FromMiddle Englishwoten, fromOld Englishweotan. An extension of the present-tense form ofwit (verb) to apply to all forms.
wot (third-person singular simple presentwots,present participlewotting,simple past and past participlewotted)
- (archaic) Toknow (in the sense of knowing a fact).
1878,Thomas Tusser, “74. A Digression.”, inFive Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for theEnglish Dialect Society byTrübner & Co., […],→OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors,Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for theEnglish Dialect Society byTrübner & Co., […],1878,→OCLC, stanza 4,page166:Take heed to false harlots, and more, yewot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: /Least drabs doenoie thee, / Andtheeues destroie thee.
1637,Thomas Heywood,The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject. […], London: […] Nich[olas] and John Okes, for James Becket, […],→OCLC, Act III,signature E4, verso:VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthriftBonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne:[…]
1855, John Godfrey Saxe,Poems, Ticknor & Fields, published1855, page121:She littlewots, poor Lady Anne! Her wedded lord is dead.
- 1866, Algernon Charles Swinburne, "The Garden of Proserpine" inPoems and Ballads, 1st Series, London: J. C. Hotten, 1866:
- Theywot not who make thither […]
1889, William Morris, “Otter and His Folk Come into Mid-mark”, inA Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark […], London: Reeves and Turner […],→OCLC,page126:Ever he gazed earnestly on the main battle of the Romans, and what they were doing, and presently it became clear to him that they would outgo him and come to the ford, and then hewotted well that they would set on him just when their light-armed were on his flank and his rearward, and then it would go hard but they would break their array and all would be lost:[…]
1890,William Morris, “Men Meet in the Market of Silver-stead”, inThe Roots of the Mountains […], London: Reeves and Turner […],→OCLC,page353:Then he cast his eyes on the road that entered the Market-stead from the north, and he saw thereon many men gathered; and hewotted not what they were; for though there were weapons amongst them, yet were they not all weaponed, as far as he could see.
1988, Terry Pratchett,Mort, Corgi, published1988, page91:They sped under the moonlight as silent as a shadow, visible only to cats and to people who dabbled in things men were not meant towot of.
Fromwit, in return fromOld Englishwitan.
wot
- first-personsingularpresentindicative ofwit
- third-personsingularsimplepresentindicative ofwit
Representing pronunciation.
wot
- Eye dialect spelling ofwhat.
- Wot, no bananas? ―(popular slogan during wartime rationing)
1859,Charles Dickens,A Tale of Two Cities, London:Chapman and Hall, […],→OCLC:Then,wot with undertakers, andwot with parish clerks, andwot with sextons, andwot with private watchmen (all awaricious and all in it), a man wouldn't get much by it, even if it was so.
wot
- Eye dialect spelling ofwhat.
wot (notcomparable)
- (Singlish)Alternative form ofwhat(used to contradict an assumption)
FromEnglishwhat.
wot
- (interrogative)what
- Synonyms:wani,wanim
wot [withgenitive]
- Superseded spelling ofwót.
wot
- first/third-personsingularpresentindicative ofwiten
FromEnglishward.
wot
- ward
