Wary

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wary \Wa"ry\, a. [Compar. {Warier}; superl. {Wariest}.] [OE.
     war, AS. w[ae]r; akin to Icel. v?rr, Dan. & Sw. var, Goth.
     wars, G. gewahr aware, OHG. wara notice, attention, Gr. ? to
     see. Cf. {Aware}, {Garment}, {Garnish}, {Garrison},
     {Panorama}, {Ward}, v. t. {Ware}, a., {Warren}.]
     [1913 Webster]


     1. Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding
        against deception, artifices, and dangers; timorously or
        suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous; careful.
        "Bear a wary eye." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              We should be wary, therefore, what persecution we
              raise against the living labors of public men.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Characterized by caution; guarded; careful.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It behoveth our words to be wary and few. --Hooker.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Cautious; circumspect; watchful. See {Cautious}.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Warye \War"ye\, v. t. [AS. wergian, wyrgean. Cf. {Worry}.]
     To curse; to curse; to execrate; to condemn; also, to vex.
     [Obs.] [Spelled also {warrie}, {warry}, and {wary}.] "Whom I
     thus blame and warye." --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wary
       adj 1: marked by keen caution and watchful prudence; "they were
              wary in their movements"; "a wary glance at the black
              clouds"; "taught to be wary of strangers" [ant: {unwary}]
       2: openly distrustful and unwilling to confide [syn: {leery}, {mistrustful},
           {suspicious}, {untrusting}]
       [also: {wariest}, {warier}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  118 Moby Thesaurus words for "wary":
     Argus-eyed, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, Pyrrhonic, Scotch, acute,
     agnostic, all ears, all eyes, arch, artful, astute, aux aguets,
     cagey, calculating, canny, careful, cautious, chary, circumspect,
     clever, considerate, crafty, cunning, custodial, cute, deceitful,
     deep, deep-laid, designing, diplomatic, discreet,
     disinclined to believe, disposed to doubt, distrustful, doubtful,
     doubting, dubious, eagle-eyed, feline, foxy, from Missouri, frugal,
     gingerly, guarded, guileful, hard of belief, hawk-eyed,
     impervious to persuasion, in doubt, inconvincible, incredulous,
     ingenious, insidious, inventive, keen-eyed, knowing, leery,
     lidless, mistrustful, mistrusting, observant, on guard,
     on the lookout, on the watch, open-eyed, pawky, politic, provident,
     prudent, questioning, ready, resourceful, safe, saving, scheming,
     scrupulous, serpentine, sharp, sharp-eyed, shifty, shrewd, shy,
     shy of belief, skeptical, sleepless, slick, slippery, sly, smooth,
     snaky, sneaky, sophistical, stealthy, strategic, subtile, subtle,
     supple, suspecting, suspicious, tactical, thrifty, trickish,
     tricksy, tricky, uncertain, unconvincible, uncredulous,
     unpersuadable, unpersuasible, untrusting, unwasteful,
     unwilling to accept, vigilant, vulpine, watchful, wily,
     with open eyes