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Whit. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Whit, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Whit in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Whit will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
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English
Etymology 1
Noun
Whit (plural Whits)
- The season of Whitsuntide.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Shortening of the surname of Dick Whittington, London mayor who funded the rebuilding of the prison.
Proper noun
the Whit
- (originally thieves' cant, now archaic or historical) Newgate Prison in London, England (particularly as it was in the 15- and 1600s).
1951, Georgette Heyer, The Quiet Gentleman:A Bow Street Runner says "I knew a cove as talked the way you do – leastways, in the way of business I knew him! In fact, you remind me of him very strong […] He was on the dub-lay, and very clever with his fambles. He ended up in the Whit, o’ course."
2020 May 5, Peter Linebaugh, The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century, Verso Books, →ISBN:One of the strong drinks brewed in the Whit, a place as noted for the variety of its potions as the irony of its expressions, was called 'South Sea'. The gin brewed in Newgate was […]
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