known, ppl. a. (n.)
(nəʊn)
[pa. pple. of know v.]
A. ppl. a.
1. a. Become an object of knowledge; apprehended mentally, learned; familiar; often, in pregnant sense, familiar to all, generally known or recognized.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 15895 A knaun freind he had þare-in, in he did him late. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xiii. i. (W. de W.) 440 There is noo ryuer but he spryngeth of some welle knowen or vnknowen. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 789 Those that by their favors more resembled other knowen men then him. 1622 S. Ward Life of Faith in Death Serm. (1862) 53 Death is the knownest and unknownest thing in the world. 1647–8 Sir C. Cotterell Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 22 Men of known courage. 1673 Penn The Chr. a Quaker iii. Wks. (1726) 525 Paul..is very express in that known Passage to the Romans. a 1704 T. Brown Sat. French King Wks. 1730 I. 59 Thou mak'st me swear, that am a known Non-juror. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. iii. 241 All known bodies possess more or less of this molecular motion. 1881 Jowett Thucyd. I. 116 Some man of known ability and high reputation. |
b. the known, that which is known; that which is objective in knowledge; the totality of known things.
| 1863 E. V. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 142 The condition of clear thought upon metaphysical subjects, is the separation of the two elements of knowledge, the knowing and the known. 1884 F. Harrison in 19th Cent. Mar. 502 Knowledge is of course wholly within the sphere of the Known. |
c. known to the police: applied to a person with a criminal record. Also ellipt. known (itself occas. used as n.).
| 1909 Galsworthy Silver Box iii. 75 Is she known here?.. No, your Worship, they're neither of them known, we've nothing against them at all. 1924 A. Christie Poirot Investigates ix. 255 Billy Kellett?.. He's known to the police! 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad ix. 112 A long communication telling us that Mrs. Cousins was not ‘known to the police’. 1971 E. McGirr No Better Fiend 69 The late Mantel had been ‘known’ since 1928. It was a dismal dirty story. 1973 K. Giles File on Death vi. 149 A lot of Irish boys in Granchester... I spotted a couple of ‘knowns’. |
† 2. Possessed of knowledge; acquainted with something; learned or skilled in; informed or aware of. known men, a name assumed by the Lollards. Obs.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. 53 Thei besien hem silf forto leerne & knowe the Bible,..thei..clepen hem silf knowun men as thouȝ alle othere than hem ben unknowun. 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1583) 820 After the great abiuration aforesayd, which was vnder William Smith Bishop of Lincolne: they were noted and termed among themselues by the name of knowne men, or iust fast men. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. v. ii. §42 The two Lord chief Justices were in the same Treason (whose Education made them more known in the Laws of the Land). |
B. absol. or as n.
† 1. With poss. adj. One's acquaintance. Obs.
| a 1325 Prose Ps. lxxxvii[i]. 8 Thou madest my knowen fer fram me. 1382 Wyclif Luke ii. 44 Thei..souȝten him a mong his cosyns and knowen [1388 his knouleche]. |
2. A well-known person. colloq.
| 1835 Court Mag. VI. 47/1 It is chiefly from among this latter band of Small Knowns that we shall take the liberty of drawing the Sketches. |
Hence † ˈknownly adv., in a known manner.
| a 1643 Ld. Falkland Infallibility (1646) 194 Lawes,..to be obeyed, unless they should be publiquely and knownely found contrary to a greater authority. |