Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as wise.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic To know, to understand.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps an alteration of wis, taken from the incorrect division of iwis (which means "sure(ly), certain(ly)", from Middle English iwis, ywis ("sure(ly), certain(ly)"), from Old English gewis ("certain, positive, sure")) as "I wis(s) ", which was mistaken for a verb. Perhaps from (certainly akin to) Old English witan ("to know"). See wit.

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