Forms: 3–5 acoint(e, akoint(e, acoynt(e; 4–5 aqueynt, aqweynt, acqueynt; 6 acquaynt; 6– acquaint. Aphet. 4–6 quaynt(e. [a. OFr. acointe-r, also acuintier, acointier, acoentier:—late L. adcognitā-re, accognitā-re (c. 856) to make known, f. adcognit-um: see prec. Cf. mod. Fr. s’accointer.] Primary sig. To make known, but in Eng. reflexive from the first.
† 1. refl. To make oneself known, introduce oneself, become known (to any one). Obs.
1297. R. Glouc., 15. Heo a coynted hym a non, and bi comen frendes gode.
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 35. To king Athelston thou schalt aqueynt the.
c. 1400. Destr. of Troy, VII. 2931. Acoyntyng hom with kissyng and clippyng in armes.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, C ij. He hym self also spente largely for to acqueynte hym att the festes.
† 2. intr. (by omission of refl. pron.) To become acquainted, or familiar; to attain to a state of mutual knowledge. Obs.
c. 1384. Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 250. To telle the manere How they aqueynteden in fere.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pl., XI. xxi. But of rude people the wyttes are so faynt, That wyth theyr connyng they can not acquaynt.
1559. Myrroure for Mag., Mortimers, xiii. 2. Well was the man that myght with me acquaynte.
1678. Bunyan, Pilg. Prog., I. 156. He would that you should stay here a while to acquaint with us.
1774. H. Walpole, Corresp. (1837), III. 111. Though the Choiseuls will not acquaint with you I hope their abbé Barthelemi is not put under the same quarantine.
3. refl. To make (oneself) to have knowledge of, to give, or gain for, oneself personal knowledge of, or acquaintance with (any one). Now only in passive ‘To be acquainted (with anyone)’; the active is supplied by ‘to become acquainted with,’ ’to make the acquaintance of,’ and fam. ‘to get to know.’
1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 225. Þan went þis Ottobone þorghout þe cuntre, & quaynted him with ilkone.
1369. Chaucer, Dethe of Blaunche, 532. And I saw that, and gan me aqueynt With hym.
c. 1430. How the Good Wiif tauȝte hir Douȝter, 88, in Babees Bk., 40. Aqweynte þee not with eche man þat gooþ bi þe strete.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, lii. 931. Mochel desire I now trewelye … Aqweynted with him to be.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, hv. b. It is good to acqueynt hymself with holy men.
1611. Bible, Job xxii. 21. Acquaint now thy selfe with him, and be at peace.
1653. Marvell, Lett., 1, Wks. 1875, II. 5. Most of this time … hath been spent in acquainting ourselves with him.
1798. Southey, Eng. Ecl., i. Wks. III. 8. You did not know me, But we’re acquainted now.
4. refl. and trans. To give (oneself or any one) experimental knowledge of, or acquaintance with. (a thing).
1567. Triall of Treasure (1850), 15. Next here with Sturdiness you must you acquainte.
1611. Bible, Eccl. ii. 3. Acquainting mine heart with wisedome.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xxii. 120. Power to order the same; and be acquainted with their accounts.
1666. Fuller, Hist. Waltham Ab. (1840), 268. I shall select thence some memorable items, to acquaint us with the general devotion of those days.
1683. Dryden, Life of Plutarch, 65. Where he may command all sorts of books, and be acquainted also with such particulars as have escap’d the pens of writers.
1863. Bright, Speeches, Amer. (1876), 139. No man in America or in England is more acquainted with the facts of this case.
1866. G. S. Trebutien, trans. Eugénie de Guérin’s Jrnl., 24 April 1835, 58. I should like to know whether she will live, or whether God will recall her to Himself before she becomes acquainted with evil.
Mod. Acquaint yourself with the duties of your new sphere.
† 5. trans. To familiarize, accustom or habituate. Const. with, or inf. phrase. Obs.
1586. B[eard], trans. La Primaudaye’s Fr. Acad., II. 284. Acquainting our selves to love them that doe us good.
1599. Hakluyt, Voyages, II. II. 137. The recouerie of their diseases doeth acquaint their bodies with the aire of the countries where they be.
1612. Brinsley, Grammar-Sch., 213. Acquaint them to pronounce some speciall examples.
1658. Evelyn, French Gard. (1675), 144. You may take off the bells to acquaint them [plants] with the air.
6. trans. To inform (a person) of (a thing); to make cognizant or aware. Const. with, that (of obs.).
1559–66. Hist. Estate Scotl., in Miscell. Wod. Soc. (1844), 57. They sent a post to the Queene, acquainting her of the matter.
1586. James VI., in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 224. III. 21. Quho indeid are fullie aquentid thairwith.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 696. It were a peece of honestie to acquaint the King withall.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerusalem (1732), 66. To acquaint the Governour of our Arrival.
1742. Fielding, Jos. Andrews, IV. v. 115. He was acquainted that his worship would wait on him.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., 185. Jeanie … could scarce find voice to acquaint him, that she had an order from Bailie Middleburgh.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., II. vii. (1857), 276. They had acquainted the regent with their intention.
b. ellipt. (with personal obj. only). To inform.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 15. Be secret false; what need she be acquainted?
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. ii. (1840), 68/1. [He] begged her, if anything ailed his daughter, to acquaint him immediately.
1775. Sheridan, Duenna, I. iv. 196. I shall certainly acquaint your father.
† c. (with the thing only as obj.) To tell, make known. Obs. (In this sense the word comes round again to the original sense of adcognitāre.)
1607. Rowlands, Famous Hist., 79. Acquaint thy name in private unto me.
1678. Butler, Hudibr., III. i. 1390. And he knows nothing of the Saints, But what some treach’rous spy acquaints.
