witling
nounEtymology From wit + -ling.
1
A person who feigns wit, pretending or aspiring to be witty.
- I ne'r vvith VVits and VVitlings paſt my days, / To ſpread about the Itch of Verſe and Praiſe, / Nor like a Puppy daggled thro' the Tovvn, / To fetch and carry Sing-ſong up and dovvn; […]1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 12, lines 218–221:
2
Derogatory A person with very little wit.
- "But the witlings of the bunch were those two swaggering there in the popular conception of western dress...."1942, Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua:
- "...only a witling would call a man with my conceit a liar."1955, Rex Stout, Immune to Murder:
1 more example
- I have intruded because this situation is intolerable. You are either a poisonous cockatrice or a witling, and you have brought Mr. Goodwin to a desperate pass.2002 May 5, Lee Goldberg & al., "Murder Is Corny", Nero Wolfe