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wizard - 8 dictionary results

wiz⋅ard

  [wiz-erd]
Use wizard in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person who practices magic; magician or sorcerer.
2. a conjurer or juggler.
3. Also, whiz, wiz  [wiz] . a person of amazing skill or accomplishment: a wizard at chemistry.
–adjective
4. of or pertaining to a wizard.
5. magic.
6. British Slang. superb; excellent; wonderful: That's wizard!
Origin:
1400–50; late ME wisard. See wise 1 , -ard

Related forms:
wiz⋅ard⋅like, adjective

Synonyms:
1. enchanter, necromancer, thaumaturge, diviner.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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wiz·ard   (wĭz'ərd)   
n.  
  1. One who practices magic; a sorcerer or magician.
  2. A skilled or clever person: a wizard at math.
  3. Archaic A sage.
adj.  
  1. Chiefly British Slang Excellent.
  2. Archaic Of or relating to wizards or wizardry.

[Middle English wisard : wise, wise; see wise1 + -ard, pejorative suff.; see -ard.]
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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Wizard

Wiz"ard\, n. [Probably from wise + -ard.]

1. A wise man; a sage. [Obs.]

See how from far upon the eastern road The star-led wizards [Magi] haste with odors sweet! --Milton.

2. One devoted to the black art; a magician; a conjurer; a sorcerer; an enchanter.

The wily wizard must be caught. --Dryden.

Wizard

Wiz"ard\, a. 1. Enchanting; charming. --Collins.

2. Haunted by wizards.

Where Deva spreads her wizard stream. --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : wizard
Spanish: mago, brujo, hechicero,
German: der Hexenmeister, der Zauberer,
Japanese: 魔法使い
More Translations »

wizard

n.
1. Transitively, a person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who groks it); esp. someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is a hacker if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a wizard with respect to something only if he or she has specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker could become a wizard for something given the time to study it.
2. The term `wizard' is also used intransitively of someone who has extremely high-level hacking or problem-solving ability.
3. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a system.
4. A Unix expert, esp. a Unix systems programmer. This usage is well enough established that `Unix Wizard' is a recognized job title at some corporations and to most headhunters. See guru, lord high fixer. See also deep magic, heavy wizardry, incantation, magic, mutter, rain dance, voodoo programming, wave a dead chicken.
Jargon File 4.2.0
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wizard 
c.1440, "philosopher, sage," from M.E. wys "wise" (see wise (adj.)) + -ard. Cf. Lith. zynyste "magic," zynys "sorcerer," zyne "witch," all from zinoti "to know." The ground sense is perhaps "to know the future." The meaning "one with magical power" did not emerge distinctly until c.1550, the distinction between philosophy and magic being blurred in the Middle Ages. As a slang word meaning "excellent" it is recorded from 1922.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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wizard
1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who groks it); especially someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is a hacker if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a wizard with respect to something only if he or she has specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker could become a wizard for something given the time to study it.
2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a system.
3. A Unix expert, especially a Unix systems programmer. This usage is well enough established that "Unix Wizard" is a recognised job title at some corporations and to most headhunters.
See guru, lord high fixer. See also deep magic, heavy wizardry, incantation, magic, mutter, rain dance, voodoo programming, wave a dead chicken.
4. An interactive help utility that guides the user through a potentially complex task, such as configuring a PPP driver to work with a new modem. Wizards are often implemented as a sequence of dialog boxes which the user can move forward and backward through, filling in the details required. The implication is that the expertise of a human wizard in one of the above senses is encapsulated in the software wizard, allowing the average user to perform expertly.
[The Jargon File]
(1998-09-07)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Wizard

a pretender to supernatural knowledge and power, "a knowing one," as the original Hebrew word signifies. Such an one was forbidden on pain of death to practise his deceptions (Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Sam. 28:3; Isa. 8:19; 19:3).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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