3. Versed in art or science; skillful; dexterous; specifically, skilled
in divination.
Fal. There was, mine host, an old fat woman even now with me; but she's
gone. Sim. Pray you, sir, was't not the wise woman of Brentford?
Shak.
4. Hence, prudent; calculating; shrewd; wary; subtle; crafty. [R.]
"Thou art . . . no novice, but a governor wily and wise." Chaucer.
Nor, on the other side, Will I be penuriously wise As to make money,
that's my slave, my idol.
Beau. & Fl.
Lords do not care for me: I am too wise to die yet.
Ford.
5. Dictated or guided by wisdom; containing or exhibiting wisdom; well
adapted to produce good effects; judicious; discreet; as, a wise
saying; a wise scheme or plan; wise conduct or management; a wise
determination. "Eminent in wise deport." Milton.
To make it wise, to make it a matter of deliberation. [Obs.] " We
thought it was not worth to make it wise." Chaucer. — Wise in years,
old enough to be wise; wise from age and experience; hence, aged; old.
[Obs.]
A very grave, state bachelor, my dainty one; He's wise in years, and of
a temperate warmth.
Ford.
You are too wise in years, too full of counsel, For my green
experience.
Ford.
Wise, a. [OE. wise, AS. wse; akin to OS. wsa, OFries. ws, D. wijs,
wijze, OHG. wsa, G. weise, Sw. vis, Dan. viis, Icel. ö&?;ruvs
otherwise; from the root of E. wit; hence, originally, knowledge,
skill. See Wit, v., and cf. Guise.] Way of being or acting; manner;
mode; fashion. "All armed in complete wise." Spenser.
To love her in my beste wyse.
Chaucer.
This song she sings in most commanding wise.
Sir P. Sidney.
Let not these blessings then, sent from above, Abused be, or spilt in
profane wise.
Fairfax.
This word is nearly obsolete, except in such phrases as in any wise, in
no wise, on this wise, etc. " Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil."
Ps. xxxvii. 8. "He shall in no wise lose his reward." Matt. x. 42. " On
this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel." Num. vi. 23.
Wise is often used as a suffix in composition, as in likewise, nowise,
lengthwise, etc., in which words -ways is often substituted with the
same sense; as, noways, lengthways, etc.
Wise"a*cre (?), n. [OD. wijssegger or G. weissager a foreteller,
prophet, from weissagen to foretell, to prophesy, OHG. wssag&?;n,
corrupted (as if compounded of the words for wise and say) fr.
wzzag&?;n, fr. wzzag&?; a prophet, akin to AS. wtiga, wtga, from the
root of E. wit. See Wit, v.]