Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Know

Know

(nō)
,
Noun.
Knee.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Know

(nō)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Knew
(nū)
;
p. p.
Known
(nōn)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Knowing
.]
[OE.
knowen
,
knawen
, AS.
cnäwan
; akin to OHG.
chnäan
(in comp.), Icel.
knä
to be able, Russ.
znate
to know, L.
gnoscere
,
noscere
, Gr.
γιγηώσκειν
, Skr.
jnā
; fr. the root of E.
can
,
Verb.
I.
,
ken
. √45. See
Ken
,
Can
to be able, and cf.
Acquaint
,
Cognition
,
Gnome
,
Ignore
,
Noble
,
Note
.]
1.
To perceive or apprehend clearly and certainly; to understand; to have full information of;
as, to
know
one’s duty
.
O, that a man might
know

The end of this day's business ere it come!
Shakespeare
There is a certainty in the proposition, and we
know
it.
Dryden.
Know
how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.
Longfellow.
2.
To be convinced of the truth of; to be fully assured of;
as, to
know
things from information
.
3.
To be acquainted with; to be no stranger to; to be more or less familiar with the person, character, etc., of; to possess experience of;
as, to
know
an author; to
know
the rules of an organization.
He hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew
no sin.
2 Cor. v. 21.
Not to
know
me argues yourselves unknown.
Milton.
4.
To recognize; to distinguish; to discern the character of;
as, to
know
a person's face or figure
.
Ye shall
know
them by their fruits.
Matt. vil. 16.
And their eyes were opened, and they
knew
him.
Luke xxiv. 31.
To know
Faithful friend from flattering foe.
Shakespeare
At nearer view he thought he
knew
the dead.
Flatman.
5.
To have sexual intercourse with.
And Adam
knew
Eve his wife.
Gen. iv. 1.
☞ Know is often followed by an objective and an infinitive (with or without to) or a participle, a dependent sentence, etc.
And I
knew
that thou hearest me always.
John xi. 42.
The monk he instantly
knew
to be the prior.
Sir W. Scott.
In other hands I have
known
money do good.
Dickens.
To know how
,
to understand the manner, way, or means; to have requisite information, intelligence, or sagacity. How is sometimes omitted.
“ If we fear to die, or know not to be patient.”
Jer. Taylor.

Know

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To have knowledge; to have a clear and certain perception; to possess wisdom, instruction, or information; – often with
of
.
Israel doth not
know
, my people doth not consider.
Is. i. 3.
If any man will do his will, he shall
know
of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
John vii. 17.
The peasant folklore of Europe still
knows
of willows that bleed and weep and speak when hewn.
Tylor.
2.
To be assured; to feel confident.
To know of
,
to ask, to inquire.
[Obs.]
“ Know of your youth, examine well your blood.”
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Know

KNOW

,
Verb.
T.
no.
pret. knew; pp. known. [L. nosco, cognosco, Gr. although much varied in orthography. Nosco makes novi, which, with g or c prefixed, gnovi or cnovi, would coincide with know, knew. So L. cresco, crevi, coincides with grow, grew. The radical sense of knowing is generally to take, receive, or hold.]
1.
To perceive with certainty; to understand clearly; to have a clear and certain perception of truth, fact, or any thing that actually exists. To know a thing pre
includes all doubt or uncertainty of its existence. We know what we see with our eyes, or perceive by other senses. We know that fire and water are different substances. We know that truth and falsehood express ideas incompatible with each other. We know that a circle is not a square. We do not know the truth of reports, nor can we always know what to believe.
2.
To be informed of; to be taught. It is not unusual for us to say we know things from information, when we rely on the veracity of the informer.
3.
To distinguish; as, to know one man from another. We know a fixed star from a planet by its twinkling.
4.
To recognize by recollection, remembrance, representation or description. We do not always know a person after a long absence. We sometimes know a man by having seen his portrait, or having heard him described.
5.
To be no stranger to; to be familiar. This man is well known to us.
6.
In scripture, to have sexual commerce with. Gen 4.
7.
To approve.
The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. Ps. 1.
8.
To learn. Prov. 1.
9.
To acknowledge with due respect. 1Thess. 5.
10.
To choose; to favor or take an interest in. Amos 3.
11.
To commit; to have.
He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. 2Cor.
12.
To have full assurance of; to have satisfactory evidence of any thing, though short of certainty.

Definition 2024

know

know

English

Verb

know ‎(third-person singular simple present knows, present participle knowing, simple past knew, past participle known)

  1. (transitive) To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of or that.
    I know that I’m right and you’re wrong.  He knew something terrible was going to happen.‎
  2. (transitive) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
    Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.  She knows where I live.  I knew he was upset, but I didn't understand why.‎
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  3. (transitive) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
    I know your mother, but I’ve never met your father.‎
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
  4. (transitive) To experience.
    Their relationship knew ups and downs.‎
    • 1991, Irvin Haas, Historic Homes of the American Presidents, p.155:
      The Truman family knew good times and bad, […].
  5. (transitive) To distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
    to know a person's face or figure;  to know right from wrong;  I wouldn't know one from the other.‎
    • Bible, Matthew 7.16:
      Ye shall know them by their fruits.
    • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, The Bat, chapterI:
      The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
    • 1980, Armored and mechanized brigade operations, p.3−29:
      Flares do not know friend from foe and so illuminate both. Changes in wind direction can result in flare exposure of the attacker while defenders hide in the shadows.
  6. (transitive) To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
  7. To understand or have a grasp of through experience or study.
    Let me do it. I know how it works.  She knows how to swim.‎
    His mother tongue is Italian, but he also knows French and English.‎
    She knows chemistry better than anybody else.  Know your enemy and know yourself.‎
    • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.
  8. (transitive, archaic, biblical) To have sexual relations with.
    • 1611, Bible (KJV):, Genesis 4.1:
      And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
  9. (intransitive) To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
    It is vital that he not know.  She knew of our plan.  He knows about 19th century politics.‎
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:
      “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
    • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
      Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
  10. (intransitive) To be or become aware or cognizant.
    Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.‎
  11. (intransitive, obsolete) To be acquainted (with another person).
  12. (transitive) To be able to play or perform (a song or other piece of music).
    Do you know "Blueberry Hill"?‎

Quotations

  • 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, scene 1:
    O, that a man might know / The end of this day's business ere it come! / But it sufficeth that the day will end, / And then the end is known.
  • 1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Light of Stars, Voices of the Night:
    O fear not in a world like this, / And thou shalt know erelong, / Know how sublime a thing it is, / To suffer and be strong.
  • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
    The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

Usage notes

  • "Knowen" is found in some old texts as the past participle.
  • In some old texts, the form "know to [verb]" rather than "know how to [verb]" is found, e.g. Milton wrote "he knew himself to sing, and build the lofty rhymes".

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

know ‎(plural knows)

  1. (rare) Knowledge; the state of knowing.
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1623 first folio edition), act 5, scene 2:
      That on the view and know of these Contents, […] He should the bearers put to […] death,

Derived terms

References

  • know in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • know in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: before · see · over · #93: know · much · after · first

Anagrams

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *know, from Proto-Celtic *knūs.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [knoʊ]

Noun

know pl ‎(singulative knowen or knofen)

  1. nuts

Derived terms

Etymology

From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan ‎(“to know,'now, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-Germanic *knēaną ‎(“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‎(“to know”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /nəʊ/
  • (US) enPR: nō, IPA(key): /noʊ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊ
  • Homophones: no, noh

Similar Results