or savvy, subs. and verb. (American).—1. As verb = to know; as subs. = understanding; wit; NOUS (q.v.).
1833. A. C. CARMICHAEL, West Indies, I. 251. When I read those stories … the … negroes would look delighted, and say, “we SAVEY dat well, misses.”
1884. Graphic, 18 Oct., 418, 2. “Because no can SAVVEY if Chinaman like it,” was the answer.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xiv. If George had had the SAVEY to crack himself up a little.
1893. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 11, ‘At a Fancy Fair.’ She ’as fur too much SAVVY to frown in the freeze-me-hup style as strikes her.
2. (Pidgin).—To have; to know; to do; and all the other verbs that be.
