Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a general term of approbation, esp. of a highly satisfying thing or event.

1892		Harper’s Mag. Mar. 650/1: The prevailing American desire to indulge in what is widely known as an electoral whiz, accompanied by high stepping and a feeling of great wealth [DA].
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Hamilton Finnerty’s Heart’ in Sandburrs 64: I can now relax an’ toin meself to Gin, Dog’s Head and a general whizz.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Three Kings and a Pair’ in Gullible’s Travels 54: The piece was gave by a bunch o’ supers the time I went. I’d like to see it with a real cast. They say it’s a whiz when it’s acted right.
1920		F.S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald III (1960) 49: ‘Wonderful night.’ ‘It’s a whiz.’.
1933		G. Milburn No More Trumpets 265: Oh, it made a whizz of a feature!
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 891: They think your engine is a whiz.

2. a general term of approbation, esp. of a very skilful or talented person.

1902		Boston Globe Sun. Mag. 21 Dec. 7–8: If in recitation a student makes a fair impression he is termed a ‘wiz.’.
1912–16		in E. Wilson Prelude (1967) 125: a whiz / a dinger.
1919		Van Loan ‘IOU’ in Score by Innings (2004) 349: He’s a wiz! [...] Got everything a pitcher ought to have.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 224: I bet you drive like a wiz.
1931		W. Noble Burns One-Way Ride 160: He thinks he’s a whizz.
1933		W.R. Burnett Dark Hazard (1934) 148: You’re getting as damn dull as everybody else. You used to be a whiz, boy.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 55: wiz – a smart individual, one hard to beat.
1944		W. Blair Tall Tale America 4: Unless you were a whiz at zigzagging [...] you’d probably wind up at the wrong place.
1946		H.A. Smith Rhubarb 91: This kid is a wiz.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 49: He was a mathematical whiz, that guy.
1959		D. Niland Gold in the Streets (1966) 165: Picks the gee-gees like a whizz.
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 104: Muffie wheedled Geoffrey into doing card tricks, at which he was a whiz.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 120: Someone usually had to clean up my spelling, which as you know I was not a whiz at like you.
1979		Village Voice (N.Y.) 15 Jan. 1: Meyer Lansky, the mob’s financial wiz.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 11: Dad’s a whiz at bridge.
1989		R. Dahl Rhyme Stew (1990) 12: A disco king, a hi-fi buff, / A whizz on electronic stuff.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 299: [B]eing the budding promo and publicity whiz he is Sutho dreams up this particular stunt with a racehorse-and-jock theme.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 36: He’s not exactly a mental whiz.
2000		F. Kellerman Stalker (2001) 163: Even Mom, who was no great whiz in the kitchen, could cook better than this.
2000		Z. Smith White Teeth 29: At No. 75 she spent an hour with a fourteen-year-old physics whizz called Colin.
2009		R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 169: [Y]ou’re a bit of a whizz on the old dance game.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 127: He looks over at Antonina [...] still playing that same quarter. A pinball wiz.