[UN-1 10, 5 d.]
1. Not knowing; not possessed of knowledge; uninformed, ignorant.
c. 1315. Shoreham, V. 148. Al one-knowynge þaȝ hy were, Hy makede joye.
1386. Rolls of Parlt., III. 225/2. Owre lyge Lordes comaundement to symple and unknouuing men.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, 48. Bot þies ar vnknawand, for vertew of contemplatife þai knaw not.
1538. G. Browne, in Ware, Hist. Coll. (1681), 3. The People of this Nation be zealous, yet blind and unknowing.
1612–3. C. Brooke, Elegy Poems (1872), 175. Those baser mindes, vnknowing, sensuall, rude.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc., vi. (1654), 45. The matter may be intricated by passing through many perhaps unknowing hands.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XX. 56. Man on frail unknowing man relies.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 27. My … child … is unexperienced in the world, quite unknowing and unknown.
1845. Hirst, Com. Mammoth, etc., 89. Winds that pilfer from unknowing flowers Their balmy breaths.
1877. H. Macmillan, True Vine, vi. 249. It … does what it does in simple, perfect, unknowing dependence upon the will of God.
absol. 1718. J. Chamberlayne, Niewentijdt’s Relig. Philos., p. xx. [They] pass amongst the Unknowing for great Mathematicians.
1833. Disraeli, Cont. Flem., I. i. Our instructors are the unknowing and the dead.
1876. Nature, 2 Nov., 17/1. Undated … works … may be palmed off on the unknowing as the genuine product of the current year.
2. Without knowledge, ignorant, of something.
In frequent use from c. 1700.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28313. O godds godes … haue i ben vnknauand.
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, 149. All that lyuen … Shall dye, vnknowyng of her day.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 159. That is gret pite … to be vncunnynge and vnknowynge of hym selff.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 16. The residue wer vnknowyng of this thyng.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 587. [He was] simple, and unknowing of matters of State.
1740. Richardson, Pamela, II. 270. She had found out a Match for me, and had … brought me into the Lady’s Company, unknowing of her Design.
1844. [see 2 c].
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xii. 242. He laid his hand on the chest, while still unknowing of all that was in it.
b. With direct object.
1382. Wyclif, Gal. iv. 8. Ȝe, vnknowynge God, seruyden to hem that weren not goddis.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 110. Sche went onknowyng hir tyme fro Seynt Petirs onto Lateran.
c. 1500. Melusine, v. 27. He … rode apas vnknowing the way.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., xxii. Mankind wanders, unknowing his way, from morning till evening.
1830. Tennyson, Grasshopper, I. 16. Unknowing fear, Undreading loss, A gallant cavalier.
1847. T. D’Arcy M‘Gee, Art MacMurrogh, p. x. When, unknowing facts, they [sc. historians] lay down suppositions in their place.
c. With objective clause.
c. 1425. St. Elizabeth, in Anglia, VIII. 147. Not vnknowynge þat oure lorde couerde þe naked of oure firste fader and moder after hir falle.
c. 1465. Eng. Chron. (Camden, 1856), 62. Unknowyng the said peple wherfore it was.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 182 b. Thou art not unknowyng that we are now conquerours.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, VI. 236. Æneas went Sad from the cave,… Unknowing whom the sacred Sibyl meant.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), III. i. 2. They were all working for me,… unknowing that they did so.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxv. Driven by calamity, and unknowing where my course is bound.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, xii. Unknowing of all geography, unknowing where he was, or whither he might go.
d. With inf. (alone or preceded by how, etc.).
1666. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., xcvi. The Kingly beast … slowly moves, unknowing to give place. Ibid. (1697), Virg. Georg., IV. 126. Unknowing how to fly, And obstinately bent to win or dye. Ibid. (1700), Wife of Bath’s T., 100. Lest surpriz’d, unknowing what to say, Thou damn thy self.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Art of Poetry, 51. In one grand Whole unknowing to unite Those different Parts.
1771. Goldsm., Hist. Eng., II. 204. Unknowing whether to ascribe their misfortunes to … sorcery, or to a celestial influence.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, V. 170. Unknowing whitherward to bend his way, He stood.
1812. J. Henry, Camp. agst. Quebec, 46. The huge animal … seemed unknowing which way to run.
† 3. In absolute construction. Obs.
1451. Paston Lett., I. 198. He thought that ye and James Gresham had do it un malyce,… your moders unknowyng.
1483. Vulgaria abs Terentio, 20. He hyde nott fro me that … odyr doo, vnknowynge theire faders.
c. 1500. Melusine, xxiv. 171. They came & lodged them a leghe nygh to the Calyphes oost, vnknowyng the paynemes of it.
4. As quasi-adv. = UNKNOWINGLY adv.
1382. Wyclif, Acts xvii. 23. Therfore which thing ȝe vnknowynge worschipen, this thing I schewe to you.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. lxxix. 554. There syr Tristram vnknowyng smote doune kyng Arthur.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Fil. (1726), 101. See … what mischiefs ye might do unknowing.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, V. iii. 6. Have I swallow’d the gore of a viper unknowing?
1852. Kingsley, Andromeda, 250. From afar, unknowing, I marked thee.
5. Unknown to (a person). Chiefly in absolute const., = without the knowledge of. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11318. I … neuer comynd in þis case vnknowing to you.
1462. Paston Lett., II. 119. It is not on knowyng to you that [etc.].
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 2677. A seruaunt … pryuely hydde it,… Vnknowynge to Werburge.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., I iv b. He … sodenly departed (vnknowing to the Ladies).
1617. Collins, Def. Bp. Ely (1628), 302. When he praied for his children, vnknowing to them.
1643. E. Symmons, Loyal Subjects Belief, Ep. Ded. Unknowing, I beleeve, to them in particular, some others did intend [etc.].
1886–91. in Somerset and Devon glossaries.
Hence Unknowingness.
1493. Festivall, 23 b/1. Vnknowyngnesse shalle not exscuse you at ye day of dome.
1872. H. Bushnell, Serm. Living Subj., 211. The unknowingness, the innocence, the sweet simplicity of childhood.
