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witmore about wit

wit


  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  wit 
  n  1:  a  message  whose  ingenuity  or  verbal  skill  or  incongruity  has 
  the  power  to  evoke  laughter  [syn:  {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}] 
  3:  (informal)  a  witty  amusing  person  who  makes  jokes  [syn:  {wag}, 
  {card}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  WIT,  n.  The  salt  with  which  the  American  humorist  spoils  his 
  intellectual  cookery  by  leaving  it  out 
 
 




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