wiseacren.
/ˈwʌɪzˌeɪkə/, U.S. /ˈwaɪzˌeɪkər/ 1. † b. Used in plural form of a single person; sometimes as a quasi-proper name. Obsolete.
a. One who thinks himself, or wishes to be thought, wise; a pretender to wisdom; a foolish person with an air or affectation of wisdom.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [noun]
owl1568
tire-brain1589
wiseacre1595
Solonist1607
formalist1612
nodder1625
Solon1631
wiseling1633
self-wiseling1649
sophy1649
Solomon1656
conjurer1668
wisdomship1692
sage1751
wisehead1756
wisebones1894
1595 Enq. Tripe-wife (1881) 146 Shall he run vp and downe the town,..accompanied with some such wise-akers as himselfe.
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. B3 Thou Lady of Clownes and Carters, Schoolemistres of fooles and wisacres.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 47 Syrupe of Poppy, (that edged Tool in the hands of such Doctor Wise~akers).
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 138. ⁋6 This Wiseacre was reckoned by the Parish, who did not understand him, a most excellent Preacher.
1810 W. Scott Let. 31 Dec. (1932) II. 419 This wise-acre thinks..he should have a finger in every man's pie.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond I. xiii. 288 I have heard politicians and coffee-house wiseacres talking over the newspaper.
1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 115 The architect..is lectured on his own art by wiseacres, whose whole stock of knowledge is got up from ‘Parker's Glossary’.
ΚΠ
?1613 J. Taylor Laugh & be Fat in Wks. (1630) ii. 71/1 A learned wiseakers.
1615 R. Tofte in tr. B. Varchi Blazon of Iealousie 24 (note) Wiseakers her Husband, neuer so much as once doubting or dreaming of any such matter.
1673 S'too him Bayes 9 When he has done (like a wise-acres) he makes nothing of it.
c. With allusion to acres as = ‘lands’; in first quot. apparently applied to a landed estate.
ΚΠ
1608 Yorkshire Trag. sig. B3v Is the rubbish sold, those wiseakers your lands.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) ii. v. §128 394 If wise by their Acres, or, in a word Wiseacres, it was expected the Guineys should come out, for the Uses of Mobbing.
2. A wise or learned person, a sage. (Usually contemptuous.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > [noun]
wise manc888
wisec897
witec900
snoterc950
divinera1387
sage1399
mage?a1425
wisdom1432
wizardc1440
sapientc1550
Solomon1554
oracle1579
sophy1587
Solon1631
sapientipotent1656
magus1700
wiseacre1753
sageshipa1832
Yoda1984
1753 in Gentleman's Mag. 23 417 (spuriously archaic) Pythagoras lerned muche—becomming a myghtye wyse~acre.
1814 Sporting Mag. 44 271 The concourse of wiseacres..was truly astonishing.
1842 W. M. Thackeray Confessions of G. Fitz-Boodle Pref. It requires no great wiseacre to know that.
1902 Sat. Rev. 29 Nov. 677/2 The stoic paradox that the cobbler who has got wisdom is the universal wiseacre.
Derivatives
ˈwiseˌacred adj. /-əd/ having the character of a wiseacre (in quot. 1848 for wiseacredness n. with allusion to acre: cf. 1c above).Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [adjective]
wiseOE
over-wisea1425
self-wise1573
wiseacred1603
nod-crafty1608
sapienta1763
sage1816
wiseacreish1834
1603 T. Dekker 1603: Wonderfull Yeare sig. B3 Each wise-acred Landlord.
wiseacredness n. Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [noun] > condition of
self-witc1425
self-wisdom1571
over wiseness1608
self-wittedness1647
over-wisdom1753
wiseacredness1848
wiseacreishness1895
1848 Earl Northbrook in Mallet Mem. (1908) 39 The conceited phraseology and would-be wiseacredness of its professors.
ˈwiseˌacredom n. the realm of wiseacres, wiseacres collectively.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [noun] > collectively
self-wise?1574
wiseacredom1885
1885 A. Dobson Don Quixote in At Sign of Lyre 93 To make Wiseacredom, both high and low, Rub purblind eyes.
ˈwiseˌacreish adj. /-ərɪʃ/ like or characteristic of a wiseacre.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [adjective]
wiseOE
over-wisea1425
self-wise1573
wiseacred1603
nod-crafty1608
sapienta1763
sage1816
wiseacreish1834
1834 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Mag. 36 415 He..then perpends, in a wiseacreish pause, to consider if they are all to be found.
wiseacreishness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [noun] > condition of
self-witc1425
self-wisdom1571
over wiseness1608
self-wittedness1647
over-wisdom1753
wiseacredness1848
wiseacreishness1895
1895 G. Saintsbury Corrected Impressions ii. 12 Ex post facto wiseacre-ishness.
ˈwiseˌacreism n. /-ərɪz(ə)m/ Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [noun] > affected wisdom > instance of
wiseacreism1860
wiseacrery1917
1860 T. L. Peacock Gryll Grange xxiii, in Fraser's Mag. Sept. 352 Whist is more consentaneous to modern solemnity: there is more wiseacre-ism about it.
ˈwiseˌacrery n. /-ərɪ/ something characteristic of a wiseacre; pretension to or affectation of wisdom, or a remark exhibiting this.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > pretender to wisdom, wiseacre > [noun] > affected wisdom > instance of
wiseacreism1860
wiseacrery1917
1917 G. Saintsbury Hist. Fr. Novel I. 371 Interrupting his vizier and the other tale-tellers with wiseacreries.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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