wisht, a. Chiefly s.w. dial.
(wɪʃt)
Also whisht, whished, w(h)ish, whist, wist, weist, weest.
[Of obscure origin.]
1. Dreary, dismal; melancholy, wretched.
| 1829 T. Moore Hist. Devon I. 510 Wish, inapt, bad, unfit, as ‘wish weather’. 1849 Kemble Saxons in Eng. I. 346 In Devonshire..a bad or unfortunate day is a wisht day. 1893 ‘Q’ Delect. Duchy 306 Ah, the poor body! his was a wisht case. |
2. Uncanny, eerie, weird. (Cf. wish-hounds.)
| c 1800 [implied in wishtness]. 1872 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Joshua Davidson iii. 33 A wild whisht country that does not invite much night walking. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 165 Their steps and hushed voices sounding very hollow and wisht all the time. |
3. Sickly, wan.
| 1868 ‘Holme Lee’ B. Godfrey lxvii, She is very whist and white. 1884 Fenn Sweet Mace III. xiii. 217 ‘I don't quite like the old woman to be burnt. How wist she looks!’ |
Hence ˈwishtness, melancholy; something uncanny or supernatural.
| c 1800 Polwhele Wishful Swain of Devon in R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. Ser. i. (1865) 150 He sought the dark-green lane,..Sighing..‘Wishness! oh, wishness, walketh here’. 1839 Mrs. Palmer's Devon. Dial. Gloss., Wishness, melancholy. 1849 Kemble Saxons in Eng. I. 346 In Devonshire to this day all magical or supernatural dealings go under the common name of Wishtness. |