▪ I. † misken, n. Obs.
Also -kin.
[? Dim. of MDu. meese, Du. mees titmouse.]
A titmouse.
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomenclator 60/1 Parus..a titmouse, misken. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 729 The Miskin is more subiect vnto the gowt than any bird that is. |
▪ II. misken, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(mɪsˈkɛn)
[f. mis-1 1, 7 + ken v.1, prob. after ON. miskenna not to recognize (a person).]
1. trans. Not to know; to be ignorant of.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus Minor) 210 Lord, remyt þis gilt þam to, for þai myskene quhat þai do. 1513 Douglas æneis i. viii. 126 Quha knawis nocht the lynaige of Enee? Or quha miskennis Troye, that ryall cietie? 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 48 Miskenning the rychteousnes of God. a 1553 Weddirburne Ball. Prayis Wemen 3 (Bann. MS. 694), The veritie and trewth thay do misken, Thruch thair obdurat obstinatioun. 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Misken, to be ignorant of. |
2. To have wrong ideas about; to misunderstand.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andrew) 355 Þu miskennis, and saweris nocht þe thinge he god will haf in thocht. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 250 The warld, thame self, and God for to misken. 1660 Dickson Writings (1845) I. 25 The impenitent..miskens both God and himself. 1737 J. Willison Affl. Man's Companion vii. vii. (1744) 203 How ready am I to misken and mistake him, when he changeth his Dispensations toward me! 1899 Cumbld. Gloss., Misken, to form a mistaken idea with regard to a person. |
| absol. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus Minor) 174 For nerhand all þe puple now myskennand trowis in Ihesu. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 459 Throuch thi falsheid thin awn wyt has myskend. |
b. refl. To have false ideas about oneself, one's position, etc.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 6 He miskend himself and forȝett quha had gevin him that grete beautee. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xlii. 424 That na wayis thay thair selfis misken. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 266 Ye sair misken yoursel' Or thans ye wadnae tell me sic a tale. 1825–80 Jamieson s.v., To misken one's self, to assume airs which do not belong to one, to forget one's proper station. |
3. Not to know; to fail to recognize, mistake the identity of.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vii. 70 Thai vald haue clair myskend it, be rasone that it vas sa mekil altrit. 1646 Rutherford Lett. (1664) ii. xlviii. 536 Ye shall misken him, & he shall appear a new Christ. 1652 Loveday tr. Calprenède's Cleopatra i. 45 He misken'd her not in the lustre of those glorious ornaments in which she then shin'd. 1722 Ramsay Three Bonnets ii. 14 Wks. 1877 II. 384 Gin that I had nae maist miskend ye. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xvi, No man fell so regularly into the painful dilemma of mistaking, or, in Scottish phrase, miskenning, the person he spoke to. |
4. To refuse to recognize or notice; to affect ignorance of; to overlook, disregard, disown.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 380 Quhen he..payntit me as pako, proudest of fedderis, I him miskennyt, be Crist; & cukkald him maid. 1533 [see miskenning ppl. a.]. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 190 Thare Predecessouris, Peter and Paull, That day wyll thame mysken, at all. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 231 b, Nother misken we the iustice of God or denyes it. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. lxxxix. 231 My Lord miskent all and did bear with my foolish jealousies. 1724 in Calderwood Dying Test. (1806) 226 Misken these new ones, hold you by the old. 1737–50 Ramsay Sc. Prov. xxviii. 8 Poor fowk's friends soon misken them. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xiii, Were I you, Ranald, I would be for miskenning Sir Duncan. |
| with clause. 1686 G. Stuart Joco-ser. Disc. 14 I ken this County weel eneugh, Miskenn I tell'd ye. |
▪ III. misken
variant of miskin, dunghill.