaning "ability to make clever remarks in an amusing way" is first recorded 1542; that of "person of wit or learning" is from c.1470. Witticism coined 1677, by Dryden. For nuances of usage, see humor.
"A witty saying proves nothing." [Voltaire, Diner du Comte de Boulainvilliers]

wit  (v.)
"know," O.E. witan "to know," from P.Gmc. *witanan "to have seen," hence "to know" (cf. O.S. witan, O.N. vita, O.Fris. wita, M.Du., Du. weten, O.H.G. wizzan, Ger. wissen, Goth. witan "to know"); see wit (n.). The phrase to wit, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is first recorded 1577, from earlier that is to wit (1340), probably a loan-translation of Anglo-Fr. cestasavoir, used to render L. videlicet (see viz.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

wit

see at one's wit's end; have one's wits about one; live by one's wits; scare out of one's wits; to wit.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
WIT
witness (shortwave transmission)
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

wit

communication in which the stimulus produces amusement

Learn more about wit with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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