▪ I. knowing, vbl. n.
(ˈnəʊɪŋ)
[f. know v. + -ing1.]
The action or fact denoted by the verb know.
† 1. Acknowledgement; recognition. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 280 Edmod cnowunge of þin owune wocnesse & of þine owune unstrencðe. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 206 Freres..fetten him þennes; For knowynge of Comers kepten [B. coped] him as a Frere. |
† 2. Personal acquaintance. Obs.
fleshly knowing, carnal knowledge.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11749 Þar þai fand nan o þair knaing, At þat þai cuth ask at þair gesting [Fairf. þer þai fande na knawinge of quam þai muȝt aske gesteninge]. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2155 Ariadne, Ther as he had a frend of his knowinge. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 105 Lete fleischeli knowynge from þee be lent Saue oonli bi-twene man & wijf: Þis is þe sixte comaundement. |
3. The action of getting to understand, or fact of understanding; mental comprehension of truths or principles; knowledge; † understanding of or skill in something (obs.).
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 166 Geffrey..made it alle in Latin Þat clerkes haf now knawyng in. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 858 Al-thagh oure corses in clottez clynge,..We thurgh-outly haven cnawyng. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 147 The spyryte of knowinge and of pytye. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. i. (1520) 6/1 Athlas..is lykened to bere up heven on his sholders bycause of his knowynge in sterres. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. i. ix. 35 The Knowing of the Medicine and of the Disease must go hand in hand. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 15 He did not mean to assert that mere indiscriminate knowing is always good. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 451 Knowing is the acquiring and retaining knowledge and not forgetting. |
4. The fact of being aware or informed of any thing; acquaintance with a thing or fact; cognizance, knowledge; † notice, intimation (obs.). Now chiefly in the phrase, there is no knowing, one cannot know, no one can tell.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5495 (Gött.) A neu king, Þat of ioseph had na knouyng. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 293 Deyntees mo than been in my knowyng. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13199 When hit come to the knowyng of hir kid brother, Poliphemus prudly preset hir after. c 1485 Digby Myst. iii. 1273, I send hym knowyng of crystes deth. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xix. (1623) 929 Without the knowing and assent of the Lords. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xii, There is no knowing how young women will act. 1800 Asiat. Ann. Reg., Proc. E. Ind. Ho. 60/2 There was no knowing what it might lead to. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. ii. ii, There's never any knowing where that'll end. |
† b. A means whereby to know something; a sign, an indication. Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 271 Whanne þe bowels falliþ þoruȝ dindimum, he makiþ þe ballok leþir neuere þe lengere, & þis is a good knowinge. |
† c. Something known, an experience. Obs.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iv. 4 This sore Night Hath trifled former knowings. |
▪ II. knowing, ppl. a.
(ˈnəʊɪŋ)
[f. know v. + -ing2.]
That knows.
1. That knows or has knowledge; conscious; mentally perceptive; cognitive.
| 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Sect. x, We believe a story which we love..in which cases our guides are not our knowing faculties, but our affections. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. ii. Quickness iii, Life is a fix'd discerning light, A knowing joy. 1662 H. More Philos. Writ. Pref. Gen. (1712) 16 This Spirit..being the natural Transcript of that which is knowing or perceptive. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. x. (1695) 355 There has been also a knowing Being from Eternity. 1865–75 M. Arnold Ess. Crit., A matter which does not fall within the scope of our ordinary knowing faculties. |
2. a. That has knowledge of truths or facts; understanding, intelligent, instructed, enlightened, well-informed.
| c 1375 Cursor M. 27153 (Fairf.) Prest agh be skilful soft & meke Knawande, riȝtwise, loueli in speke. 1483 Cath. Angl. 204/2 Knawynge, scius, sciolus. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. iii. 26 He's very knowing, I do perceiu't. 1648 Boyle Seraph. Love xii. (1700) 61 Like rare Musick, which..the knowingst Artists still do highliest value. 1652 Bp. Hall Invis. World i. §5 So perfectly knowing are the angels that the very heathen philosophers have styled them by the name of Intelligences. 1737 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. ii. iii. 359 Adults..are not catechised, when they are found to be sufficiently knowing. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 34 He is the most knowing of all living men. Ibid. III. 200 A man who is knowing about horses. |
b. Skilled or versed in something.
| 1651 Cleveland Poems 35 To return knowing in the Spanish shrug. 1700 Dryden Pref. Fables Wks. (Globe) 497 Both of them were knowing in astronomy. 1866 Felton Anc. & Mod. Gr. I. i. vii. 113 In such drugs was Helen knowing. |
† c. Of an act, etc.: Showing knowledge or skill. Obs.
| 1793 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. Wks. 1832 II. 307 Dumouriez writes that the retreat was a knowing or skilful one. 1827 Scott Jrnl. 5 Feb., There is a very knowing catalogue [of pictures] by Frank Grant himself. |
3. Of persons, their actions, look, etc.: Having or showing discernment or cunning; shrewd, cunning, acute, ‘wide-awake’. (Often implying the air of possessing information which one does not or will not impart.) Also Comb., as knowing-looking ppl. a.
knowing one, much used c 1750–1820 for a person professing to be well up in the secrets of the turf or other sporting matters.
| 1503 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 6 Knowing Thieves and other Pickers that steal..Pewter and Brass. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 314 ¶2 He is the most knowing infant I have yet met with. 1749 Whitehall Evening Post No. 537 The Odds being very high for Booby, the Knowing Ones were taken in. a 1817 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) I. vii. 81 A gig, driven along on bad pavement by a most knowing-looking coachman. 1818 Sporting Mag. II. 22 The knowing ones were perfectly satisfied. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. iv. ii, When I saw my master, who was thought the knowingest gentleman about court, taken in every day. 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. i. 13 ‘But he takes out a part by the way’, interrupted Enoch, with a knowing look. 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour lxvi. 371 ‘I believe you’, replied George, with a knowing jerk of his head. 1927 H. V. Morton In Search of England i. 9 [Newbury, in Berkshire] is, like all towns which have any traffic with race-horses, a knowing-looking, bandy-legged town. |
4. Showing knowledge of ‘what is what’ in fashion, dress, and the like; stylish, smart. colloq. Obs. or merged in 3.
| 1796 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xix, Many young men..drove about town in very knowing gigs. 1800 E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. II. 135 Not a knowing man in the room!—and, as to the women,—look at their horrid figures! 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. viii, Colonel Delmington is at Cheltenham, with the most knowing beard you can possibly conceive. 1837 Mrs. Sherwood Henry Milner iii. iii. 43 A little foot-boy, dressed in a very knowing costume. |
5. Cognizant, informed, aware. Const. of, in (both ? obs.) to (now U.S.).
| 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 480 Every man that lives under a law is supposed to be knowing of it. 1664 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 37 To them who are commonly knowing enough in the affaires of that kind. 1752 J. Stewart in Scots Mag. (1753) 294/2 It was a premeditated thing, to which I must have been knowing. 1790 in Dallas Amer. Law Rep. I. 24 He was not knowing to any corrupt agreement. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. liv. 187, I must be supposed to be knowing to and familiar with the whole circumstances. 1905 Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republ. 29 Dec. 16 Some of the neighbors were knowing to the event. 1906 Dialect Notes III. 144 I'm knowing to that; you're wrong. 1913 Ibid. IV. 2 You are knowing to that. 1913 H. Kephart Our Southern Highlanders xiii. 297 Reckon Pete was knowin' to the sarcumstance? |