▪ I. unˈknow, v.1
[un-1 14.]
1. trans. Not to know (something); to fail to recognize or perceive. Also absol.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 160 Þou art maister in Israel, and ȝit þou unknowist þes þingis. 1382 ― 1 Cor. xiv. 38 If ony man vnknowith, he schal be vnknowen. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 61 Þoo þat vnknawen þe riȝtwisnes of God. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 942 To unknowe, descognoistre. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 41, I hardly beleeve, he hath from elder times unknowne the verticity of the loadstone. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 252 [He] is obliged to turn his Eyes, as if to unknow, or at least must take no notice of it here. 1871 Swinburne Hertha 19 Love or unlove me, Unknow me or know. |
† 2. To be ignorant that, etc. Also intr. with of.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. x. 1, I nyle ȝou for to vnknowe, for [1388 that] alle oure fadris weren vndir cloude. [Also 1 Kings xxii. 3, Rom. i. 13.] a 1400 Pauline Ep. (Powell) 2 Cor. i. 8 We wil not ȝou to vnknowe, breþere, of oure tribulacyoun. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) II. 58 Sure these seem to unknow that there is a certain Portion of Misery..allotted to all Men. |
▪ II. unˈknow, v.2
[un-2 3.]
trans. To cease to know, to forget (what one has known). Also absol.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. v, She..rather wished to unknowe what she knewe, then to burden her hart with more hopeles knowledge. 1627 S. Ward Happiness of Practice 31 Such..shall soone vnknow that which they know [to be good]. 1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. b 2, His Method of Unknowing all that Nature had taught him. 1782 Paine Let. Abbé Raynel (1791) 50 There is no possibility..of the mind unknowing any thing it already knows. 1859 I. Taylor Logic in Theol. 270 Unless I might unknow what I have come to know. 1865 J. Grote Explor. Philos. i. 243 We have got to unsee and unknow much further back than this, if [etc.]. |
▪ III. unknow
variant of unknowe ppl. a. Obs.