wise adj.
1. (orig. US) shrewd, cunning, knowing, aware.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 14 Apr. n.p.: Have those wise girls [i.e. prostitutes] in Tyler street been doing anything foolish? | |
| Powers That Prey 90: The hours which, during the period of courtship, he had spent in ‘jollying’ her and in ‘floating round’ with her, which are the two main categories of Under-World philandering, he devoted at present to increasing the ‘scale’ of his job and to becoming ‘wise.’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 25 May 6/2: All that ‘dead wise’ talk about Soldier Thompson and Dan Creeden being matched to fight for a £250 purse in Melbourne was hot air. | |
| ‘Tough Luck’ Variety Stage Eng. Plays 🌐 For $50 I’ll slip a wise message in yer mit that will let yer gather enough glitterings ter do der fairy tale stunt and that is ‘retire’ and live happy ever after. | |
| Truth (Brisbane) 4 Dec. 11/3: ‘Get wise, my child; get wise, and grip your toil with a diligent hand’. | |
| ‘The New Fable of the Lonesome Camp’ in Ade’s Fables 258: All the wise Paper-hangers and the fly Guitar Players had him marked up as a Noodle. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Fighting Fleets 4: Some admiral! Isn’t he the wise bird that showed the Navy how to shoot straight? | |
| [perf. Ella Shields] ‘All the nice girls are in the ballroom’ 🎵 All the wise boys know where to find them, dark girls or fair. | |
| You Can’t Win (2000) 157: He looks wise, says nothing, spends a few dollars, and goes out. | |
| Flirt and Flapper 36: Flapper: Wise is knowing when, and how, —and how far, — and how little, and how much — [...] you can get away with without having to pay. | |
| (con. 1910s) Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 95: The dog ran at the sound of the cop’s voice. It was too wise for the cop. | |
| ‘Honest Money’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2006) 37: He’s a wise bird. He knows. | |
| Big Con 258: The New Yorker is the best sucker ever born [...] He loves to be taken because he believes he is wise. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Till Human Voices Wake Us 16: It didn’t take me long to get wise and I tried to maintain a dignified silence. | |
| Junkie (1966) 49: The shine is wise [...] he’s OK. | |
| Fowlers End (2001) 261: If I told you, you would be as wise as I am. | |
| Plender [ebook] Mam got wise and belted me round the garden. | |
| Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 161: He didn’t like this wise kid messing around. | |
| ‘Canard’ in Zoom 54: Ten minutes later I was fifty pounds wiser. | |
| Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 215: Only seeing me being hauled to headquarters would impress on her the possibility that the bulls were wise. | |
| Drawing Dead [ebook] It’s an amateur play [...] cops aren’t as dumb as they look, they’ll be wise to it. |
2. stupid, foolish, in ironic use, i.e. one who believes themselves shrewd.
 | implied in wise guy n. (2) | |
| Phila. Inquirer 22 May Pt. II 3/5–6: The present place of honor must without question be given to the phrase, ‘That’s the answer.’ Here is an unusable expression, the delivery of which stamps the speaker as a wise gazaboo of the first water. | |
| Treat ’Em Rough 18: So all I told him was about me eating that sandwich and he says all the boys must of eat them and that shows how much them wise Drs. knows. | |
| Chicago May (1929) 277: One night I met a wise sucker. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 419: That is the only kind of treatment these wise young squirts merit. | |
| Little Sister 174: I don’t expect the wise numbers to work out on me. | |
| On the Waterfront (1964) 121: Don’t get wise now. | |
| Early Havoc 85: ‘Look here, you wise bastards [...] I personally am going to eliminate the two half-assed hoods’. | |
| Carlito’s Way 70: You always been a wise cock-sucker, Carlito. | |
| Rat on Fire (1982) 4: You think this is funny, you wise little prick? | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Filth 153: I follow the wise cunt into the toilets. | |
| At End of Day (2001) 150: The first fall I took, it was basically what it usually is, some wise young punk goes to jail. |
3. homosexually experienced.
| ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants. | |
| Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 49: wise (adj.): Well acquainted with the practices and locales of the homosexual world. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 215: wise heterosexual well informed about homosexuality. | |
| Eight Million Ways to Die 178: ‘Do you know anything about this boyfriend?" "Like what?" "Like is he old or young, wise or straight, married or single? ’. |
In derivatives
knowing, knowledgable.
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 78: A couple of wise-looking geezers talking. |
In compounds
see smart aleck n.
see apple n.1
see wise-ass n.
see separate entries.
see wise-ass adj.
see wise guy n.
see separate entries.
see separate entries.
1. an ironic ref. to one who sees themselves as clever.
| Clockmaker (1843) II 110: Well, says she, we all know that as well as you do, Mr. Wisehead. |
2. a clever, cunning person.
| Freman’s Jrnl 28 Oct. 2/3: Our military secretary [...] has, we understand, subverted the plan upon which the wise-head of the Janissary Cabinet intented to manage his country. | |
| Coventry Herald 28 June 4/3: [He] has dubbed himself ‘X.Y.Z.’ an excellent definition, for he has proved himself to be a real Ex-Wise Head [...] trying to show up Mr Cobbett and the Radicals; but. weak man, how he fails. | |
| Herts. Guardian 7 June 4/2: [To the Editor] ‘Ex-Wisehead’ [...] only expressed his opinion. | |
| Liverpool Mercury 7 June 6/3: the agreement closely follows the suggestions in the earlier part of ‘wise-head’s’ communication. | |
| Duffy’s Hibernian Mag III 105/2: For, entre nous, the doctor is a Wisehead in name only; and I think [...] that his heart is the more valuable part of the good man, and the wiser part too. | |
| Scarlet City 148: Sir Y.Z. I’ll call him, not that he was a wise-head by any means. | |
| Hastings & St. Leonards Obs. 4 June 2/5: No doubt that wise-head thought it a good idea to try and defeat the aims of his opponents by misrepresenting them. | |
| Digger Dialects 53: wise-head (n.) — A cunning or intelligent person. | |
| (con. WWI) Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: wise-head. A cunning or intelligent person. | |
| ‘The Human Head in Sl.’ in AS III:5 408: Whether or not we like to be classed with the ‘wiseheads’ depends on the circumstances. | |
| Jack-Roller 101: He was a ‘wise head’ and well educated in the criminal line. | |
| Und. Speaks. | |
| Sheffield Indep. 30 Nov. 6/1: In your k,ast week’s paper, you insterted a letter from a correspondent signed ‘Y.Z.’ (‘wise-head’). |
(US) a shrewd, clever person.
| Brunswick Area Chamber Connections XX:7 Sept. 🌐 And it came to pass one day that there came among them a soothsayer, and he was one wise hombre. |
(US) an expert.
| ‘The Extra Man’ in Buck Parvin 21: He’s a pretty wise Injun on this skirt thing. |
(N.Z. prison) a veteran prisoner who is credited with substantial knowledge of the world of prison.
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 203/2: wise man n. an inmate who has served many lags and has gained a wide-ranging knowledge of inmate culture and the prison system. |
(US) in betting, the opinion of the experienced bettor; thus wise money boys .
| Broadway Racketeers 105: He would risk a reasonably large wager on a fight when he saw which way the so-called ‘wise money’ was going. | |
| Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] ‘How come all the wise-money is on Tierney?’. | |
| Harder They Fall (1971) 16: He [...] crossed the wise money by going in on the short end of 10-1 to win the welterweight title. | |
| Roger Maris 138: [T]he wise money boys in the front boxes were nodding and saying, see, you can’t hold those Tigers. |
1. (US) cruel teasing, impudence.
| Life Its Ownself (1985) 47: I led him aside, seeing no reason to subject him to [...] Barbara Jane’s wisemouth. |
2. attrib. use of sense 1.
| Thanatos 14: He called me a ‘wise-mouth punk.’. | |
| Memphis-Nam-Sweden 133: The Man just doesn’t dig any wise-mouth back talk. |
a knowing individual.
| Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 24: Benno’s a wise old bird. |
var. wise guy n. (2)
| Enemy to Society 149: It’s pretty tough when a lot of wise ones have to take their orders from a simp like him. | |
| ‘Guns of Gangland’ Gangster Stories Dec. 🌐 There were many of the ‘wise ones’ who believed that Eddie Fogarty had reached the limit of his power. |
see wise guy n.
see wise-ass n.
In phrases
1. to see one’s own interest.
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| et al. DAUL 30/2: Blow wise. (A variant of New York and New England ‘get wise’) To wake up to what is going on; to become suddenly alert. [Note: Imperatively used in warning.]. |
2. to understand, to work out a deception.
| Walk on the Wild Side 255: Blow wise to this, friend [...] it’s always easier to convict a man of something he didn’t do. | |
| Venetian Blonde (2006) 189: If she blows wise [...] you can always go back to the cootch shows. |
(US) to understand, to grasp.
| ‘Dissolve Shot’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective May 🌐 Then I caught wise. Apparently she was another of the skinny publisher’s shakedown victims. | |
| Long Wait (1954) 73: She caught wise in a hurry. | |
| Teen-Age Mafia 74: Before the john could catch wise the Pachucos had him surrounded. |
1. to become aware, to learn about.
| Artie (1963) 29: I can’t get wise to a girl. Too deep, too deep. | |
| Billy Baxter’s Letters 35: It seems strange, but the husband always seems to get wise last. | |
| Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 19: There was a certain young dame who got wise to the fact that her anatomical proportions were admirably adjusted. | |
| Chimmie Fadden and Mr Paul 18: I has been waltzing about in brownstone society for years, now, but dere is one ting I can’t get wise on. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. 28/1: ‘That,’ said the Bookie, blandly, ‘is / As true as death. Get wise to this: / We’ll always pouch, you’ll always pay, / From now right on to Judgment Day.’. | |
| Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 22 Feb. n.p.: Man alive, if you don’t roll ’em yourself, start now with Prince Albert and get wise-o to some smokejoy. | |
| Leave it to Psmith (1993) 515: He somehow got wise to the notion that, as I was his valet, I could go and snoop round in his room. | |
| (con. 1900s–10s) 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 95: Now the A.F. of L’s getting wise and they’ve got a bonehead scab organiser in. | |
| Limey 10: I was quickly ‘getting wise to the system.’. | |
| Amboy Dukes 98: Get wise to yourself. | |
| Junkie (1966) 70: Sooner or later the peddlers get wise to a pigeon and the pigeon can’t score. | |
| Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 146: Why don’t you get wise, Arthur? | |
| Chips with Everything I ii: Oh my father was a general / And I’m a general’s son / But I got wise to the old man’s lies. | |
| You Flash Bastard 269: But if rumour was to get out about our moves, and Rosi was to get wise to them, then the whole investigation might collapse. | |
| Eng. Madam 84: I got wise to that particular racket. | |
| Paydirt [ebook] But you couldn’t rely on using the same method [for a holdup] twice. The security firms had got wise. | |
| ‘Vegan Reich’ in Home Suspect Device 13: The second time he’d got wise and gone tooled-up. | |
| Guardian Rev. 6 Nov. 4: Buffy got wise to Ford’s plans. | |
| Outlaws (ms.) 8: Got a bit wise to the caper after they’d lost about a million pounds to us boys. |
2. in trans. use, to make someone understand, aware.
| Ohinemuri Gaz. (N.Z.) 22 Nov. 1/4: he couldn’t get the old dame ‘wise’ to it. |
3. to come to one’s senses.
| Main Street (1921) 230: Get wise! Chase the man off with a mop, and hold onto your Svenska while the holding’s good. | |
| Twenty Below Act II: Get wise, kid. | |
| Dames Don’t Care (1960) 32: Sometimes they [...] run off with these crooners, after which they get wise and spend the rest of their lives tryin’ to find another business man that they can get next to. | |
| Honest Cop 230: ‘Get wise to yourself, Bill, this case isn’t dead. Can’t you see the handwriting on the wall?’. | |
| Big Rumble 125: Get wise, Claw. Cut out from her. |
1. (also act wise) to act in a cheeky, ‘smart’ manner.
| ‘Winter Kill’ in Goulart (1967) 124: If the guy gets wise, crown him. | |
| Cast the First Stone 47: I couldn’t tell jokes and I didn’t know how to act when kids acted wise. | |
| Reinhart in Love (1963) 178: One minute, Mac, don’t get wise with me. | |
| Exit 3 and Other Stories 167: Don’t get wise with me, kid. | |
| Love Is a Racket 378: A woman gets wise, you might have to straighten her out. |
2. to make a sexual pass (at someone).
| Catcher in the Rye (1958) 83–4: I asked her, on the way, if Mr Cudahy [...] had ever tried to get wise with her. She was pretty young, but she had this terrific figure, and I wouldn’t’ve put it past that Cudahy. |
not very well.
| Gentleman of Leisure Ch. v: ‘And you make a living at this sort of thing?’ ‘Not so woise.’. |
1. to explain, to tell about.
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 371: They put me wise to the fact from the jump. | |
| You Can Search Me 51: Well, I’ll put you wise, Bunch. | |
| Psmith Journalist (1993) 241: Say, this gets past me, Mr Windsor. Put me wise. | |
| Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 May 6/3: ‘Son of a dog,’ it squeaked, ‘would you lift eyes to a Pasha’s widow?’ / ‘Too right I would,’ says Tim. ‘Don’t get narked, Pasha. You’ve had your fling. Put us wise, I’ve got six days to go yet.’. | |
| ‘The Crusaders’ in Chisholm (1951) 82: I word ’im gentle, with some ’asty lies: / I’m seekin’ Spike. See? Can ’e put me wise? | |
| Well of Loneliness (1976) 233: I can put you wise about people in Paris. You ought to know Valerie Seymour, for instance. | |
| ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’ in Coll. Works (1975) 225: Well, the mugs didn’t know they were picturesque and thought she was regular until the barkeep put them wise. | |
| We Who Are About to Die 230: The gangster [...] puts him wise to the prison. | |
| Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 106: I’ll get in a boy who’ll put you wise. | |
| Battlers 289: Travellers were always told: ‘Go to Mrs. Dexter and she’ll put you wise.’. | |
| Capt. Bulldog Drummond 176: Michel is putting Jean-Marie wise to him now. | |
| Jimmy Brockett 196: I tried to put him wise about clothes, but I could never see Bill ever being one of the best-dressed blokes on the Block. | |
| ‘Kitty Barrett’ in et al. Life (1976) 51: Say, my man, lend me your ear, / And I’ll put you wise on how I got here. | |
| Lowlife (2001) 124: I tried to put Vic wise to what was happening. | |
| Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 97: I want to put you and Juanita wise [...] There’s lots a firepower in this forty-five. | |
| Start in Life (1979) 46: I’m putting you wise so that you’ll never make the same mistake again. |
2. to pass on information.
| Boss 262: Me fadder gets put wise to this be a mug who hangs out about d’ Central Office. | |
| A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 52: Say, Mutt, I want to put you wise. | |
| Iron Man 14: I’m putting you wise, see? I’m gonna tie that nigger in knots. | |
| Sudden Takes the Trail 105: Dutch don’t like me none a-tall; why should he put me wise when he’d ruther I fell down on my job? | |
| Venetian Blonde (2006) 214: Why didn’t you put me wise before? | |
| Catching Up 66: Terence then put Graham wise as to who owned what. | |
| Homeboy 14: Kitty put me wise, she pulled my coat already. |
1. to make jokes at someone’s expense.
| Life Its Ownself (1985) 94: Someone who would get to wise off regularly. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 392: Chester Yorkin wising off at the mirror: making faces, flipping the bird. |
2. to boast, to brag.
| Rap Sheet 207: This kid was wising-off about guards he had killed, and things like that, in other stirs where he had been. |
aware of what is going on, ‘in the know’.
| Artie (1963) 87: There was somethin’ ailed me, but I was n’t wise to it. | |
| Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 102: She [...] secured the patronage of the talented geezers who were wise to the fact that there was a credit clause in her house rules. | |
| Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I ii: Dat’s stale. Was wise to dat hours ago. | |
| Wild Party 40: She was wise to herself When your ears were damp! | |
| ‘Focus on Death’ Hollywood Detective Jan. 🌐 I know why you’re here. I’m wise to your game. | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 8: Neither the super’s God nor the super was wise to [...] the hypo. | |
| Rap Sheet 57: He was wise to what was going on and offered to help, for a cut. | |
| Mute Witness (1997) 12: If there is any manner, form, type, kind, or way of cheating that I’m not wise to, I’d like to know. | |
| Howard Street 198: He was wise to them and their tricks. | |
| (con. 1960s) Whoreson 234: Stella had become wise to what was happening. | |
| A-Team Storybook 5: I’m wise to that fancy burger routine! | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | The Joy (2015) [ebook] The screws have been wise to him for years. |
see separate entries.