(Formerly often as one word, or with hyphen; cf. the surname Wiseman.)
1. gen. A man who is wise; a man of good judgment or discernment; a discreet or prudent man. (Often opposed to fool.)
Worldly wiseman: see WORLDLY.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xl. § 3. Forðy ne scyle nan wis mon forhiʓan ne to swiðe ymb þæt gnornian, to hwæm his wise weorðe.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xiii. 116. Ne sceal se wise mann beon butan godum weorcum.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 214. Wel understond euerich wis mon þis.
c. 1300. Havelok, 180. Wis man of red, wis man of dede.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 46. It myhte make a wisman madd.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (prose), 15. Þe wyse man musters hym wid fa wordis & welle sitande.
1481. Caxton, Godfrey, xxv. 57. There ben more fooles than wysemen.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 207. This mariage semed very straunge to wise men.
1549. Compl. Scot., Prol. 16. I hope that vyise men vil reput my ignorance for ane mortifeit prudens.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., I. xiv. § 3 (1622), 150. Wisemen indeed haue euer reputed them, for no better then mad-men.
1702. H. Dodwell, Apol., § 13, in S. Parker, Cicero’s De Finibus. He took Cato for a perfect Stoick, and for a Wiseman, in the Sense of the Philosophers.
1770. Bridges, Burlesque Transl. Homer, II. 26. Old Nestor,… Who always counted was a Wise-man.
1853. Lynch, Self-Improvem., i. 2. He is a wise man who has an instructed mind and a regulated choice.
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xix. A fool ’ull hit on’t sometimes when a wise man misses.
b. Ironically applied to a fool or simpleton, as in the wise men of Gotham (see GOTHAM 1).
[1471. Paston Lett., III. 32. Yonge Wyseman othyrwy[s]e callyd Foole.]
1525, c. 1560. [see GOTHAM 1].
1596. Raleigh, Discov. Guiana, 5. Who like Wise men in the absence of their Captaine followed the Indians.
1711. Countrey-Mans Lett. to Curate, 32. It were … too Churlish to grudge these talkers the Character of the only Wisemen of G——.
2. spec. a. A man deeply versed in some subject of study, or in studies generally; a learned man, scholar, philosopher, sage. Now rare or arch.
The seven wise men = the seven sages: see SAGE sb.2 1.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Exod., 377. Wise men wordum secgað, þæt from Noe niʓoða wære fæder Abrahames on folctale.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 114. Wis man in þe lawe.
1379. Glouc. Cath. MS. 19, I. I. iv. lf. 1. Iff þu will wysman be in demyng of vryn.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 63. Tales Millesus … þe firste of þe seuene wise men.
1450–80. trans. Secr. Secr., iii. 6. His philesofris and grete wisemen of clergie.
1588. Kyd, Househ. Philos., Index, Thales one of the seauen wise men of Greece.
1655. Stanley, Hist. Philos., Pref. (1687), 2. Hermippus in his Treatise of the seven wise Men saith, they were in all seventeen, of which seven were variously named.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Solon, one of the seven wisemen of Greece.
1842. W. C. Taylor, Anc. Hist., ix. § 5 (ed. 3), 240. Periander, who is sometimes ranked among the Seven Wise Men of Greece.
1850. Ld. Kelvin, in S. P. Thompson, Life (1910), I. v. 223. The steamer appeared about 4 P.M.—contrary to the expectation of the nautical wise men about the harbour.
b. A man who utters wise sayings or maxims; esp. as a title for any of the writers of the Jewish ‘Wisdom Literature.’
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 64. Þe wise mon [sc. Solomon] askeð in his boc hweðer [etc.].
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 121. And wys men sayis he is happy, That be othir will him chasty.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (verse), 1080. Þus þe wisman sais þerbi.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, ix. (1870), 251. The wyse man sayth, that surfetes do kyll many men.
1587. T. Newton, Herbal for Bible, l. 274. So doth the Wiseman [marg. Eccle. i. 24] vse it, whereby he promiseth felicitie … to him that … embraceth Wisedom.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 3. There is no new thing vnder the Sunne, saith the wiseman.
1649. Wilkins, Beauty Provid., 92. Like snow in Harvest (as the Wiseman speaks).
1659. Gentl. Calling, v. § 13. The wise-man hath assured us this, Prov. 11. 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath.
c. 1705. Pope, Jan. & May, 153. Yet you pursue sage Solomon’s advice,… But, with the wiseman’s leave, I must protest.
c. 1750. New Whole Duty of Man, viii. The threatening of the Wise-man, who … declares, that the eye that mocketh his father,… the ravens of the valley shall pick it out.
† c. One of a body of men chosen for their sagacity as advisers in matters of state; a councillor. Obs. as a specific sense.
By 16th–18th century historians used in pl. to render WITAN.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2649. Ðe king wið-stod & an wisman, He seide, ‘ðe child doð als he can.’
1488. Cely Papers (Camden), 169. That eueryche of thes contreys doo send … serten wysemen wt full auctoryte … for to coomen … wt the Gauntnersse.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), p. xx. This yere wer chosen be wise men of the cite, xxxv men,… sworne to mayntene the Assisis.
1591. Lambarde, Archeion (1635), 256. All the Acts are said to passe from the King, and his Wise-men both of the Clergie and Laitie.
1648. Prynne, Plea for Lords, 3. Lordes and Peeres; anciently stiled Aldermen, Heretockes, Senators, Wisemen,… by our Historians.
1714. Fortescue-Aland, Pref. Fortescue’s Abs. & Lim. Mon., 18. King Alfred … with the Thought, i. e. Advice of his Wisemen, or Parliament.
3. A man versed or skilled in hidden arts, as magic, witchcraft, and the like; a magician, wizard; spec. applied in biblical versions and allusions to the three Oriental astrologers or Magi (see MAGUS 2) who came to worship the infant Jesus. In general sense now dial. or vulgar (cf. WISE WOMAN 1).
1382. Wyclif, Matt. ii. 1. When Jhesus was born in Bethlem … loo! kyngis, or wijs men [1388 astronomyenes: Vulg. Magi], camen fro the eest.
1552. Latimer, Serm. Lincs., v. (1562), 100 b. Whan we be in trouble, or sicknes, or lose any thing: we runne hither and thither to wyssardes, or sorcerers, whome we call wyse men.
1561. S. Wythers, trans. Calvin’s Treat. Relics, G iv b. Ye wysmen which came to worshipe our lord Iesus after his natiuitie.
1573. Twyne, Æneid., Life Virgil, A 3. That he was at the first couenaunt seruant wt a traueilinge wyseman.
1595. Peele, Old Wives T. (facs.), C 1 b. I pray you tell where the wise man the Coniurer dwells?
1612. Cotta, Discov. Dang. Pract. Phys., I. ix. 71. A sort of practitioners, whom our custome … doth call wisemen and wisewomen, reputed a kind of good … harmles witches or wisards, who by good words … promise to allay … diuels, practises of other witches, and the forces of many diseases.
1731. Flying Post, 29 April, 2/1. George Raunsforth,… reputed Conjurer, or (as the Country People call him) a Wise Man.
1802. R. Anderson, Cumbld. Ball., 39. The wise man lives nit far frae this,… He telt Nan Dobson whee she’d wed.
1839. [see MAGUS 2].
