- Wiste
- Wit Wit (w[i^]t), 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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The present tense was inflected as follows; sing. 1st pers. wot; 2d pers. wost, or wot(t)est; 3d pers. wot, or wot(t)eth; pl. witen, or wite. The following variant forms also occur; pres. sing. 1st & 3d pers. wat, woot; pres. pl. wyten, or wyte, weete, wote, wot; imp. wuste (Southern dialect); p. pr. wotting. Later, other variant or corrupt forms are found, as, in Shakespeare, 3d pers. sing. pres. wots. [1913 Webster]
Brethren, we do you to wit [make you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. --2 Cor. viii. 1. [1913 Webster]
Thou wost full little what thou meanest. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
We witen not what thing we prayen here. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
When that the sooth in wist. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
Note: This verb is now used only in the infinitive, to wit, which is employed, especially in legal language, to call attention to a particular thing, or to a more particular specification of what has preceded, and is equivalent to namely, that is to say. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
