the five wits
Preserved but no longer current.
Common sense, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. Common sense is the outcome of the five senses; imagination is the "wit" of the mind; fantasy is imagination united with judgment; estima- tion estimates the absolute, such as time, space, locality, and so on; and memory is the "wit" of recalling past events.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “the five wits” mean?
Common sense, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. Common sense is the outcome of the five senses; imagination is the "wit" of the mind; fantasy is imagination united with judgment; estima- tion estimates the absolute, such as time, space, locality, and so on; and memory is the "wit" of recalling past events.
Is “the five wits” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.