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. | |
| Prisoner at the Bar 59: [The police court judge] knows a crooked officer, a crooked lawyer, and a crooked complainant when he sees one. Whatever the verbal testimony happens to be he may very well ‘know different.’ He is, as the slang phrase accurately puts it, ‘wise to his job’. | |
| 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.