witness

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to see an event happen, to be present during something

   I witnessed the accident and had to testify in court.

2. 2
   noun

   Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.

   She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.

3. 3
   noun

   One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.

   As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.

4. 4
   noun

   Someone called to give evidence in a court.

   The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.

5. 5
   noun

   One who is called upon to witness an event or action, such as a wedding or the signing of a document.

   The bridesmaid and best man at a wedding typically serve as the witnesses.

6. 6
   noun

   Something that serves as evidence; a sign or token.

   Laban said to Jacob, […] This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness.

7. 7
   noun

   A particular version of a text (seen as providing testimony of archetype or other earlier version)

   Yet there are extremely few, if any, cases of preserved autographs, and textual witnesses (manuscripts) rather distant in time from the creation of the texts are the norm.

8. 8
   noun

   An additional database server instance used in failover scenarios to decide whether the mirror should take over.

   Automatic failover requires a witness, either a file share or a SQL Server witness (SQL Server Express may be used as a witness).

Etymology

From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).