wot en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- wät (General-American)
- /wɔt/ (Australia)
- wŏt (UK)
- wŏt (Australia)
- /wɑt/ (General-American)
- /wɒt/ (UK)
Etymology
From Middle English woten, from Old English weotan. An extension of the present-tense form of wit (verb) to apply to all forms.
Meanings
-
(archaic) To know (a fact).
Then he cast his eyes on the road that entered the Market-stead from the north, and he saw thereon many men gathered; and he wotted not what they were; for though there were weapons amongst them, yet were they not all weaponed, as far as he could see.
1890, William Morris, “Men Meet in the Market of Silver-stead”, in The Roots of the Mountains […], London: Reeves and Turner […], →OCLC, page 353: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 he wotted 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: […]
1889, William Morris, “Otter and His Folk Come into Mid-mark”, in A Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark […], London: Reeves and Turner […], →OCLC, page 126:He that walketh in the darke, wotteth not whither he goeth.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John:Take heed to false harlots, and more, ye wot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: / Least drabs doe noie thee, / And theeues destroie thee.
1878, Thomas Tusser, “74. A Digression.”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 166:She little wots, poor Lady Anne! Her wedded lord is dead.
1855, John Godfrey Saxe, Poems, Ticknor & Fields, published 1855, page 121:They wot not who make thither […]
1866, Algernon Charles Swinburne, "The Garden of Proserpine" in Poems and Ballads, 1st Series, London: J. C. Hotten, 1866I sang these things long since and knew them not; "Lo, here is love, or there is love, God wot, This man and that finds favour in his eyes," I said, "but I, what guerdon have I got?
1862-1866, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Laus Veneris:VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: […]
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: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 to wot of.
1988, Terry Pratchett, Mort, Corgi, published 1988, page 91:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| wotting | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| wotteth | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | archaic | lexicographic |
| wotted | Number=Plur, Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| wotted | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| wotted | Number=Sing, Person=2, Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| wotted | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| wotted | Mood=Sub, Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| wotted | Number=Sing, Person=1, Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| wotted | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| wots | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| wotte | alternative | lexicographic | |
| wot | Number=Plur, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| wot | VerbForm=Inf | lexicographic | |
| wot | Mood=Sub, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| wot | Number=Sing, Person=1, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| wot | Mood=Imp, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| wot | Number=Sing, Person=2, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| wottest | Number=Sing, Person=2, Tense=Pres | archaic | lexicographic |
| wottedst | Number=Sing, Person=2, Tense=Past | archaic | lexicographic |
| wott | alternative | lexicographic | |
| wote | alternative | lexicographic |