SAGACIOUS
Sa*ga"cious, a. Etym: [L. sagax, sagacis, akin to sagire to perceive
quickly or keenly, and probably to E. seek. See Seek, and cf.
Presage.]
1. Of quick sense perceptions; keen-scented; skilled in following a trail. Sagacious of his quarry from so far. Milton.
2. Hence, of quick intellectual perceptions; of keen penetration and judgment; discerning and judicious; knowing; far-sighted; shrewd; sage; wise; as, a sagacious man; a sagacious remark. Instinct . . . makes them, many times, sagacious above our apprehension. Dr. H. More. Only sagacious heads light on these observations, and reduce them into general propositions. Locke.
Syn.
— See Shrewd.
— Sa*ga"cious*ly, adv.
— Sa-ga"cious*ness, n.
SAGACITY
Sa*gac"i*ty, n. Etym: [L. sagacitas. See Sagacious.]
Defn: The quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense
perceptions; keenness of discernment or penetration with soundness of
judgment; shrewdness.
Some [brutes] show that nice sagacity of smell. Cowper.
Natural sagacity improved by generous education. V. Knox.
Syn. — Penetration; shrewdness; judiciousness. — Sagacity, Penetration. Penetration enables us to enter into the depths of an abstruse subject, to detect motives, plans, etc. Sagacity adds to penetration a keen, practical judgment, which enables one to guard against the designs of others, and to turn everything to the best possible advantage.
SAGAMORE
Sag"a*more, n.
1. Etym: [Cf. Sachem.]
Defn: The head of a tribe among the American Indians; a chief; — generally used as synonymous with sachem, but some writters distinguished between them, making the sachem a chief of the first rank, and a sagamore one of the second rank. "Be it sagamore, sachem, or powwow." Longfellow.