Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - wit

 I. verb  (wist; ~ting; present first & third singular wot)  Etymology: Middle English ~en (1st & 3d singular present wot, past wiste), from Old English ~an (1st & 3d singular present wat, past wisse, wiste); akin to Old High German wizzan to know, Latin videre to see, Greek eidenai to know, idein to see  Date: before 12th century  1. archaic know  2. archaic to come to know ; learn  II. noun  Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German wizzi knowledge, Old English ~an to know  Date: before 12th century  1.  a. mind, memory  b. reasoning power ; intelligence  2.  a. sense 2a — usually used in plural alone and warming his five ~s, the white owl in the belfry sits — Alfred Tennyson  b.  (1) mental soundness ; sanity — usually used in plural  (2) mental capability and resourcefulness ; ingenuity  3.  a. astuteness of perception or judgment ; acumen  b. the ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse  c.  (1) a talent for banter or persiflage  (2) a ~ty utterance or exchange  d. clever or apt humor  4.  a. a person of superior intellect ; thinker  b. an imaginatively perceptive and articulate individual especially skilled in banter or persiflage Synonyms:  ~, humor, irony, sarcasm, satire, repartee mean a mode of expression intended to arouse amusement. ~ suggests the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception especially of the incongruous a playful ~. humor implies an ability to perceive the ludicrous, the comical, and the absurd in human life and to express these usually ~hout bitterness a sense of humor. irony applies to a manner of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is seemingly expressed the irony of the title. sarcasm applies to expression frequently in the form of irony that is intended to cut or wound given to heartless sarcasm. satire applies to writing that exposes or ridicules conduct, doctrines, or institutions either by direct criticism or more often through irony, parody, or caricature a satire on the Congress. repartee implies the power of answering quickly, pointedly, or ~tily a dinner guest noted for repartee.