See Also: witness(1)(dictionary)
WITNESS, GOING(law)
GOING WITNESS(law)
EYE-WITNESS(law)
EAR-WITNESS(law)
Witness(law)
witness box(dictionary)
witness(2)(dictionary)
witness 2, verb(dictionary)
Jehovah's Witness(encyclopedia)

witness(1) (iou)



witness noun.
[Old English witnes, from wit WIT noun + -nes -NESS.]
Knowledge, understanding, wisdom. OE-L15.
Attestation of a fact, event, or statement; testimony, evidence. Also spec., open profession or testimony (to the power) of one's religious faith through one's actions or words. OE.
B. Jowett Agamemnon..if the witness of Homer be accepted, brought the greatest number of ships. M. L. King The early Christians..made a triumphant witness for Christ. A. S. Byatt To..recount the true pre-history of the race through the witness of folk-tale and legend.
b. The inward testimony of the conscience (after 2 Corinthians 1:12). ME.
A person who gives evidence concerning matters of fact under investigation; spec. a person who gives evidence on oath or affirmation in a court of justice or judicial inquiry. OE.
Guardian A key witness for the prosecution..told the court he was hired to attack the bouncer.
A person who is called on, selected, or appointed to be present at a transaction, so as to be able to testify to its having taken place; spec. (more fully, attesting witness, subscribing witness) a person who is present at the execution of a document and subscribes it in attestation thereof. OE.
b. A sponsor or godparent at baptism. L16-M19.
Attestation by signature, oath, etc. Chiefly in legal contexts, as in witness of, in witness hereof, in witness whereof, etc. ME.
A person present at an event etc. and able to provide information about it from personal observation. Usu. foll. by of, to. ME.
ear-witness, eyewitness, etc.
J. S. C. Abbott I have been..witness to the singular effect which the sound of a bell had upon Napoleon. Guardian Witnesses said the aircraft..ploughed into several cars before breaking in two.
b. God, heaven, or a person invoked for confirmation, to attest to one's actions, etc. Freq. in (as) God is my witness, be my witness that, call to witness below. ME.
Dryden That still I love, I call to Witness al the Pow'rs above.
A person or thing whose existence, condition, etc. attests or proves something; a token. Freq. foll. by to, of. ME.
E. A. Freeman Gifts yet more costly were now the witness of his personal presence. I. Colegate The..gallery which he was letting without rent..was there as witness to his concern with things other than profit.
b. Introducing a name, designation, phrase, or clause denoting a person who or thing which provides evidence of the fact or exemplifies the statement. Also as witness. ME.
V. Woolf He was of course a gentleman; witness socks and trousers.
c. spec. In textual criticism, a manuscript or an early version which is regarded as evidence of authority for the text. Usu. in pl. M19.
A person who testifies for Christ or the Christian faith by his or her actions or words; formerly esp. a martyr. LME.
b. = Jehovah's Witness s.v. JEHOVAH noun. Orig. US. M20.
Phrases: as witness: see sense 7b above. auricular witness: see AURICULAR adjective 4. bear witness: see BEAR verb1. call to witness appeal to for confirmation etc. hearsay witness: see HEARSAY noun. hostile witness: see HOSTILE adjective 2. in witness (obsolete exc. as in sense 5 above) as proof (of). Jehovah's Witness, Jehovah Witness: see JEHOVAH. with a witness arch. with clear evidence, without a doubt; with a vengeance.
Comb.: witness-box an enclosure in a lawcourt from which witnesses give evidence; witness-stand: see STAND noun1 12b.