<B>wise</B> (1), adjective, <B>wiser,</B> <B>wisest,</B> verb, <B>wised,</B> <B>wising.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>having or showing knowledge and good judgment. <BR> <I>Ex. a wise judge, wise advice, wise plans.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having knowledge or information. <BR> <I>Ex. We are none the wiser for his explanation.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>learned; erudite; well-informed. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) brashly or impudently bold; arrogant; fresh. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Archaic.) having knowledge of occult or supernatural things. <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> <B>wise up,</B> (Slang.) <B>a. </B>to inform or enlighten (a person). <BR> <I>Ex. You won't wise him up that I threw a spanner into the machinery? (P. G. Wodehouse).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to become enlightened; gain awareness or understanding. <BR> <I>Ex. I wish you'd wise up about these things.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>get wise,</B> </I>(Slang.) to find out; understand; realize. <BR> <I>Ex. By the time they got wise they'd be paying off (Harper's).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>wise to,</B> </I>(Slang.) aware of; informed about. <BR> <I>Ex. to put someone wise to something.</I> adv. <B>wisely.</B> noun <B>wiseness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="wise">
<B>wise</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> way; manner; fashion; mode; style. <BR> <I>Ex. Though a good student, he is in no wise a scholar.</I> </DL>
<B>-wise,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (suffix forming adverbs.) <DD><B> 1. </B>in a ______ manner. <BR> <I>Ex. Likewise = in a like manner.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>in a ______ing manner. <BR> <I>Ex. Slantwise = in a slanting manner.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>in the characteristic way of a ______; like a ______. <BR> <I>Ex. Clockwise = in the way the hands of a clock go.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>in the direction of the ______ <BR> <I>Ex. Lengthwise = in the direction of the length.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>in the ______ respect or case. <BR> <I>Ex. Otherwise = in the other respect.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>special meanings, as in <I>sidewise.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wiseacre">
<B>wiseacre, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who thinks that he knows everything. <DD><B> 2. </B>a learned person; sage (usually contemptuous or ironical, with implication of pedantry or impracticality). </DL>
<A NAME="wisecrack">
<B>wisecrack, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) <DD><I>noun </I> a snappy comeback; smart remark. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make wisecracks. <BR> <I>Ex. An attendant directed me up a flight of stairs to an antechamber of the court, where I was soon joined by ... a half dozen defiant-looking youths, wisecracking to keep up their courage (Maclean's).</I> noun <B>wisecracker.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="wiseguy">
<B>wise guy,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a person who pretends to know more than he really does; impudent or conceited fellow. </DL>
<A NAME="wiseling">
<B>wiseling, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a pretender to wisdom; wiseacre. <BR> <I>Ex. This may well put to the blush those wiselings that show themselves fools in so speaking (John Donne).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wisenheimer">
<B>wisenheimer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a wise guy. <BR> <I>Ex. Scent of Mystery has been tagged by the Hollywood wisenheimers as "the first movie that ever smelled on purpose" (Time).</I> </DL>
<B>wish, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to have a desire for; be glad to have or do; want. <BR> <I>Ex. to wish help, to wish money. I wish that it would snow tomorrow. Do you wish to go home?</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to feel or express a desire for (a person or thing to be as specified). <BR> <I>Ex. to wish oneself at home, to wish a speech were finished.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to desire (something) for someone; have or express a hope for. <BR> <I>Ex. to wish someone good luck. I wish you a happy new year. We wished her good night. I don't wish him any harm.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to request or command (a thing or action, or a person to do something). <BR> <I>Ex. Do you wish me to send her in now?</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to have a desire; express a hope; long (for). <BR> <I>Ex. He wished for a new house.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to desire or hope for something, especially something good, for another. <BR> <I>Ex. to wish well to a friend.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a wishing or wanting; desire or longing. <BR> <I>Ex. He had no wish to be king. What is your wish?</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a saying of a wish. <BR> <I>Ex. She sends you best wishes for a happy new year.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a request or command; entreaty. <BR> <I>Ex. He granted her slightest wish.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a thing wished for. <BR> <I>Ex. She got her wish.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>wish on,</B> </I>(Informal.) to pass on to; foist on. <BR> <I>Ex. They wished the hardest job on me. Professor Henry's efforts to dissociate himself from the museum that Congress had wished on him did not meet with ... success (New Yorker).</I> noun <B>wisher.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="wisha">
<B>wisha, </B>interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Irish.) an exclamation especially of surprise or regret. </DL>
<A NAME="wishbone">
<B>wishbone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the forked bone in the front of the breastbone in poultry and other birds; furcula. </DL>
<A NAME="wishful">
<B>wishful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or expressing a wish; desiring; desirous. adv. <B>wishfully.</B> noun <B>wishfulness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="wishfulfillment">
<B>wish fulfillment,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Psychoanalysis.) indirect fulfillment of a frustrated wish, as through a daydream. </DL>
<A NAME="wishfulthinker">
<B>wishful thinker,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who engages in wishful thinking. </DL>
<A NAME="wishfulthinking">
<B>wishful thinking,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a believing something to be true that one wishes or wants to be true. </DL>
<A NAME="wishingcap">
<B>wishing cap,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fabulous cap supposed to ensure fulfillment of any wish made by one wearing it. </DL>
<A NAME="wishingwell">
<B>wishing well,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a well supposed to magically grant the wish of a person who throws a coin into it. </DL>
<A NAME="wishwash">
<B>wish-wash, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a wishy-washy thing. </DL>
<A NAME="wishywashy">
<B>wishy-washy, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>thin and weak; insipid; watery. <BR> <I>Ex. wishy-washy soup with no flavor.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) feeble; weak; poor. <BR> <I>Ex. a wishy-washy excuse, a wishy-washy attitude.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wiskottaldrichsyndrome">
<B>Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a genetic disorder characterized by a decrease in white blood cells and platelets, chronic eczema, and recurrent infections. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] had been born a victim of the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: having virtually no resistance to any infection (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wisp">
<B>wisp, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a small bundle; small bunch. <BR> <I>Ex. a wisp of hay.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a small portion of anything; slight bit; shred; fragment. <BR> <I>Ex. a wisp of hair, a wisp of smoke.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a little thing. <BR> <I>Ex. a wisp of a girl.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a twisted bundle, as of hay or straw, or a twist of paper, especially when burned as a torch or used as kindling. <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=will-o'-the-wisp.</B> <DD><B> 6. </B><B>=whisk broom.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to twist into or as a wisp. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to move or drift as a wisp of smoke or vapor. adj. <B>wisplike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="wispish">
<B>wispish, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of the nature of or resembling a wisp; somewhat wispy. <BR> <I>Ex. white, wispish clouds.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wispy">
<B>wispy, </B>adjective, <B>wispier,</B> <B>wispiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> like a wisp; thin; slight. <BR> <I>Ex. A number of them are decorated with wispy feathers trailing down one cheek or over the forehead (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wist">
<B>wist, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) the past tense and past participle of <B>wit</B> (2). <BR> <I>Ex. He wist not who had spoken.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="wistarbergglass">
<B>Wistarberg glass,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a green glassware used especially in bottles, decorated with bands, swirls, and threads of applied glass, made in Wistarberg, New Jersey, in the 1700's; South Jersey glass. </DL>
<A NAME="wistaria">
<B>wistaria, </B>noun. <B>=wisteria.</B></DL>
<A NAME="wisteria">
<B>wisteria, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a climbing shrub with large, drooping clusters of showy, purple, blue, or white flowers, especially the Chinese wisteria and the Japanese wisteria, species often grown to cover verandas and walls. Wisteria belongs to the pea family. </DL>
<A NAME="wistful">
<B>wistful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>longing; yearning. <BR> <I>Ex. A child stood looking with wistful eyes at the toys in the window.</I> (SYN) wishful. <DD><B> 2. </B>pensive; melancholy. (SYN) musing, meditative. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) closely attentive; intent. adv. <B>wistfully.</B> noun <B>wistfulness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="wistiti">
<B>wistiti, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a marmoset of South America, often kept as a pet. Also, <B>ouistiti.</B> </DL>
