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==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English]; akin to Old High German ''wizzi'' knowledge, Old English ''witan'' to know
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century before 12th Century]
==Definitions==
*1a : [[mind]], [[memory]]
:b : [[reasoning]] power : [[intelligence]]
*2a : sense 2a —usually used in plural <alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits — Alfred Tennyson>
:b (1) : mental soundness : [[sanity]] —usually used in plural (2) : mental capability and resourcefulness : ingenuity
*3a : astuteness of [[perception]] or [[judgment]] : acumen
:b : the [[ability]] to relate seemingly disparate things so as to [[illuminate]] or amuse c (1) : a [[talent]] for banter or persiflage (2) : a witty utterance or exchange
:d : [[clever]] or apt [[humor]]
*4a : a person of superior [[intellect]] : thinker
:b : an imaginatively [[perceptive]] and articulate [[individual]] especially skilled in banter or persiflage
==Description==
'''Wit''' is a form of [[intellectual]] [[humor]], and is the [[ability]] to say or write things that are [[clever]] and usually funny. A wit is a person skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the ''quip'' and ''repartee''.
As in the wit of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker Dorothy Parker]'s set, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Round_Table Algonquin Round Table], witty remarks may be intentionally [[cruel]] (as in many epigrams), and perhaps more ingenious than funny.
A ''quip'' is an [[observation]] or saying that has some wit but perhaps [[descends]] into [[sarcasm]], or otherwise is short of point; a witticism also suggests the diminutive. ''Repartee'' is the wit of the quick [[answer]] and capping comment: the snappy comeback and neat retort. (Wilde: "I wish I'd said that." Whistler: "You will, Oscar, you will".)
Wit in [[poetry]] is characteristic of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poetry metaphysical poetry] as a style, and was prevalent in the time of English playwright [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare Shakespeare], who admonished pretension with the phrase "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit". It may combine word play with conceptual [[thinking]], as a kind of verbal display requiring [[attention]], without intending to be laugh-aloud funny; in [[fact]] wit can be a thin [[disguise]] for more poignant [[feelings]] that are being versified. English poet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne John Donne] is the representative of this style of poetry.
More generally, one's wits are one's [[intellectual]] [[powers]] of all [[types]]. Native wit — meaning the wits with which one is born — is closely synonymous with [[common sense]]. To live by one's wits is to be an opportunist, but not always of the scrupulous kind. To have one's wits about one is to be alert and capable of quick [[reasoning]]. To be at the end of one's wits is to be immensely [[frustrated]].
[[Category: General Reference]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English]; akin to Old High German ''wizzi'' knowledge, Old English ''witan'' to know
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century before 12th Century]
==Definitions==
*1a : [[mind]], [[memory]]
:b : [[reasoning]] power : [[intelligence]]
*2a : sense 2a —usually used in plural <alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits — Alfred Tennyson>
:b (1) : mental soundness : [[sanity]] —usually used in plural (2) : mental capability and resourcefulness : ingenuity
*3a : astuteness of [[perception]] or [[judgment]] : acumen
:b : the [[ability]] to relate seemingly disparate things so as to [[illuminate]] or amuse c (1) : a [[talent]] for banter or persiflage (2) : a witty utterance or exchange
:d : [[clever]] or apt [[humor]]
*4a : a person of superior [[intellect]] : thinker
:b : an imaginatively [[perceptive]] and articulate [[individual]] especially skilled in banter or persiflage
==Description==
'''Wit''' is a form of [[intellectual]] [[humor]], and is the [[ability]] to say or write things that are [[clever]] and usually funny. A wit is a person skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the ''quip'' and ''repartee''.
As in the wit of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker Dorothy Parker]'s set, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Round_Table Algonquin Round Table], witty remarks may be intentionally [[cruel]] (as in many epigrams), and perhaps more ingenious than funny.
A ''quip'' is an [[observation]] or saying that has some wit but perhaps [[descends]] into [[sarcasm]], or otherwise is short of point; a witticism also suggests the diminutive. ''Repartee'' is the wit of the quick [[answer]] and capping comment: the snappy comeback and neat retort. (Wilde: "I wish I'd said that." Whistler: "You will, Oscar, you will".)
Wit in [[poetry]] is characteristic of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poetry metaphysical poetry] as a style, and was prevalent in the time of English playwright [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare Shakespeare], who admonished pretension with the phrase "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit". It may combine word play with conceptual [[thinking]], as a kind of verbal display requiring [[attention]], without intending to be laugh-aloud funny; in [[fact]] wit can be a thin [[disguise]] for more poignant [[feelings]] that are being versified. English poet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne John Donne] is the representative of this style of poetry.
More generally, one's wits are one's [[intellectual]] [[powers]] of all [[types]]. Native wit — meaning the wits with which one is born — is closely synonymous with [[common sense]]. To live by one's wits is to be an opportunist, but not always of the scrupulous kind. To have one's wits about one is to be alert and capable of quick [[reasoning]]. To be at the end of one's wits is to be immensely [[frustrated]].
[[Category: General Reference]]
