awit

[A.S. witan = to know.] To know, to perceive. (N.E.D.) * âwk, * âwke, a. & adv. [Etymology doubtful. One of two hypotheses given by Richard is that it is from Dut. averechts = wrong, 1. On the left nand ( lit. & fig .). "So ignorant and untaught persons, many times when Fortune present eth herself on the right hand, receive her aukly ."- P . Holland Plutarch , p. 122. (Richardson.) 2. Oddly, clumsily, in an ungainly manner. "I know a camel pa eth in the Latin proverb either for gibbous and distorted, or for one that under tak eth a thing awkely or ungainly. Camel us salt at.'"Fuller: Worthies; Cambridge shire. 3. Perversely; wrongly; angrily. " Awkly, or wrongly: sinistre."-Prompt. Pare. " Awkely, or wrawely: Perverse, contrarie, bilose." Ibid. * âwk'-ne , s . [ Eng . awk ; -ne .) The quality of being awk (q.v.); oddne ; ungainline ; perversity of whatever kind. ( Rogers : Naaman the Syrian , p. 378.) (Trench: On Some Def. in our Eng . Dict . , p. 15.) awk'-ward, * awk'-ard, * auk'-warde, * âuk'e-warde, adv. [Eng. awk, and suff. ward.] I. Perverse. (In a physical, mental, or moral sense.) 1. In a physical sense: Turned to the left side; sinister; awry; contrary; untoward. "Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea, And twice by a awkward wind from England's bank Drove back again unto my native clime?" Shakesp.: 2 Henry VI ., iii. 2. 2. In a mental or moral sense, or both Perverted, perverse; twisted, cro ; one-sided. (Used of persons or of things.) "But was implacable and awkward To all that interlop'd and hawker'd." Butler: Hudibras. "O blynde guydes, which beinge of an aukwarde religion, do streyne out a guat and and swalowe vp a camel.- Udal : Matthew, ch. 23. II. Clumsy. (Used of persons or things.) 1. Of persons: Not dexterous; unskilled; with no implication that this arises from natural or intentional perversity. "Making war in any other way, we shall be raw and king wkward recruits."-Macaulay: Hist . Eng . , ch. xiii. 2. Of things: (a) Not easily managed; not effected with facility. "The Lowlanders prepared to receive the shock; but this was then a long and awkward proce Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. xiii. (b) Not skilfully managed; badly executed. "And drop'd an awkward court'sy to the knight." Dryden: Wife of Bathes Tale. awk'-ward-lỹ, adv . [Eng. awkward; -ly.] In an awkward manner. "... they move awkwardly ."-Darwin: Descent of Man , pt. i., ch. iv. "Yet even here homage was paid, awkwardly indeed and sullenly, to the literary supremacy of our neighbours,"-Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. iii. IMG:content-0949.jpg:[blocks in formation]