a. Chiefly s.w. dial. Also whisht, whished, w(h)ish, whist, wist, weist, weest. [Of obscure origin.]

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  1.  Dreary, dismal; melancholy, wretched.

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1829.  T. Moore, Hist. Devon, I. 510. Wish, inapt, bad, unfit, as ‘wish weather.’

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1849.  Kemble, Saxons in Eng., I. 346. In Devonshire … a bad or unfortunate day is a wisht day.

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1893.  Q. [Quiller-Couch], Delect. Duchy, 306. Ah, the poor body! his was a wisht case.

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  2.  Uncanny, eerie, weird. (Cf. WISH-HOUNDS.)

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c. 1800.  [implied in WISHTNESS].

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1872.  Mrs. Lynn Linton, Joshua Davidson, iii. 33. A wild whisht country that does not invite much night walking.

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1891.  Atkinson, Last of Giant Killers, 165–6. Their steps and hushed voices sounding very hollow and wisht all the time.

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  3.  Sickly, wan.

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1868.  ‘Holme Lee,’ B. Godfrey, lxvii. She is very whist and white.

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1884.  G. M. Fenn, Sweet Mace, III. xiii. 217. ‘I don’t quite like the old woman to be burnt. How wist she looks!’

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  Hence Wishtness, melancholy; something uncanny or supernatural.

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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.’

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1839.  Mrs. Palmer’s Devon. Dial., Gloss., Wishness, melancholy.

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1849.  Kemble, Saxons in Eng., I. 346. In Devonshire to this day all magical or supernatural dealings go under the common name of Wishtness.

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