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know - What does it mean?

Definition of 'know'

English

(wikipedia)

Verb

  • (lb) To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of or that.
  • :
  • (lb) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
  • :
  • *|chapter=1
  • |title= Mr. Pratt's Patients|chapter=1 |passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew , made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • (lb) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
  • :
  • *
  • (lb) To experience.
  • :
  • *1991 , Irvin Haas, Historic Homes of the American Presidents , p.155:
  • *:The Truman family knew good times and bad,.
  • (lb) To distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
  • :
  • *(Bible)'', ''(w) 7.16 :
  • *:Ye shall know them by their fruits.
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
  • *1980 , Armored and mechanized brigade operations , p.3−29:
  • *:Flares do not know friend from foe and so illuminate both. Changes in wind direction can result in flare exposure of the attacker while defenders hide in the shadows.
  • (lb) To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
  • * (Thomas Flatman), Translation of Part of (Petronius) Arbiter's (Satyricon)
  • *:At nearer view he thought he knew the dead, / And call'd the wretched man to mind.
  • *1818 , (w), (Frankenstein) :
  • *:Ernest also is so much improved, that you would hardly know him:.
  • To understand from experience or study.
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  • (lb) To understand (a subject).
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  • *
  • To have sexual relations with.
  • *, (w) 4.1:
  • *:And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
  • (lb) To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
  • :
  • *
  • *:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
  • *
  • (lb) To be or become aware or cognizant.
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  • To be acquainted (with another person).
  • *1607 , (William Shakespeare), (Antony and Cleopatra) , :
  • *:You and I have known , sir.
  • Quotations

    * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), Julius Caesar , scene 1: *: O, that a man might know' / The end of this day's business ere it come! / But it sufficeth that the day will end, / And then the end is ' known . * 1839 , (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), The Light of Stars'', ''Voices of the Night : *: O fear not in a world like this, / And thou shalt know' erelong, / ' Know how sublime a thing it is, / To suffer and be strong. *

    Usage notes

    * "Knowen" is found in some old texts as the past participle. * In some old texts, the form "know to [verb]" rather than "know how to [verb]" is found, e.g. Milton wrote "he knew himself to sing, and build the lofty rhymes".

    Derived terms

    * God knows * God only knows * it's not what you know but who you know * know about * know-all * know beans about * know from * know-how (rel-mid3) * know inside and out * know-it-all * knowledge * know like a book * know like the back of one's hand * know-nothing * know of * know one's ass from a hole in the ground (rel-mid3) * know one's own mind * know one's way around * know someone in the biblical sense * know which end is up * know which way is up * not know someone from Adam * the dear knows (rel-bottom)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • Knowledge; the state of knowing.
  • * 1623 , William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1623 first folio edition), act 5, scene 2:
  • That on the view and know of these Contents, death,

    Derived terms

    * in the know

    References

    * *

    Statistics

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    Similar to 'know'

    knew, knaw