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To understand the meaning of; to comprehend; as, do you twig me [Colloq.] Marryat.

To get under or beneath; also, to understand. [Obs.] R. of Gloucester.

imp. & p. p. of Understand.

The state of being one; oneness. Whatever we can consider as one thing suggests to the understanding the idea of unity. Locks.

One who affects to understand all the particulars in statements or propositions. [Obs.] Bentley.

Want of wit or understanding; ignorance. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Understanding; apprehension. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

him, turned him about. Mark v. 30. A man was driven to depend for his security against misunderstanding, upon the pure virtue of his syntax. De Quincey. The virtue of his midnight agony. Keble.

gas vitiates the air. A will vitiated and growth out of love with the truth disposes the understanding to error and delusion. South. Without care it may be used to vitiate our minds. Burke. This undistinguishing complaisance will vitiate the taste of readers. Garth.

. Addison. We are divested of all those passions which cloud the intellects, and warp the understandings, of men. Southey.

A fountain; a spring; a source of continual supply. Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it; but the instruction of fools is folly. Prov. xvi. 22.

ng a conveyance of an estate, redeemable at any time on payment of the principal, with an understanding that the profits in the mean time shall be received by the mortgagee without account, in satisfaction of interest. Burrill. -- Welsh mutton, a choice and delicate kind of mutton obtained from a breed of small sheep…

tools. The dullness of the fools is the whetstone of the wits. Shak. Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to the razor. South.

Of large scope; comprehensive; liberal; broad; as, wide views; a wide understanding. Men of strongest head and widest culture. M. Arnold.

s necessary to form a distinct notion of what is meant by the word "volition" in order to understand the import of the word will, for this last word expresses the power of mind of which "volition" is the act. Stewart. Will is an ambiguous word, being sometimes put for the faculty of willing; sometimes for the act of th…

(1 Cor. ii. 13). Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. Job xxviii. 28. It is hoped that our rulers will act with dignity and wisdom that they will yield everything to reason, and refuse everything to force. Ames. Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world call…

Mind; intellect; understanding; sense. Who knew the wit of the Lord or who was his counselor Wyclif (Rom. xi. 34). A prince most prudent, of an excellent And unmatched wit and judgment. Shak. Will puts in practice what wit deviseth. Sir J. Davies. He wants not wit the dander to decline. Dryden.

Destitute of wit or understanding; wanting thought; hence, indiscreet; not under the guidance of judgment. "Witless bravery." Shak. A witty mother! witless else her son. Shak. Witless pity breedeth fruitless love. Fairfax. -- Wit"less*ly, adv. -- Wit"less*ness, n.

A person who has little wit or understanding; a pretender to wit or smartness. A beau and witing perished in the forming. Pope. Ye newspaper witlings! ye pert scribbling folks! Goldsmith.

Having (such) a wit or understanding; as, a quick-witted boy.