get wise

English

Verb

get wise

  1. (intransitive, slang, often with "to" or with "with") To be impertinent.
    He was getting wise, so I cracked him one.
    He wasn't just getting wise, he was getting wise to my mother.
  2. (intransitive, slang, often with "to") To become aware of or see through a deception.
    Last night, I thought he'd sign the deal, but this morning he'd got wised somehow.
    The substitute soon got wise to their particular tricks.
    • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 254:
      'How did you get wise to all this, that's what I want to know?'

Translations

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