[wit] vb wist ; wit.ting pres 1st & 3d sing wot [ME witen (1st & 3d sing. pres. wot, past wiste), fr. OE witan (1st & 3d sing. pres. wat, past wisse, wiste); akin to OHG wizzan to know, L videre to see, Gk eidenai to know, idein to see] (bef. 12c) 1 archaic: know
2. archaic: to come to know: learn
[2]wit n [ME, fr. OE; akin to OHG wizzi knowledge, OE witan to know] (bef. 12c) 1 a: mind, memory b: reasoning power: intelligence
2. a: sense 2a--usu. used in pl. "alone and warming his five ~s, the white owl in the belfry sits --Alfred Tennyson" b (1): mental soundness: sanity--usu. used in pl. (2): mental capability and resourcefulness: ingenuity 3 a: 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
4. a: a person of superior intellect: thinker b: an imaginatively perceptive and articulate individual esp. skilled in banter or persiflage -- at one's wit's end or at one's wits' end : at a loss for a means of solving a problem syn wit, humor, irony, sarcasm, satire, repartee mean a mode of expression intended to arouse amusement. wit suggests the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception esp. of the incongruous "a playful wit". humor implies an ability to perceive the ludicrous, the comical, and the absurd in human life and to express these usu. without bitterness "a sense of humor". irony applies to a manner of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is seemingly expressed "the irony of the title". sarcasm applies to expression frequently in the form of irony that is intended to cut or wound "given to heartless sarcasm". satire applies to writing that exposes or ridicules conduct, doctrines, or institutions either by direct criticism or more often through irony, parody, or caricature "a satire on the Congress". repartee implies the power of answering quickly, pointedly, or wittily "a dinner guest noted for repartee".