1. [n]  someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
2. [n]  one who practices magic or sorcery

1. \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.
   
   

2. \Wiz"ard\, a.
   1. Enchanting; charming. --Collins.
   
   2. Haunted by wizards.
   
            Where Deva spreads her wizard stream. --Milton.
   
   

1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who groks it); especially someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is a hacker if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a wizard with respect to something only if he or she has specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker could become a wizard for something given the time to study it.

2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a system.

3. A Unix expert, especially a Unix systems programmer. This usage is well enough established that "Unix Wizard" is a recognised job title at some corporations and to most headhunters.

See guru, lord high fixer. See also deep magic, heavy wizardry, incantation, magic, mutter, rain dance, voodoo programming, wave a dead chicken.

4. An interactive help utility that guides the user through a potentially complex task, such as configuring a ppp driver to work with a new modem. Wizards are often implemented as a sequence of dialog boxes which the user can move forwards and backwards through, filling in the details required. The implication is that the expertise of a human wizard in one of the above senses is encapsulated in the software wizard, allowing the average user to perform expertly.

[jargon file]

a pretender to supernatural knowledge and power, "a knowing one," as the original Hebrew word signifies. Such an one was forbidden on pain of death to practise his deceptions (Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Sam. 28:3; Isa. 8:19; 19:3).