W I s 
696 
W I s 
O sacred solitude! divine retreat! 
Choice of the prudent! envy of the great! 
By thy pure stream, or in the waving shade. 
We court fair wisdom, that celestial Maid. Young. 
Prudence ; skill in affairs; judicious conduct. 
’Tis much de dares, 
And to that dauntless temper of his mind. 
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour 
To act in safety. Shakspeare. 
WISE, adj. [pip, Saxon; wiis, Dutch and Danish: from 
pippan, wissen, wysen, to know. See To Wis.] Sapient; 
judging rightly ; having much knowledge.—Heaven is for 
thee too high; be lowly wise. Milton. —Judicious; pru¬ 
dent; practically knowing. 
The young and gay declining Alma flies 
At nobler game, the mighty and the wise : 
By nature more an eagle than a dove. 
She impiously prefers the world to love. Young. 
Skilful; dexterous.—Speak unto all that are wise hearted, 
whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may 
make Aaron’s garments. Exod. —Skilled in hidden arts: a 
sense somewhat ironical.—There was an old fat woman even 
now with me.-Pray, was’t not the wise woman of Brent¬ 
ford ? Shakspeare. —Grave; becoming a wiseman.—One 
eminent in wise deport spake much. Milton. 
WISE, s. [pipe, Saxon; wyse, Dutch; weise, Germ.] 
Manner; way of being or acting. This word, in the modern 
dialect, is often corrupted into ways. 
With foam upon thy lips, and sparkling eyes, 
Thou say’st and do’st in such outrageous wise, 
That mad Orestes, if he saw the show, 
Wou’d swear thou wert the madder of the two. Dryden. 
WI'SEACRE, s. [It was anciently written wisesegger, 
as the Dutch wiseggher, a soothsayer.] Dr. Johnson. —A 
wise or sententious man. Obsolete. —Pythagoras lerned 
muche,—becomming a myghtye wyseacre. Lcland. —A 
fool; a dunce.—Why, says a wiseacre that sat by him, were 
I as the king of France, I would scorn to take part with foot¬ 
men. Addison. 
WI'SELING, adj. One pretending to be wise: a word 
of contempt.—This may well put to the blush these wise- 
lings, that shew themselves fools in so speaking. Donne. 
tVTSELY, adv. Judiciously ; prudently. 
If thou covet death, as utmost end 
Of misery; so thinking to evade 
The penalty pronounc’d; doubt not but God 
Hath wiselier arm’d his vengeful ire. Milton. 
The doctors, tender of their fame, 
Wisely on me lay all the blame: 
We must confess his case was nice, 
But he wou’d never take advice. Swift. 
WISEMAN (Richard), was first known as a surgeon in 
the civil wars of Charles I., and accompanied prince Charles, 
when a fugitive, in France, Holland, and Flanders. He ser¬ 
ved for three years in the Spanish navy, and returned with 
the prince to Scotland, and was made prisoner in the battle 
of Worcester. After his liberation, in 1652, he settled in 
London. When Charles II. was restored, he became emi¬ 
nent in his profession, and was made one of the serjeant-sur- 
geons to the king. In May, 1676, he appears, from the pre¬ 
face to his works, to have been a sufferer by ill health for 
twenty years; but the time of his death is not known. The 
result of his experience appears in “ Several Chirurgical Trea¬ 
tises,” fob 1676, 1686, and in 2 vols. 8vo. 1719. The sub¬ 
jects of these treatises are, tumours, ulcers, diseases of the 
anus, king’s-evil, wounds, gun-shot wounds, fractures and 
luxations, and lues venerea.— Gen. Biog. 
WI'SENESS, s. Wisdom; sapience. Obsolete .—No 
less deserveth his wittiness in devising, his pithiness in utter¬ 
ing, his pastoral rudeness, and his moral wiseness. Spenser. 
WISER’S CREEK, a river of North America, which 
runs into the Missouri; 342 miles below the Great Falls. 
WISETON, or Wigston, a hamlet of England, in Not¬ 
tinghamshire. 
WISEWALL, a township of England, in Lancashire; 3 
miles from Burnley. 
To WISH, v. n. [pipcian, Sax.] To have strong de¬ 
sire ; to long.—The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that 
he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah. 
If all the year were playing holidays, 
To sport would be as tedious as to work; 
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come. 
Shakspeare. 
They have more than heart could wish. Psalm. —To be 
disposed, or inclined.—Those potentates, who do not wish 
well to his affairs, have shewn respect to his personal cha¬ 
racter. Addison. —It has a slight signification of hope, or 
fear.—I wish it may not prove some ominous foretoken of 
misfortune, to have met with such a miser as I am. Sidney. 
To WISH, v. a. To desire; to long for.—He was fain 
to pull him out by the heels, and shew him the beast as dead 
as he could wish it. Sidney. —To recommend by wishing. 
Had I as many sons as I have hairs, 
I would not wish them to a fairer death. Shakspeare. 
To imprecate. 
If heavens have any grievous plague in store, 
Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee; 
O let them keep it till thy sins be ripe, 
And then hurl down their indignation. Shakspeare. 
To ask.—Digby should find the best way to make Antrim 
communicate the affair to him, and to wish his assistance. 
Clarendon. 
WISH, s. Longing desire. 
To his wish, 
Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies. Milton. 
A wish is properly the desire of a man sitting or lying 
still; but an act of the will, is a man of business vigorously 
going about his work. South. —Thing desired. 
What next I bring shall please thee; be assur’d. 
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self. 
Thy wish, exactly to thy heart’s desire. Milton. 
Desire expressed. 
Shame come to Romeo !—— 
—Blister’d be thy tongue 
For such a wish. Shakspeare. 
I admire your whig-principles of resistance in the spirit of 
the Barcelonians: I join in your wish for them. Pope. 
WISH ANGER, a hamlet of England, in the parish of 
Miserden, Gloucester. 
WISHART’S ISLAND, an island in the Pacific ocean. 
This is one of the Solomon islands, and by the Spaniards 
called Artreguada. Lat. 2. 20. S. long. 150. 55. E. 
WISH AW, a parish of England, in Warwickshire, near 
Sutton Coldfield. 
WI'SHEDLY, adv. According to desire. Not used. — 
What could have happened unto him more wishedly, than 
with his great honour to keep the town still. Knolles. 
WI'SHER, s. One who longs.—One who expresses 
wishes.— Wishers and woulders are never good household¬ 
ers. Proverb. —With half that wish, the wisher's eyes be 
press’d. Shakspeare. 
WISHFORD, Great, a parish of England, in Wiltshire, 
near Wilton. 
WI'SHFUL, adj. Longing; showing desire. 
From Scotland am I stol’n ev’n of pure love. 
To greet mine own land with my wishful sight. 
Shakspeare. 
Desirable; exciting wishes. 
Nor could I see a soile where ere I came, 
More sweete and wishfull. Chapman. 
WI'SHFULLY, aelv. Earnestly; with longing,-—I was 
weary of this day, and began to think wishfully of being 
again in motion. Bosxoell. 
WI'SHLY, 
