nous

Reason and knowledge as opposed to sense perception.

The rational part of the individual human soul.

The principle of the cosmic mind or soul responsible for the rational order of the cosmos.

In Stoicism, the equivalent of Logos.

In Neo-Platonism, the image of the absolute good, containing the cosmos of intelligible beings.

Good sense; shrewdness.

In Platonism and the Neoplatonic philosophy, reason, the highest kind of thought; especially, that reason which made the world (though other elements contributed to it). The later Neoplatonists made the nous a kind of living being.

Hence Wit; cleverness; smartness.

Intellect; understanding; talent; — used humorously.