acquaintance
(əˈkweɪntəns)
Forms: 3–4 acoyntaunse; 3–5 acqueyntaunce, aquayntonce; 4–5 acqueintance, -aunce, acqueyntanse; 6 accoynt-, acquent-, acquayntaunce; 6– acquaintance. North.: 4–5 aquentance; 5 aqweyntans, -ance, acqueyntawns. Aphet.: 3–4 queyntance; 5–6 quayntaunce; 6–7 quentance.
[a. OFr. acointance, 15th c. accointance, n. of action, f. acointer. See acquaint v. and -nce.]
1. a. Personal knowledge; knowledge of a person or thing gained by intercourse or experience, which is more than mere recognition, and less than familiarity or intimacy. Const. with (of obs.). to take acquaintance of, with: to acquaint oneself with (Obs.); = mod. to make the acquaintance of, form an acquaintance with. on acquaintance, on becoming (or being) acquainted with.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 212 Deth comend er he besought Toke with this king such acqueintaunce. c 1400 Destr. Troy v. 1865 He has no knowlage, ne acoyntaunse of my cors. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 36/2 Vortiger..thought prevely in his herte thrughe quayntaunce for to be kynge hym selfe. 1595 Shakes. John v. vi. 15 Pardon me, That any accent breaking from thy tongue, Should scape the true acquaintance of mine eare. 1675 Crowne Country Wit iv. 61 What would this fellow have? who let him in without my acquaintance? 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 164 Knowledge and acquaintance make the most striking causes affect but little. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vii. (ed. 5) 116 An acquaintance with those works themselves such as only minute and long-continued study could give. |
| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 55 Eue..toke aqueintaunce lightly of the serpent. 1490 Caxton Eneydos x. 40 He toke grete acqueyntaunce and ofte repayred vnto the palays. 1509 Hawes Past. Pl. xxx. xii, I toke acquaintaunce of her excellence. 1647 Crashaw Poems 208 For who so hard, but, passing by that way, Will take acquaintance of my woes. 1860 Tyndall Glaciers i. §6. 43 We spent a day or two in making the general acquaintance of the glacier. |
| 1905 A. Burvenich Eng. Idioms 23 Acquaintance..to gain on—; gagner à être connu. 1912 ‘Saki’ Unbearable Bassington xiii. 240 One rode for sweltering miles for the chance of meeting a collector or police officer, with whom most likely on closer acquaintance one had hardly two ideas in common. 1922 E. O'Neill Anna Christie ii. 150 Are you trying to kid me? Proposing—to me!—for Gawd's sake!—on such short acquaintance? 1983 Economist 2 July 90/3 Far more intelligent than most people thought on first acquaintance. |
b. Philos. Knowledge of a person, thing, or other entity (
e.g. sense-datum, universal) by direct experience of it, as opposed to knowing facts about it. So
knowledge of, by, acquaintance (
opp. knowledge-about or
by description).
| 1865 Grote Expl. Philos. i. iv. 61 If by knowledge we mean acquaintance or familiarity, kenntniss, then we know the thing in itself. 1885 W. James in Mind X. 28 An interminable acquaintance, leading to no knowledge-about. 1890 ― Princ. Psychol. I. viii. 221 There are two kinds of knowledge broadly and practically distinguishable: we may call them respectively knowledge of acquaintance and knowledge-about. Most languages express the distinction; thus, γνῶναι, εἰδέναι; noscere, scire; kennen, wissen; connaitre, savoir. 1905 B. Russell in Mind XIV. 479 The distinction between acquaintance and knowledge about is the distinction between the things we have presentations of, and the things we only reach by means of denoting phrases. 1911 ― in Proc. Aristot. Soc. XI. 127 We began by distinguishing two sorts of knowledge of objects, namely, knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Of these it is only the former that brings the object itself before the mind. 1954 J. A. C. Brown Soc. Psychol. Industry iii. 95 Two kinds of knowledge: ‘knowledge-about’, based on reflexion and abstract thinking, and ‘knowledge-of-acquaintance’, based on direct experience. |
2. The state of being acquainted, or of knowing people and being known by them; mutual knowledge. Const.
with (
of obs.),
obj. gen. as ‘her acquaintance’; reciprocal
gen. as ‘our acquaintance.’
| c 1300 K. Alis. 6173 Queyntaunce of al men they schoneth. Ibid. 7259 For acqueyntaunce that hath beon..heom bytweone. 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 167 Thusgat maid thai thar aquentance. c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 42 For here acqueintaunce was not come of newe. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6493, I love bettir the queyntaunce, Ten tyme, of the kyng of Fraunce. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 64 In swylk a-qweyntans swa þai fell. 1514 Barclay Cytezen & Uplondyshm. (1847) 62 For olde acquayntance betwene them erst had bene. 1530 Rastell Purgatory Prol., Of old famylyer accoyntaunce. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 185, I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. 1603 Philotus 41 To mak mair quentance vs betwene, I glaidly could agrie. 1611 Bible 2 Macc. vi. 21 The olde acquaintance they had with the man. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. i. (1854) 36 Give me leave to introduce Miss Neville to your acquaintance. 1822 Byron Werner 1 i, Let's have some wine, and drink unto Our better acquaintance. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxx. (C.D. ed.) 244 Those who had not the honour of his acquaintance. |
3. A person or persons with whom one is acquainted. (Originally a collective noun, with both
sing. and
pl. sense, but now usually
singular, with
pl. acquaintances.)
| c 1386 Chaucer (6-text MSS.) Sompn. T. 283 Ne make thyne aqueyntance nat for to flee [3 MSS. acquaintances, Harl. MS. acqueyntis]. c 1525 Skelton Bowge of Courte 45 There coude I none aquentaunce fynde. 1526 Tindale Luke ii. 44 Sought him amonge their kynsfolke and acquayntaunce [Wyclif knowleche]. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 1557, 702/2 He was his acquaintaunce and familyar. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iv. 102 What? Old Acquaintance? Could not all this flesh Keepe in a little life? 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. 89 (1669) Now meditate alone, now with Acquaintance talk. a 1794 Gibbon Miscell. Wks. 1814 II. 96 If among a crowd of acquaintances, one friend can afford you any comfort. 1816 Jane Austen Emma i. iii. 17 The acquaintance she had already formed were unworthy of her. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. 31 He might meet some acquaintance in whose eyes he would cut a pitiable figure. |
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Add:
4. Special
Comb. acquaintance rape, rape of a woman by a man who is known to her.
| 1980 S. Trott When your Lover Leaves (1981) 212, I'd fallen into the trap of so many women..who..could not bring themselves to report *acquaintance rape. 1984 Gainesville (Florida) Sun 28 Mar. 1c/1 Bright street lights won't prevent acquaintance rape. 1991 N.Y. Times 2 Jan. a1/5 The growing prominence of the phenomenon, acquaintance rape or date rape, raises as many questions about subtleties in male–female relationships as it does about criminality on campus. 1992 Premiere Feb. 94/2 After a charged battle of wits, Dino..initiates an acquaintance rape of the misguided missy (yeah, sure—she's crazy about him). |