ˈhalf-ˌwitted, a.
[f. half wit + -ed2.
1706 Hearne Collect. 12 Dec. I. 312 A man of half wit.]
† 1. Lacking or deficient in (common) sense or reason; simple; senseless. Obs.
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 32 To have to doe with perverse, irrationall, half-witted men. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §102 The half hearted, and half witted people, which made much the major part of both Houses. a 1716 Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 228 As if we should call a Man an idle, vain, empty, shallow-pated, or half-witted Fellow. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. ii. 8 A self-satisfied, half-witted fellow, is the most ridiculous of all things. |
2. Not having all his wits; imbecile; daft.
| 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. App. ii, A poor, simple..half-witted, crack-brained fellow. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. §3 A poor half-witted man that means no mischief. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. xxx. 92 A half-witted king, every day growing feebler in mind. |
Hence half-wittedness.
| 1832 Westm. Rev. XVII. 273 If the attempt to hedge-in gold and silver was unmixed folly, the Mercantile System was the kind of hybrid denominated half-wittedness. |