WITS

[plural] [noun] - practical intelligence or understandingShe's learned to survive on her keen wits and intellect.He'll need all the wits and political experience he can muster if he's going to run for president.The trial became an elaborate game of wits between the two lawyers.In the gameshow, each contestant has to pit their wits against (= compete in a test of intelligence and knowledge with) the celebrity guest if they want to go for the star prize.If you collect/gather your wits after something shocking or unexpected has happened, you try to control your feelings and think clearly again.When he heard that the police were after him, he had just enough time to gather his wits and leave town before they arrived at his house.She spent the five-minute break between games gathering her wits and rethinking her strategy for the second half of the match.To have/keep/need (all) your wits about you is to be ready to think and react quickly to something that is going to happen.You'll have to keep your wits about you when negotiating the contract.The Italian team are going to need all their wits about them if they want to beat the French in the final tomorrow.If you are at your wits' end, you are so worried by something that you do not know what to do next.I'm at my wits' end with Lucy - she goes out every night and doesn't come home till four.If something scares, frightens, etc. you out of your wits, or scares the wits out of you, it makes you very frightened.That loud noise scared the wits out of me.