Wit sb.

Forms: 1– wit, 3–6 wyt, 3 (Orm.), 4–8 witt, 4–6 wytt, wyte, 4–7 witte, wytte, (4 wiit, wijt, whit, 4, 6 wite, Sc. vit, vyt, 5 whytt, wette, 6 Sc. wott, 7 weet). [OE. wit neut., more commonly ʓewit(t I-WIT sb., corresp. to OFris. wit, OS., (M)LG. wit, OHG. wizzi (MHG. witz(e, G. witz), ON. vit (Sw. vet, Da. vid), Goth. un-witi ἀφροσύνη, ἀγνοία: f. wit- (see WIT v.¹).]

  I.  Denoting a faculty (or the person possessing it).

  † 1.  The seat of consciousness or thought, the mind: sometimes connoting one of its functions, as memory or attention. Obs.

a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., viii. 45. Ðeos ʓitsunc hafað gumena ʓehwelces mod amerred,… ac hit on witte weallende byrnð.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 71. Ȝif us eni ufel bitit Þonke we gode in ure wit.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 324. First in his witte he all purueid His werc.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machor), 338. [He] in his hart wele held It, Ay retentywe he had a wyt.

a. 1400.  New Test. (Paues), Eph. iv. 17. Mysbylefed men, þat walkeþ in vanyte of hure wyt.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. iv. 295. His ouer greet trust which in his witt he bisettid upon hem.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XII. i. 67. And sammyn prent thir sawis in thy wyt.

1548–9.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Ordering of Priests. O holy ghoste into oure wittes, sende downe thyne heauenly lyght.

1575.  Laneham, Lett. (1871), 35. A! stay a while! see a short wit: by my trooth I had almost forgot.

1612.  Bacon, Ess., Studies (Arb.), 13. If a mans wit be wandring, let him study the Mathematiks.

a. 1660.  Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), I. 110. Our Catholicke General did now examen the secret retirements of his witte, to be enformed what best to doe in this extreamitie.

  2.  The faculty of thinking and reasoning in general; mental capacity, understanding, intellect, reason. arch. (now esp. in phr. the wit of man = human understanding).

  For the corresponding pregnant uses see 5 and 6.

Beowulf, 589. Þæs þu in helle scealt werhðo dreoʓan, þeah þin wit duʓe.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid. (1922), 21. Hwil þi wit atstond & chastieð þi wil … ne harmeð hit te nawiht.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9389. Is brayn & wit is so feble, þat þer nis of him no drede.

c. 1305.  St. Kenelm, 220, in E. E. P. (1862), 53. A dombe best wiþoute witte.

c. 1375.  Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B), 343. My lyue, my lymmes þou has me lent, My right witt þou has me sent.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 266. Kynde witte me telleth, It is wikked to wage ȝow.

c. 1400.  Pety Job, 184, in 26 Pol. Poems, 127. To gouerne me thow yaue me wyt.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, XI. 481. To mychty God,… sen I had wit off man, Befor my werk, to ȝeild me I began.

1526.  Tindale, 1 Cor. xiv. 20. Brethren be not children in witte.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 193. He was verie pregnant and had an excellent wyt.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 211. I had a dreame, past the wit of man, to say, what dreame it was.

1665.  Glanvill, Scepsis Sci., 99. A good will, help’d by a good wit, can find Truth any where.

1675.  Baxter, Cath. Theol., II. VIII. 167. God were not God, if mans shallow wit could comprehend him.

1732.  Pope, Epitaph Gay. Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child.

1842.  R. I. Wilberforce, Rutilius & Lucius, 139. We profess not to discover the truth by our own wit.

1879.  McCarthy, Own Times, xx. II. 98. The wit of man could suggest nothing satisfactory.

1879.  E. Arnold, Lt. Asia, VIII. 232. Shun drugs and drinks which work the wit abuse.

  b.  In plural, in reference to a number of persons.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 23759. Crist[es] help sal be us ner, His helpes and vr wittes eke.

1463.  Bury Wills (Camden), 27. To fynde remydyes and weyes as by there wittes may be fowunde moost sewr.

1526.  Tindale, Luke xxiv. 45. Then openned he their wyttes, that they myght vnderstond the scriptures.

1591.  Savile, Tacitus, Agricola, 242. That militare wittes are not refined to that sharpenesse and suttelty, that is practised in … courtes of iustice.

1664.  Power, Exp. Philos., Pref. b 2. Herein we can see what the illustrious wits of the Atomical and Corpuscularian Philosophers durst but imagine.

1700.  T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem., 7. Some Men can never be brought to write correctly in this Age, till they have formed their Wits upon the Ancients.

  c.  Often denoting indifferently the faculty or the person possessing it, and hence sometimes used definitely for the person in respect of this faculty. Almost always in plural, of a number of persons, and commonly with qualifying adj. arch.

  For the corresponding pregnant uses see 9 and 10.

1536.  Act 27 Hen. VIII., c. 42 § 1. In his Unyversities of Oxforde and Cambridge … where yowth and good wyttes be educate.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., Pref. **v b. A sence not comen for euerie witte to picke out.

a. 1568.  Ascham, Scholem., Pref. (Arb.), 19. Many yong wittes be driuen to hate learninge, before they know what learninge is.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 274. Gods-Hill, in which Iohn Worsley erected a schole for the training up of young wits.

1750.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 24, ¶ 7. The great Praise of Socrates is, that he drew the Wits of Greece … from the vain Pursuit of natural Philosophy to moral Inquiries.

1874.  Blackie, Self-Cult., 58. The rock, on which great wits are often wrecked for want of a little kindly culture of unselfishness.

  d.  Phr. At one’s wit’s end (occas. ends): utterly perplexed; at a loss what to think or what to do. So to bring (drive, or put) to one’s wit’s end: to perplex utterly.

  Now commonly taken as 2 c, the word being written as gen. pl. (wits’) even in ref. to a single person.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 363. Astrymyanes also aren at her wittes ende.

c. 1420.  ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1665. When they were dreuyn to her wyttes ende.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. xx. 5. They shalbe also at their wittes ende, and ashamed one of another.

1550.  Respublica, I. iii. 240. & she att hir wittes endes what for to saie or doe.

1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Andria, II. iv. You bring him to his wits end.

1681.  Flavel, Meth. Grace, iii. 54. What shall we do? is the doleful cry of men at their wits end.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 311, ¶ 1. I am at my Wits End for fear of any sudden Surprize.

1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, IX. iv. Two ladies … are quite, as one may say, at their wit’s ends.

1826.  Galt, Last of Lairds, xl. 360. The old Laird … fairly finding himself driven to his wit’s-end.

1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, xiii. Raphael, utterly at his wits’ end.

  † e.  Wit, whither wilt thou?: phr. addressed to a person who is letting his tongue run away with him.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. i. 167. A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say, wit whether wil’t? [Ibid., I. ii. 60. How now Witte, whether wander you?]

1602.  Dekker, Satirom., I. i. Th’art within a haire of it, my sweet Wit whether wilt thou? my delicate Poeticall Furie.

1617.  Greene’s Groat’s W. Wit, Pref. A 2. This olde Ballad made in Hell: Ingenio perij, qui miser ipse meo: Wit, whither wilt thou? woe is me.

1623.  Middleton, More Dissemblers, IV. i. Cap. Wit whether wilt thou? Dond. Marry to the next pocket I can come at.

1637.  Heywood, Royall King, I. i. C 2. Cap. Wit: is the word strange to you, wit? Bon. Whither wilt thou?

  † f.  Wit and reason: name of an old card-game.

1680.  Cotton, Compl. Gamester, xvi. (ed. 2), 97. Wit and Reason … is a Game something like one and thirty.

  † 3.  Any one of certain particular faculties of perception, classified as outer (outward) or bodily, and inner (inward) or ghostly, and commonly reckoned as five of each kind (see b): = SENSE sb. 1, 7 (see also INWIT 2 b). Also common wit = COMMON SENSE 1. (In early use occas. loosely extended to include other bodily faculties, as speech and locomotion.) Obs. exc. as in b and c.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 64. Þis is nu inouh of þisse witte [sc. sight].

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 23999. O wijttes all me wantid might, Gang, and steyuen, and tung, and sight.

1340.  Ayenb., 251. Þe wyttes of þe zaule.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 467. Nesche is i-knowe by meny wittes, for it is knowe boþe by gropynge and by siȝt.

1422.  Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 242. Al the wittis and meuynges of the body.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., V. vii. 519. Inward sensityue wittis and outward sensityue wittis.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXIV. ii. (Percy Soc.), 108. These are the .v. wyttes remeuing inwardly: Fyrst, commyn wytte, and than ymaginacyon, Fantasy, and estymacyon truely, And memory.

1541.  Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., E j b. In whiche of the ventrycles is the wyt of smellynge founded?

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. iv. 77. Thou hast more of the Wild-Goose in one of thy wits, then I am sure I haue in my whole fiue.

  b.  Five wits: usually, the five (bodily) senses; often vaguely, the perceptions or mental faculties generally, = wits (in sense 3 c or 4 b). Also (jocularly) fifteen wits. Obs. or rare arch.

c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 17. Ða fif wittes ðe god me betahte to lokin of mine wrecche lichame.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 17018. Hering, sight, smelling and fele, cheuing, er wittes five.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 117. Þy fyye wyttys, þe uttyr and þe ynnyr.

c. 1460.  Wisdom, 163, in Macro Plays, 41. Þe v. wyttis of my sowll with-inne.

c. 1515.  Interl. Four Elem. (Percy Soc.), 19. I comforte the wyttes fyve, The tastyng, smellyng, and herynge; I refresh the syght and felynge To all creaturs alyve.

1532.  Tindale, Expos. v–vii. Matt. vii. 98 b. There is no breade in the sacrament, nor wine, though the five wittes saye all ye.

1570.  Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), 960. The v. wittes bodely and ghostlye.

1570.  Buchanan, Admonitioun, Wks. (S.T.S.), 33. Quhen yai bendit all yair fyve wittis to stop ye regent.

1606.  Sir G. Goosecappe, V. i. Haue you no pittie in your villanous iests, but runne a man quite from his fifteene witts?

1610.  A. Cooke, Pope Joan, 113. Though men … had bene … bewitched and distract of their fiue wits.

1830.  Tennyson, Owl, I. 6. Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits.

1878.  Morley, Diderot, I. iv. 86. Everybody now has learnt that morality depends not merely on the five wits, but on the mental constitution within, and on the social conditions without.

  c.  pl. Mental faculties, intellectual powers (of a single person or a number of persons: cf. 2 b); often practically equivalent to the sing. in sense 2.

  To have one’s wits about one: to have one’s mental powers in full exercise, to be mentally alert. To live by one’s wits: to get one’s living by clever or (now esp.) crafty devices, without any settled occupation.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 515. I se wel þat hit is sothe, þat alle mannez wyttez To vn-thryfte arn alle þrawen.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 129. Þou dotest daffe,… Dulle are þi wittes.

1450–1530.  Myrr. our Ladye, I. vii. 21. To be full besy in all the wyttes and mightes of youre soulle.

1533.  Gau, Richt Vay, 87. Quhen our hart and vittis are ful of sorow.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 14. So soone as I gathered my wits together.

1612.  B. Jonson, Alch., III. iv. How doe they liue by their wits, there, that haue vented Sixe times your fortunes?

1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 99. I had my wits about me; and a hand that was able to finde me worke.

1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., I. 163. Great Wits are sure to Madness near alli’d.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, VII. 326. That my wits may not be sent a wooll-gathering.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. ¶ 18. Have all your wits about you,… you are nursing a viper in your bosom.

1820.  L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 14. I. 111. That letter touched her kind wits.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, lxxiii. Living by his wits—which means by the abuse of every faculty that worthily employed raises man above the beasts.

1883.  Stevenson, Silverado Sq., 146. This expression … at last penetrated his obdurate wits.

  † d.  sing. and pl. Consciousness; sensation: cf. SENSE sb. 3, 6. Obs. rare.

c. 1290.  St. Brendan, 12, in S. Eng. Leg., 220. Seint brendan … cride on him al for-to is wit him cam.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1755. He keuered his wyttes, Swenges out of þe sweuenes.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1815, Lucrece. Sche loste at onys bothe wit & breth, And in a swo she lay.

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 6047. Withouten witt he was ligyng.

  4.  The understanding or mental faculties in respect of their condition; chiefly = ‘right mind,’ ‘reason,’ ‘senses,’ sanity. † a. sing.: esp. in phrases in (one’s right) wit, sane, of sound mind; chiefly out of (by, from, of) wit or one’s wit, insane, mad, out of one’s mind; also out of wit advb., madly, furiously. Obs. (or dial.).

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xv. 7. Wode he ʓehælde and on witte ʓebrohte.

c. 1205.  Lay., 1661. Swa swiðe wa him was þat al his wit he for-læs.

c. 1290.  St. Dunstan, 600, in S. Eng. Leg., 19. Heo iwerth a-non out of hire witte, and feol a-doun riȝt þer.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10872. He made him as bi wit.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 27168. Man in wiit Or man mai falle was vte of itt.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 1483. Neiȝh wod of witte.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 102. Arcyte … swore he wold dey … Or from his witte he wold twynne.

1425.  E. E. Wills (1882), 66. Wiþ witte and good mende.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, I. xi. 50. They were wrothe out of wyt.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn, xlvi. 178. Arte thou now dronke, or folyshe, or from thy witte?

1561.  T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., III. 207. As no man in his right wit wil graunt.

a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., I. xiv. § 3 (1622), 151. It is a thing so euident, that there is a God; that whosoeuer denieth it, is (surely) out of his wit.

1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 86. The wife was wood, and out o’ her wit.

  b.  pl. = SENSE sb. 10: esp. in phr. in or out of one’s wits.

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 785. His wyttes fayles, and he ofte dotes.

1431.  E. E. Wills (1882), 87. Beyng yn goode heale and yn my full wittes.

c. 1450.  Capgrave, Life St. Aug., xxiii. 32. For a tyme it had a-wey hir wittis.

1526.  Tindale, 1 Cor. xiv. 23. Will they not saye that ye are out off youre wittes?

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 107. Such a one as lacketh his right wittes.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., IV. ii. 95. I am as well in my wits (foole) as thou art.

1604.  Dekker, Honest Wh., I. xiii. (1635), I 4. How fell he from his wits?

1622.  Bacon, Hen. VII., 226. Ioan … was vnable … to beare the Griefe of his Decease, and fell distracted of her Wittes.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, York, III. (1662), 228. Seeing his wits is nearer and dearer to any man then his wealth.

1736.  Butler, Anal., Diss. i. 306. Nor is it possible for a Person in his wits, to alter his Conduct, from a Suspicion, that [etc.].

1840.  Macaulay, Ess., Clive (1880), 518. The governor … was frightened out of his wits.

  fig.  1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. i. 143. Heere’s a fellow frights English out of his wits.

1656.  R. Short, Drinking Water, 62. Our small beer, or water skared out of its wits.

  II.  Denoting a quality (or the possessor of it).

  * 5.  Good or great mental capacity; intellectual ability; genius, talent, cleverness; mental quickness or sharpness, acumen. arch.

  The earliest quots. may belong to other senses, e.g., 6 or 11.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10812. Þo … he vnderstod of is wit, & of is wisdom, Him þoȝte it was a gret lere to al is kinedom.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8543. Salamon … was a borli bachelere,… O wijt o wisdom Was neuer nan wiser.

c. 1320.  Cast. Love, 1080. Of whom and hou comeþ hit, Such reson and such wit, Þat þou … darst nymen þe Forte dispute a-ȝeynes me?

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), vii. 78. Nyghe that Awtier is a place … where the Holy Croys was founden, be the Wytt of Seynte Elyne.

c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 27. Þay began to dyspute wyth hym; but … þay haden no wytte ne no powste forto ȝeynestonde hym.

1526.  Tindale, Rev. xiii. 18. Let hym that hath wytt count the nombre off the beest.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., II. i. 282. Are there not men in your Ward sufficient to serue it? Elb. Faith sir, few of any wit in such matters.

1630.  R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 13. The weake constitutions of the Southerne Nations are supplied by the extraordinarie gifts of the minde: terme them what you please, either wit, or subtiltie.

1709.  Pope, Ess. Crit., 17. Authors are partial to their wit, ’tis true, But are not Critics to their judgment too?

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xi. Where was the wit of the sharp-sighted men of sound mind? Where the dexterity of the lawyers?

1874.  Maurice, Friendsh. Bks., vi. 163. The blessing of wit and foresight.

  † b.  Practical talent or cleverness; constructive or mechanical ability; ingenuity, skill. Obs. as a specific sense.

c. 1325.  Spec. Gy Warw., 212. God … ȝeueþ wit in alle craftes.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1632. A pales gert make … Full worthely wroght & by wit caste.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 5. It was a goodly heape for to behould, And spake the praises of the workmans wit.

1648.  J. Beaumont, Psyche (1702), XI. xxv. Those Engins which so strangely spit Death’s multiply’d and deadlyer made by Wit.

1691.  Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 4. The best Telescopes that could possibly be invented or polished by the Wit and Hand of an Angel.

1726.  Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., Pref. 4. The Enemy was oftener overcome … by the Architect’s Wit, without the Captain’s Arms, than by the Captain’s Arms without the Architect’s Wit.

  † c.  Of animals: Intelligence, sagacity. Obs.

c. 1400.  26 Pol. Poems, ii. 61. Þere [i.e., the drones’] wit is wane To stroiȝe the hony.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 145. The witte of this beast Nutianus reporteth, he once had experience of.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 658. The admirable witte of this beast appeareth in her swimming or passing ouer the Waters.

1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, III. xii. 722. The Fox is full of wit.

  6.  Wisdom, good judgment, discretion, prudence: = SENSE sb. 11. Obs. exc. in phr. like to have the wit to, which combines the notions of intelligence and good sense.

  The phr. in quot. 1602 has become proverbial, though commonly taken in sense 8.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 3040. Godess Sune … iss … Godess word, & Godess witt.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9391. Vor wat he aþ Manliche bigonne he it aþ bileued Wommanliche as vor defaute of wit in his heued.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 285. Þat he ordaind wit his witte He multiplis and gouerns itte. Ibid., 3079. Quen [ysmael] was of age and witte A wijf he spused of egipte. Ibid., 29204. Þe gift o wijt of vnder-standing, O consail, strenght, o gode dreding, O conand-scipe, and o pite.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virgin (1867), 5. Heil welle of witt and of merci!

1552.  T. Wilson, Logic (ed. 2), 22. As vertue is contrarie vnto vice, witte vnto folie, manhode vnto Cowardise.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 153. When ale is in, wyt is out. When ale is out, wyt is in.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 90. Since Breuitie is the Soule of Wit, And tediousnesse, the limbes and outward flourishes, I will be breefe.

1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., I. 386. For Lavish Grants suppose a Monarch tame And more his Goodness than his Wit proclaim.

1701.  Swift, Contests Athens & Rome, ii. Misc. (1711), 26. But, however, they had the Wit to recal him [sc. Aristides].

1725.  De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 326. But they were taught more wit, to their cost, in two or three days.

1886.  Ruskin, Præterita, I. xi. 376. One piece of good fortune, of which I had the wit to take advantage.

1926.  S. Baldwin, in Morn. Post, 8 Oct., 15/3. Men … who … had formed his Majesty’s Government … and who had the wit to understand what the challenge meant.

  † b.  Contextually in predicative use: A piece of wisdom or prudence, a wise thing to do; also, something demanding or showing wisdom, a matter of practical wisdom. Obs.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 344. To fenyhe foly quhile is wyt.

c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet (verse), 1609. Þarfor es wit, to lest & mast, Wine or aile softly to tast.

1421–2.  Hoccleve, Min. Poems, xx. 115. Whane that a man is in prosperite, To drede a fall comynge it is a wit.

1562.  in Archaeologia, XLVII. 229. Gettinge ys a chaunce and keapinge a witte.

  † c.  A prudent measure or proceeding; an ingenious plan or device. Obs.

  The uses exemplified by the quots. are prob. of various or mixed origin.

1340.  Ayenb., 257. Þe ilke eddre ous tekþ a wel grat wyt þet we ne hyere naȝt þane charmere.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1420, Hypsip. & Medea. To syndyn hym into sum fer cuntre Here as this Iason may distroyed be. This was his wit.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., vi. 16. I shall shew þe a goode wit in þis cas; and if þou wolt do after my conseile, þou shalt not repente.

1607.  Dekker & Webster, Northw. Hoe, V. i. Was’t not a pritty wit of mine … to haue had him rod into Puckridge, with a horne before him?

  7.  Quickness of intellect or liveliness of fancy, with capacity of apt expression; talent for saying brilliant or sparkling things, esp. in an amusing way. arch. (Cf. sense 8.)

  Formerly sometimes opp. to wisdom or judgment; often distinguished from humor (see quots., and note s.v. HUMOUR sb. 7).

1579.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 61. As the Bee is oftentimes hurt with hir owne Honny, so is witte not seldome plagued with his owne conceipt.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 11. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at mee:… I am not onely witty in my selfe, but the cause that wit is in other men.

1650.  Davenant, Gondibert, Pref. (1651), 27. Wit is not only the luck and labour, but also the dexterity of thought.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., I. III. iii. 37. That nimble and acceptable Faculty of the Mind, whereby some Men have a readiness, and subtilty, in conceiving things, and a quickness, and neatness, in expressing them, all which the custom of speaking comprehends under the name of Wit.

1704.  Yalden, Sir W. Aston, 187. His flowing wit, with solid judgment join’d, Talents united rarely in a mind, Had all the graces and engaging art, That charm the ear and captivate the heart.

1765.  Chesterf., Lett. to Godson (1890), 180. If you have real wit it will flow spontaneously and you need not aim at it…. Wit is so shining a quality, that everybody admires it, most people aim at it, all people fear it, and few love it unless in themselves.

1777.  M. Morgann, Ess. Dram. Char. Falstaff, 163. It being very possible, I suppose, to be a man of humour without wit; but I think not a man of wit without humour.

1782.  Cowper, Gilpin, 169. Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit And lov’d a timely joke.

  8.  That quality of speech or writing that consists in the apt association of thought and expression, calculated to surprise and delight by its unexpectedness (for particular applications in 17th and 18th century criticism see esp. quots. 1650, 1677, 1685, 1690, 1704, 1709); later always with reference to the utterance of brilliant or sparkling things in an amusing way.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., Pref. **vij b. Neither dooe I esteme it a thyng worthie blame … with laughter to refreshe the mynde…, so that the matier to laugh at bee pure witte and honeste [orig. modo risus sit argutus ac liberalis].

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, I. i. 64. They neuer meet, but there’s a skirmish of wit between them.

1606.  Chapman, Monsieur D’Olive, I. i. Critickes, Essayists, Linguists, Poets, and other professors of that facultie of wit.

1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Ch.-Porch, xxxix. Laugh not too much: the wittie man laughs least: For wit is newes onely to ignorance.

1650.  Davenant, Gondibert, Pref. (1651), 26. Wit is the laborious, and the lucky resultances of thought having towards its excellence … as well a happinesse, as care.

1664.  Flecknoe, Short Disc. Engl. Stage, G 6. Comparing him [Jonson] with Shakespear, you shall see the difference betwixt Nature and Art; and with Fletcher, the difference betwixt Wit and Judgement.

1677.  Dryden, State Innoc., Apol. Her. Poetry, c 2 b. The definition of Wit … is only this: That it is a propriety of Thoughts and Words; or in other terms, Thought and Words, elegantly adapted to the Subject.

1684.  Wood, Life (O.H.S.), III. 16 April. Lord Chief Justice asked him ‘if it were Oxford Wit,’ that also ‘he should say that if Magna Charta would not do it Longa Sparta should do the busines.’

1685.  Dryden, Sylvæ, Pref. A 6. I drew my definition of Poetical Wit from my particular consideration of him [Virgil].

1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. xi. § 2. Wit lying most in the assemblage of Ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety.

1693.  Dennis, Misc., Pref. a 2 b. A true description of Wit; which is a just mixture of Reason and Extravagance.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, Ded. (e) 3 b. Les Petits Esprits:… who like nothing but the Husk and Rhind of Wit; preferr a Quibble, a Conceit, an Epigram, before solid Sense and Elegant Expression.

1704.  Pope, Lett. to Wycherley, 26 Dec. True Wit, I believe, may be defined a justness of thought, and a facility of expression. Ibid. (1709), Ess. Crit., 297. True Wit is Nature to advantage dress’d, What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 62, ¶ 2. Mr. Lock’s Account of Wit, with this short Explanation, comprehends most of the Species of Wit, as Metaphors, Similitudes, Allegories, Ænigmas, Mottos, Parables, Fables, Dreams, Visions, dramatick Writings, Burlesque, and all the Methods of Allusion.

1744.  Corbyn Thomas (title), An Essay Towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule.

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., iii. 19. We get beautiful effects from wit,—all the prismatic colours,—but never the object as it is in fair daylight.

a. 1859.  Leigh Hunt, in Jrnl. Educ. (1884), 1 Feb., 79/1. Wit consists in the arbitrary juxtaposition of dissimilar ideas for some lively purpose of assimilation or contrast, generally of both.

1900.  Hammerton, J. M. Barrie & his Bks., 78. There is more ‘heart’ in humour and more ‘head’ in wit.

  b.  With qualification (see quots. and sheer wit s.v. SHEER a. 8 b).

1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Ch.-Porch, xi. When thou dost tell anothers jest, therein Omit the oathes, which true wit cannot need.

1653.  Flecknoe, Misc., Disc. Lang., 100. Jests, Clenches, Quibbles, Bulls, &c.,… which although properly they be not Wit (excepting Jests onely, which is a kind of sportive and wanton wit).

1682.  Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Ess. Poetry, 12. True Wit is everlasting, like the Sun.

1693.  Dennis, Misc., Pref. a 4 b. Scarron’s Burlesque has nothing of a Gentleman in it, little of good Sense, and consequently little of true Wit.

1711.  Gay, Pres. St. Wit, in Arb., Garner, VI. 511. The Spectator, whom we regard as our Shelter from that flood of false wit and impertinence.

1717.  Addison, Ovid’s Met., III. v. note, Wks. 1721, I. 243. As True wit is nothing else but a similitude in Ideas, so is False wit the similitude in Words. Ibid., 244. Ovid, who is the greatest admirer of this mixed wit of all the Ancients, as our Cowley is among the Moderns.

1765.  Chesterf., Lett. to Godson (1890), 182. There is a species of minor wit, which is much used,… I mean Raillery.

1779.  Johnson, L. P., Cowley (1800), I. 43. These conceits Addison calls mixed wit; that is, wit which consists of thoughts true in one sense of the expression, and false in the other.

1792.  D. Stewart, Elem. Philos. Hum. Mind, v. I. 305, note. I speak here of pure and unmixed wit, and not of wit, blended, as is most commonly, with some degree of humour.

  † c.  A witty saying or story; a jeu d’esprit: in the collocation Wits, fits and fancies. Obs.

1595.  A. C[opley] (title), Wits, Fittes and Fancies. Fronted and entermedled with Presidentes of Honour and Wisdome.

1626.  W. Vaughan, Golden Fleece, I. 12. Except you season your Auisoes with some light passages with wits, fits, & fancies.

1632.  Brome, Northern Lasse, I. ii. B 2 b. Hee … breakes as many good iests as all the Wits, Fits, and Fancies about the Towne.

  ** 9.  (transf. from 5.) A person of great mental ability; a learned, clever or intellectual person; a man of talent or intellect; a genius. arch. or Hist.

c. 1470.  Golagros & Gaw., 1137. Wourschipfull Wawane, the wit of our were.

1567.  Satir. Poems Reform., vii. 185. Quhair is the wittis wont to reule Scotland?

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. 60. You divine wits of elder Dayes, from whom The deep Invention of rare Works hath com.

c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., lix. 13. The wits of former daies, To subiects worse haue giuen admiring praise.

1638.  Brathwait, Spir. Spicerie, 433. There goes an Author! One of the Wits!

1653.  H. More, Antid. Ath., III. xi. (1712), 124. Cartesius, that stupendious Mechanical Wit.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 18. There are a sort of sublimated Wits that will own neither God nor Devil.

1779.  Johnson, L. P., Milton, Wks. II. 131. Milton, the scholar and the wit.

1806.  Wolcot (P. Pindar), Tristia, 20. The world … Makes wits of fools, and sanctifies a sinner!

1842.  Lytton, Zanoni, I. vi. One evening, at Paris,… there was a reunion of some of the most eminent wits of the time.

1867.  ‘Ouida,’ Cecil Castlemaine’s Gage, 2. A circle of wits gathered ‘within the steam of the coffee-pot’ at Will’s.

  10.  (transf. from 7.) A person of lively fancy, who has the faculty of saying smart or brilliant things, now always so as to amuse; a witty person.

1692.  R. L’Estrange, Fables, ccclxxi. 343. Intemperate Wits will spare neither Friend nor Foe.

1727.  Gay, Fables, I. x. Wits are game-cocks to one another.

1824.  W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 180. There is no character that succeeds so well among wits as that of a good listener.

1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Lond. Recreations. Uncle Bill … is evidently the wit of the party.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, xviii. Go on joking, Ann. You’re the wit of the family.

  III.  Senses, chiefly obsolete, corresponding to those of L. scientia and sententia.

  11.  † a. Knowledge; learning; pl. departments of knowledge, sciences. Obs.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 4818. Þe bissopes him ansuerede … Al wiþ grete reysons & wit of hor boc.

13[?].  Cursor M., 18940 (Arundel MS.). Þe holy goost ȝaf hem … Of alle wittis to touche and tast.

1387–8.  T. Usk, Test. Love, II. ii. (Skeat), 43. Poore clerkes, for witte of schole, I sette in churches, and made suche persones to preche.

1565.  Creation of Eve, in Non-Cycle Myst. Plays (1909), 15. The tre is pleasante to gett wysedome & wytt.

  † b.  The fact of knowing, knowledge, awareness.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 799. No,… bi mine wite, Y no herd þer-of neuer ȝete.

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., V. x. 1936. God has reserwit til hym all Þe wit of þat þat is to fal.

1483.  in Acts Parlt. Scot. (1875), XII. 32/1. Be counsaile command wit or consent of his hienez.

[1648.  Hexham, Mijns wetents niet, not with My weet, or knowledge.]

  c.  Knowledge communicated, ‘intelligence,’ information, esp. in phr. to get wit of. Sc. and north.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 443. The lord Dowglas … Gat wit of thair enbuschement.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, IV. 515. In the toun no wit of this had thai. Ibid., XI. 1032. Quhill witt tharoff is in till Ingland gane.

1504–5.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 474. The men that cersit and sought and gat wit of the silver disch that wes stollin.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 188. Bot on nowayis could they gett wott of him.

1633.  M. P., King & Poor Northern Man, 123. Belike the King of me has gotten some weet.

a. 1700.  Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs, xiv. in Child, Ballads, I. 312. The Child of Wynd got wit of it.

1825.  Brockett, N. C. Gloss., s.v., ‘He got wit’—he obtained intelligence.

  † 12.  Meaning, signification: = SENSE sb. 19–21.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, ii. 5. And is þis þe wit.

1340.  Ayenb., 96. Þe boȝes of þo traue ine one wytte byeþ alle Þe ychosene þet euere were.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1630. I fayn wolde Wyt þe wytte of þe wryt.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 277. Þe secounde witt is allegoryke.

  † 13.  Way of thinking, opinion, judgment: MIND sb.¹ 8, 9, SENSE sb. 18. Obs.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 1425. And verraylich hym semed þat he hadde The same wit.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 1649. Þan were þay alle in wittes tweyne.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 195. As many heddes, as manye wittes ther been. Ibid. (c. 1386), Frankl. T., 147. It dooth no good to my wit, but anoyeth.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 8135. What is ȝoure wit? how thenke ȝow?

1555.  Phaër, Æneid, II. (1558), C iv. The comons into sondry wittes diuided wer and stood.

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 282. The old Proverbe…: so many heades, so many wittes.

  IV.  14. Combinations. a. attrib., as wit-battle, -combat, -contest, pride, -sally, -shaft, -sponge, -trap, -work. b. objective, as wit-carrier, -gathering, -stealer; wit-writing; wit-assailing, -cherishing, -gracing, -infusing, -oppressing adjs. c. instrumental, as wit-abused, -beaten, -drawn, -fraught(ed, -pointed adjs. d. adverbial (= in, or with respect to the wit or wits), as wit-foundered, -starved, -stung, -wondrous, -worn adjs. e. Special Combs.: wit-crack, the ‘cracking’ of a joke (cf. CRACK v. 5), a brisk witticism; so wit-cracker, one who makes witty or sarcastic remarks; wit-craft, † (a) the art of using one’s ‘wit’ or intellect in reasoning, logic; (b) exercise of one’s wits; wit-jar, an imaginary vessel humorously feigned to contain the wits or senses (in allusion to Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, XXXIX. lvii.); † wit-lost a., having lost wit, senseless, foolish; wit-monger, a ‘dealer’ in wit, an utterer of witty sayings (contemptuous); † wit-rack nonce-wd., a faculty of eliciting speech by wit (as a rack elicit sa confession); † wit-snapper = wit-cracker; † wit-stand, in phr. at a wit-stand (cf. STAND sb.¹ 6), = at one’s wit’s end (see 2 d); † wit-state, state of being in one’s wits, condition of sanity; † wit-tooth = WISDOM TOOTH; † wit-wanton a., making a wanton use of the ‘wit’ or understanding; also as sb.; † wit-wanton v. intr. (with it), to exercise the understanding wantonly; also, to indulge in wanton wit; † wit-worm, one who has developed into a wit (like a ‘worm’ or caterpillar emerging from the egg); † wit-worship, worship devised by human ‘wit’ or intellect without divine authority or sanction (cf. WILL-WORSHIP); † wit-would, † wit-would-be, a pretender to wit, a would-be wit; † wit-wright, a maker of wit, an author of witty sayings.

1603.  J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, 40. The will *witt-abus’d.

1601.  Chester, Love’s Mart. (1878), 106. The *wit-assailing Frenzie.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal, Ded. (1697), p. lxxii. The *Wit-battel of the two Buffoons.

1599.  Porter, Angry Wom. Abington (Percy Soc.), 50. Sheele persecute the poore *wit beaten man.

1702.  Engl. Theophrastus, 7. *Wit-carriers, whose business is, to export the fine Things they hear.

1594.  Nashe, Unfort. Trav., D 4. That kinde *wit-cherishing climate.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Warwickshire, III. (1662), 126. Many were the *wit-combates betwixt him [sc. Shakspere] and Ben Johnson.

1892.  Child, Ballads, VIII. 439/1. *Wit-contests in verse.

1662.  Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., III. xxx. § 2. 256. Satan budges not for a thousand such Squibs and *Wit-cracks.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, V. iv. 102. A Colledge of *witte-crackers cannot flout mee out of my humour, dost thou think I care for a Satyre or an Epigram?

1573.  R. Lever (title), The Arte of Reason, rightly termed, *Witcraft.

1605.  Camden, Rem., Rebus, 146. He was no body that coulde not hammer out of his name an invention by this wit-craft.

1903.  Hardy, Dynasts, I. I. iii. A witcraft marked by nothing more of weight Than ignorant irregularity!

1681.  W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 386. *Wit-drawn, wire-drawn curiosities.

1613.  Boys, Expos. Last Ps. (1615), 7. The *wit-foundred drunkard.

1623.  L. Digges, in Shaks. 1st Folio. Thy *wit-fraught Booke.

1603.  Deeble, Commend. Poems, in J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, Oo 2 b.

1893.  Max Pemberton, Iron Pirate, iii. I sat up in bed, uncertain in the effort of *wit-gathering if night had not given me a dream rather than an experience.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 34. Your *Wit-gracing Skill.

1603.  J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, 65.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, VII. lxxxviii. 326. Dr. Hale … was my good Astolfo (you read Ariosto, Jack) and has brought me back my *wit-jar.

1599.  Porter, Angry Wom. Abington (Percy Soc.), 13. Ill report doth like a bailiffe stand, to pound the straying and the *wit-lost tongue.

1620.  Shelton, 2nd Pt. Don Quix., xxxi. 203. The Prater and *Wit-monger.

1691.  Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 620. [He] was … cried up as the main witmonger surviving to the fanatical party.

1601.  Chester, Love’s Mart. (1878), 102. *Wit-oppressing Drunkennesse.

1869.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 546. The butt of their *wit-pointed pencils.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 1151. All the golden *Wit-pride of Humanity, Wherewith men burnish their erroneous vanity.

1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. vi. 269. He had a pretty *wit-rack in himself,… to draw speech out of the most sullen and silent guest.

1549.  Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, T iij. A certain passion muche lyke to madnesse or *witrauyng.

1907.  Raleigh, Shakespeare, 174. The *wit-sallies of Beatrice and Rosalind.

1881.  Swinburne, Mary Stuart, I. iii. 64. Our keeper’s *wit-shaft is too keen for ours To match with pointless iron.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., III. v. 54. What a *witte-snapper are you.

1632.  Brome, Crt. Beggar, II. i. (1653), O 6 b. This humorous wity Lady is a *wit-sponge, that suckes up wit from some, and holds as her own.

a. 1670.  Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1693), 188. They were at a *wit-stand.

1828–32.  Webster, *Wit-starved, barren of wit; destitute of genius. Examiner.

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 7237. Sho lost hir *witt state.

1886.  Corbett, Fall of Asgard, xxxv. Surely is ale a great *wit-stealer.

1608.  Machin, Dumb Knt., IV. i. Fie I am mad, Sham’d and disgrac’t, all *wit-stung, wisdomlesse.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XI. xxxvii. I. 338. The farthest cheek-teeth in a mans hend, which be called Genuini, (i. the *Wit-teeth).

1750.  Fielding, Author’s Farce, I. vi. Nor was it cram’d with a pack of *Wit-traps, like Congreve and Wycherly, where every one knows when the joke was coming.

1612.  Sylvester, Lachr. Lachr., 99. Epicures, *Wit-wantons, Atheists.

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., X. iv. § 4. 62. How dangerous it is for wit-wanton Men, to dance with their nice Distinctions, on such Mysticall Precipices. Ibid. (1642), Holy & Prof. St., III. ii. 155. More dangerous it is to *wit-wanton it with the Majestie of God.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, IX. 268. Wretched Maid!… England’s inhuman Chiefs Shall … black thy spotless fame, Wit-wanton it with lewd barbarity.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. II. Babylon, 584. *Wit-wondrous Salomon.

1632.  B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, I. i. You’are sure to have lesse-*wit-worke, gentle brother. Ibid. (1611), Catiline, II. i. What hast thou done With thy poore innocent selfe?… Thus to come forth, so sodainly, a *wit-worme?

1647.  C. Harvey, Schola Cordis (1778), 153. That which worldly wit-worms call nonsense.

1617.  Greene’s Groat’s W. Wit, Pref. A 2. So many *Witworn Ideots.

a. 1629.  Hinde, J. Bruen, xxx. (1641), 93. That such service unto Saints, is but *witt-worship, will-worship, and Idol-service.

1641.  Sanderson, Serm., Ad Clerum (1681), II. 4. God will not approve of, nor accept any Wit-worship, or Will-worship, forged or devised by man.

1700.  Congreve, Way of World, Ded. This Play had been Acted two or three Days, before some of these hasty Judges cou’d find the leisure to distinguish betwixt the Character of a *Witwoud and a Truewit.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Ess. Men & Manners, lxxxvi. Wks. 1765, II. 225. A wit-would cannot afford to discard a frivolous conceit.

1771.  Sheridan, in Rival Beauties, 16. Then grinning Witwould—tho’ no Teague—Who more successful in intrigue?

1681.  H. More, Lett., 15, in Glanvill, Sadducismus. Our professed *Wit-would-be’s of this present Age.

1655.  W. Strode, Floating Isl., Ded. A 2 b. If … *wit-wrights Poets be.

1666.  Dryden, Ann. Mirab., Pref., Ess. (1900), I. 14. Wit in the poet, or *Wit writing, (if you will give me leave to use a school-distinction).