What is "wizard"

Wizard \Wiz"ard\, n. [Probably from wise + -ard.]

1. A wise man; a sage. [Obs.]

   See how from far upon the eastern road The star-led wizards [Magi] haste with odors sweet!
   --Milton.

2. One devoted to the black art; a magician; a conjurer; a sorcerer; an enchanter.

   The wily wizard must be caught.
   --Dryden.

Wizard \Wiz"ard\, a.

1. Enchanting; charming.
   --Collins.

2. Haunted by wizards.

   Where Deva spreads her wizard stream.
   --Milton.

early 15c., "philosopher, sage," from Middle English wys "wise" (see wise (adj.)) + -ard. Compare Lithuanian zynyste "magic," zynys "sorcerer," zyne "witch," all from zinoti "to know." The ground sense is perhaps "to know the future." The meaning "one with magical power, one proficient in the occult sciences" did not emerge distinctly until c.1550, the distinction between philosophy and magic being blurred in the Middle Ages. As a slang word meaning "excellent" it is recorded from 1922.

1. (context slang dated British English) fine, superb (originally RAF slang). n. 1 One who uses (or has skill with) magic, mystic items, and magical and mystical practices. 2 One who is especially skilled or unusually talented in a particular field. 3 (context computing English) A computer program or script used to simplify complex operations, often for an inexperienced user. 4 (context Internet English) One of the administrators of a multi-user dungeon. 5 (context obsolete English) A wise man; a sage. 6 (context slang English) an older male virgin, particularly one over 30 years of age v

2. 1 (context intransitive English) To practice wizardry. 2 (context transitive English) To conjure.

adj. possessing or using or characteristic of or appropriate to supernatural powers; "charming incantations"; "magic signs that protect against adverse influence"; "a magical spell"; "'tis now the very witching time of night"- Shakespeare; "wizard wands"; "wizardly powers" [syn: charming, magic, magical, sorcerous, witching(a), wizard(a), wizardly]

1. n. someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field [syn: ace, adept, champion, sensation, maven, mavin, virtuoso, genius, hotshot, star, superstar, whiz, whizz, wiz]

2. one who practices magic or sorcery [syn: sorcerer, magician, necromancer]

A software wizard or setup assistant is a user interface type that presents a user with a sequence of dialog boxes that lead the user through a series of well-defined steps. Tasks that are complex, infrequently performed, or unfamiliar may be easier to perform using a wizard. In contrast, an expert system guides a user through a series of (usually yes/no) questions to solve a problem.

By 2001, wizards had become commonplace in most consumer-oriented operating systems, although not always under the name "wizard." In Mac OS X, for example, they are called "assistants"; some examples include the "Setup Assistant," which is run at initial bootup of the Macintosh, and the "Network Setup Assistant," which has a similar function to the MS-Windows "New Connection Wizard." GNOME refers to its wizards as "assistants."

Many web applications, for instance online booking sites, make use of the wizard paradigm to complete lengthy interactive processes, sometimes becoming similar to automated online assistants. Oracle Designer also uses wizards extensively.

The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications (Version 3.0) urges technical writers to refer to these assistants as "wizards" and to use lowercase letters.

Wizard is a trick-taking card game for three to six players designed by Ken Fisher of Toronto, Ontario in 1984. The game was first printed commercially in June 1986.

A Wizard deck consists of 60 cards: a regular set of 52 playing cards (replaced with custom symbols and colours in some editions), 4 Wizards and 4 Jesters. The Jesters have the lowest value, then the one up to thirteen, with Wizards highest in value. The game is licensed in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. It is derived from Oh Hell and bears some resemblance to it.

Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture (previously titled Wizard: The Guide to Comics and Wizard: The Comics Magazine) was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011. It included a price guide, as well as comic book, movie, anime, and collector news, interviews, and previews.

Wizard is a synonym for a magician.

Wizard, the wizard or wizards may also refer to:

The Wizard (Bentley Wittman), also known as the Wingless Wizard, is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared as an enemy for the Human Torch.

Wizard, in comics, may refer to:

• Wizard (Archie Comics), an Archie Comics character
• Wizard (DC Comics), a villain from the Golden Age of Comics and a member of the Injustice Society
• Wizard (Marvel Comics), a Fantastic Four villain who has led a number of Frightful Four teams
• Wizard (DC Thomson), a British comic that featured Wilson the Wonder Athlete and was merged to Rover
• Wizard (magazine), a magazine about comic books

Wizard is a video game developed for the Commodore 64, released in 1984 by Electronic Arts, and written by Sean A. Moore and Stephen Leudders for Progressive Peripherals and Software (PP&S) out of Colorado. It was later modified and re-released as Ultimate Wizard.

The Wizard is a fictional DC Comics Golden Age supervillain.

The wizard is one of the standard character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A wizard uses arcane magic, and is considered less effective in melee combat than other classes.

Wizard is a 1980 science fiction novel by John Varley. It is the second book in his Gaea Trilogy. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1981.

The Wizard is a type of magical character class in certain role-playing games, including role-playing video games. Wizards are considered to be spellcasters who wield powerful spells, but are often physically weak as a trade-off. Wizards are commonly confused with similar offensive spellcasting classes such as the Warlock and the Necromancer. However, a Wizard's power is based on the arcane and a Warlock or Necromancer's power is based on darkness or death. Wizards are primarily based on wizards from assorted fantasy literature. Other terms used to describe the classification include Mage, Magician, and Magic User.

This article is about the Atari 2600 game. For the Commodore 64 game, see Wizard (computer game).

Wizard is a video game created in 1980 for the Atari 2600 video game system by Chris Crawford, although it was not released until 2005. Wizard's ROM takes up 2K, the last Atari 2600 game programmed by Atari Inc. to use such a small amount.

Wizard is a German power metal band, formed in 1989 by the drummer Sören "Snoppi" van Heek. The band was often called " Germany's answer to Manowar". Most of the band's lyrics are about battles, metal, war and steel. There are some exceptions, for example " Odin", which is a concept album about Norse mythology, " Goochan" which is a fantasy story about a witch (written by Volker Leson and author William B. Nuke), " Thor" which is also about Norse mythology and "... Of Wariwulfs and Bluotvarwes" which is about vampires and werewolves (written by Wizard and Andre Wiesler, German author).

Wizard played at Wacken Open Air 2002, Bang Your Head!!! 2002, Keep It True 2004, Dokk'em Open Air 2006, Magic Circle Festival 2009 and is in the 2012 line-up of Hammerfest IV.

Wizard was designed by Steve Jackson, later of Steve Jackson Games, and released by Metagaming in 1978 as Microgame #6 as a magic-based pocket board game of individual combat. It was based on Metagaming's earlier Melee (game) release, with the difference being that it added magic to the game system. Melee, Wizard and gamemaster supplement In the Labyrinth eventually formed Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip fantasy role-playing system. Both Melee and Wizard were expanded and re-released as Advanced Wizard and Advanced Melee, with many role-playing elements added to the basic fantasy combat system. When Steve Jackson released GURPS years later, the magic system in its fantasy supplements took some ideas from Wizard.

Wizard were an American psychedelic/ hard rock band, which formed in 1970 in Tampa, Florida and disbanded 16 months after the formation. Wizard released just one studio album which went unnoticed but, according to AllMusic, "…their sound was considerably more imaginative and interesting than much hard rock from the period, including many of the similar bands who earned far more commercial popularity than they did".

"Wizard" is a song by Dutch DJs and record producers Martin Garrix and Jay Hardway. It was released as a digital download on 2 December 2013 on iTunes. The song has peaked to number 6 in Belgium, number 7 in the United Kingdom and number 17 in the Netherlands. The song was written and produced by Garritsen and Heiblom.

The Wizard is a fictional superhero character created by Will Harr and Edd Ashe, Jr. for MLJ Comics, which later became Archie Comics. He first appeared in Top-Notch Comics #1 in December 1939, and he was one of the headliners of that title until its cancellation in 1944. He was one of the earliest superhero characters to appear after the debut of Superman in 1938.

His real name is Blane Whitney, a man of great intelligence. He descends from a long line of men who fought for America in its wars, including General Steven Whitney who was General Washington's chief aide in the Revolutionary War (and it was later retroactively revealed that Blane was not the first Whitney to defend his country wearing the red mask and cloak of the Wizard during key events in early U.S. history). At ages 14, Blane met President Woodrow Wilson, who told him to use his brain only for good and not for evil. While in college, he was a superb athlete and student. His brother Grover, chief of the Naval Intelligence Service, usually informed him of enemy plots against America. To aid him in his fight against these enemies, the Wizard had various contraptions and machines of his own design available to him, like a vibra-ray gun and a car that could reach up to 500 mph. He had several devices that enabled him to fly. Coming from a rich family, he also had airplanes and submarines at his disposal.

At first, the Wizard, similar to other MLJ superheroes like the Black Hood and the Firefly, did not possess superpowers but was merely a man with great physical and mental prowess. He eventually, however, started to exhibit superhuman strength and a "Super Brain" that gave him a photographic memory and " supersensory perception" that enabled him to psychically "see" distant places, people and events, as well as a talent for hypnosis and telepathy. He also started consuming capsules containing secret formula F22X that replenished his super-strength. In his final appearances, however, he had no powers other than his clairvoyant visions.

In his early appearances, the Wizard wore a tuxedo and cape, thus he was similar in appearance to Mandrake the Magician (a resemblance made even more obvious by his dashing pencil thin moustache). At first, his cape and mask were white, but they were soon switched to a more striking red. During the Moskovia Invasion crossover storyline (which featured the Shield) where he was briefly blinded by an enemy attack, he developed a bullet-proof, explosion-resistant costume that consisted of blue tights with red trunks, cape, and mask. He wore this costume for the remainder of his Golden Age appearances.

The enemies of America that the Wizard faced in each adventure were usually from a fictitious country, like Jatsonia (in his first appearance) and Bundonia, but due to facial features or accents made apparent in speech balloons, these enemies were obvious, unflattering caricatures of Germans, Soviets, or Japanese.

Usually, after each adventure, the last panel would feature a note from the Wizard that read: "Our country / right or wrong / our country / The Wizard."

After several months of publication, the Wizard was given a kid sidekick named Roy Rossman. Admiring the lad's courage when he saw the blond orphan bootblack leap to defend a mugging victim from several thugs, Blane took him in, clad him in a red and white striped polo shirt with a large blue collar, blue trunks, white sneakers, and a red mask, and dubbed him Roy the Super Boy, training him until he had the strength of ten men. Roy would later join the Shield's sidekick Dusty in the super-duo known as the Boy Buddies.

Blane Whitney also had a girlfriend named Jane Barlowe who was a reporter at the Daily Citizen, a newspaper Blane had inherited from a murdered friend. She was often disgusted with his polo-playing playboy lifestyle but developed an attraction to his superheroic alter-ego, creating an odd love triangle that is quite common in comic books (i.e. Superman/ Lois Lane/ Clark Kent, Hal Jordan/ Carol Ferris/ Green Lantern).

The Wizard was popular enough to receive a second publication alongside another MLJ superhero, The Shield. Shield-Wizard Comics first appeared with a Summer, 1940 cover date. He started sharing cover appearances of Top-Notch Comics with the Black Hood, an indication of waning popularity. Top-Notch was converted into a humorous publication in 1942, but the Wizard continued to appear in Shield-Wizard Comics until its cancellation in Spring, 1944.

Archie Comics, formerly known as MLJ Comics, revived its superhero line in the 1960s, but the Wizard, now with actual magical powers and corrupted by greed, returned as a villain with a long white beard and a new maskless and capeless outfit that befitted the evil sorcerer he had become. He fought The Mighty Crusaders, a team consisting of many old MLJ heroes, and at one point was confronted by both his former sidekick Roy (now re-dubbed "the Mighty Boy" for obvious reasons) and his heroic younger self who had been magically brought forward in time to stop him. In the 1980s revival, however, he returned as a red-caped and masked hero with no mention of his villainous period, although now with a purple skintight bodysuit rather than his original blue. Since then, the Wizard has been appearing sporadically throughout the Archie Comics titles on irregular bases.

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Wizards of Middle-earth are a group of beings outwardly resembling Men but possessing much greater physical and mental power. They are also called the Istari ( Quenya for "Wise Ones") by the Elves. The Sindarin word is Ithryn (sing. Ithron). They were sent by the Valar to assist the peoples of Middle-earth to contest Sauron.

The wizards of Middle-earth were Maiar: spirits of the same order as the Valar, but lesser in power. The first three of these five wizards were known in the Mannish tongues of the Lord of the Rings series as Saruman "man of skill" ( Rohirric), Gandalf "elf of the staff" (northern Men), and Radagast "tender of beasts" (possibly Westron). Tolkien never provided non-Elvish names for the other two; one tradition gives their names in Valinor as Alatar and Pallando, and another as Morinehtar and Rómestámo in Middle-earth. Each wizard in the series had robes of a characteristic colour: white for Saruman (the chief and the most powerful of the five), grey for Gandalf, brown for Radagast, and sea-blue for Alatar and Pallando (known consequently as the Blue Wizards). Gandalf and Saruman both play important roles in The Lord of the Rings, while Radagast appears only briefly. Alatar and Pallando do not feature in the story, as they are said to have journeyed far into the east after their arrival in Middle-earth.

Tolkien gives multiple names for all of them. In Quenya Saruman was Curumo ("skillful one"), Gandalf was Olórin ("dreaming" or "dreamer"); and Radagast was Aiwendil ("friend of birds"). The Quenya names Morinehtar ("darkness-slayer") and Rómestámo ("east-helper") are given for Alatar and Pallando, though it is not clear which name goes with which wizard. Other names are noted in individual articles.

As the Istari were Maiar, each one served a Vala in some way. Saruman was the servant and helper of Aulë, and so learned much in the art of craftsmanship, mechanics, and metal-working, as was seen in the later Third Age. Gandalf was the servant of Manwë or Varda, but was a lover of the Gardens of Lórien, and so knew much of the hopes and dreams of Men and Elves. Radagast, servant of Yavanna, loved the things of nature, both Kelvar and Olvar. As each of these Istari learned from their Vala, so they acted in Middle-earth.

Wizard is commonly used in MUDs, particularly LPMuds, AberMUDs and MU*, as a term for the MUD's developers and administrators. The usage originates with Richard Bartle's original MUD1 and MUD2. It is frequently abbreviated "wiz", which is sometimes used as a verb; to wiz is to become a wizard. The plural of "wiz" is "wizzes".

A wizard's duties may involve various combinations of software development, content generation, gamemastering, community management, and other administrative tasks. Modifications such as apprentice wizard, elder wizard ("elder") and archwizard ("arch") indicate junior or senior staff members. Other commonly used terms with the same or related meanings are coder, developer ("dev"), administrator ("admin"), immortal ("imm", "immort"), God, and implementer ("imp"); the last two most often refer to the system's owner. The term "builder" may be used to indicate a wizard, usually junior in standing, dedicated to content development.

A common convention, especially on early MUDs, has been that players have the opportunity to become wizards after advancing to a certain level within the game. This practice sometimes presents "wizhood" as another level of game, with wizards competing to develop popular content. As this is, at best, a questionable approach to staffing and development, its popularity has faded with the MUDs of later years.

A "wizard" in a MUD is not necessarily a staff member; it may be used simply in its ordinary fantasy-genre meaning, referring to in-world magicians. (Being able to employ this usage is sometimes one of the reasons a MUD chooses to use setting-neutral terms like "administrator" and "developer" for staff.)

Wizard (1806 – 30 June 1813) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He won seven of his ten races, with all his wins coming at Newmarket. In 1809 he won the 2000 Guineas Stakes, before finishing second in the Derby Stakes. The following year he won a match race against his Derby conqueror Pope. Throughout his racing career he was owned by Christopher Wilson and trained by Tom Perren. Wizard only stood as a stallion for two years before dying in an accident in 1813. His son Young Wizard won the Riddlesworth Stakes and was the runner-up in the Derby in 1817.