witan
Americannoun
-
the members of the national council or witenagemot.
-
(used with a singular verb) the witenagemot.
noun
-
an assembly of higher ecclesiastics and important laymen, including king's thegns, that met to counsel the king on matters such as judicial problems
-
the members of this assembly
Etymology
Origin of witan
1800–10; Modern English < Old English, plural of wita one who knows, councilor; akin to wit 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The plan was to pay Stern and Andrew through a company called Witan, named after “Witenagemot,” an ancient council that advised Anglo-Saxon kings.
Herul — listed on the Assembly’s website as a “witan,” akin to a high-ranking adviser — gave it to the group two months later.
From Washington Post
Whatever the outcome of the Brexit chess game, it will go down in the history books of the Westminster parliament, which traces its history through the English Civil War and Norman Conquest to the ancient Witan of Anglo-Saxon England.
From Reuters
Weid, a word meaning to see, with later connotations of wisdom and wit, entered Germanic as witan, and Old English wis to “wisdom.”
From Literature
The meeting, of the “Lords Spiritual and Temporal of this Realm”, derives from the Witan, the Anglo-Saxon feudal assembly of more than a thousand years ago.
From The Guardian
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
