underwit

English

Alternative forms

• under-wit

Etymology

From under- +‎ wit.

Noun

underwit (plural underwits)

1. An underwitted person; a nitwit.
   • c. 1699-1736, Jonathan Swift, Of the Education of Ladies

     That in the mean time, her household affairs, and the care of her children, will be wholly laid aside; her toilet will be crowded with all the under-wits, where the conversation will pass in criticising on the last play or poem that comes out […]

   • 1832, Mary Russell Mitford, Lights and shadows of American life:

     "Well," said the captain, "then we must come Yankee over them, and I've notions enough here to baffle a nation of such underwits."