Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Perception; understanding.
- noun Range of vision.
- noun View; sight.
- intransitive verb To know (a person or thing).
- intransitive verb To recognize.
- intransitive verb To have knowledge or an understanding.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Cognizance; physical or intellectual view; especially, reach of sight or knowledge.
- A dialectal variant of
kine , plural ofcow . - noun The straight two-edged Japanese sword.
- To beget; bring forth.
- To breed; hatch out.
- To show; declare; teach; point out; tell.
- To see; descry; recognize.
- To lie within sight of; have a view of.
- To know; understand; take cognizance of.
- In Scots law, to acknowledge or recognize by a judicial act: as, to
ken a widow to her terce (that is, to recognize or decree by a judicial act the right of a widow to the life-rent of her share of her deceased husband's lands). Seeterce . - To look around; gain knowledge by sight; discern.
- noun A churn.
- noun A place where low or disreputable characters lodge or meet: as, a padding-ken (a lodging-house for tramps); a sport ing-ken
- noun A prefecture or territorial division of Japan, governed by a kenrei. Japan is now divided into 3 fu and about 40 ken.
- noun A Japanese measure of length, equal to 71½ English inches.
- noun An abbreviation of
Kentueky .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Cognizance; view; especially, reach of sight or knowledge.
- transitive verb Archaic or Scot. To know; to understand; to take cognizance of.
- transitive verb Archaic or Scot. To recognize; to descry; to discern.
- noun Slang, Eng. A house; esp., one which is a resort for thieves.
- intransitive verb obsolete To look around.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Knowledge orperception . - noun nautical Range of
sight . - verb transitive To
know ,perceive orunderstand . - verb obsolete To discover by
sight ; tocatch sight of ; todescry .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the range of vision
- noun range of what one can know or understand
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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There's one part of London where all the Irish live -- at least all the worst of them -- and there they hatch their villainies and speak this tongue; it is that which keeps them together and makes them dangerous: I was once sent there to seize a couple of deserters -- Irish -- who had taken refuge amongst their companions; we found them in what was in my time called a ken, that is a house where only thieves and desperadoes are to be found.
Lavengro; the Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest George Henry Borrow 1842
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There's one part of London where all the Irish live -- at least all the worst of them -- and there they hatch their villanies and speak this tongue; it is that which keeps them together and makes them dangerous: I was once sent there to seize a couple of deserters -- Irish -- who had taken refuge amongst their companions; we found them in what was in my time called a ken, that is a house where only thieves and desperadoes are to be found.
Lavengro The Scholar - The Gypsy - The Priest, Vol. 1 (of 2) George Henry Borrow 1842
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There's one part of London where all the Irish live -- at least all the worst of them -- and there they hatch their villanies to speak this tongue; it is that which keeps them together and makes them dangerous: I was once sent there to seize a couple of deserters -- Irish -- who had taken refuge amongst their companions; we found them in what was in my time called a ken, that is, a house where only thieves and desperadoes are to be found.
Lavengro the Scholar - the Gypsy - the Priest George Henry Borrow 1842
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Next, there'll be another story on the Tea Party, Todd and Imelda Palin ..... ken
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I am not sure why ken is propagandizing that the Democratic party is a shinking ship.
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Soon as a guest comes within ken of a blue nose, the delightful operations commence.
Sketches and Tales Illustrative of Life in the Backwoods of New Brunswick, North America Frederick 1845
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And as this destruction is near and within ken, so it is sure.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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Enoch spoke of Christ's second coming as within ken, Behold, the Lord cometh, Jude 14.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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May I suggest "Mission Accomplished" for the book title ken
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Nor was it only her own kith and kin, but all who came within her ken were apt to find themselves the more or less surprised recipients of gifts.
Maria Edgeworth 1905
glosseme commented on the word ken
Ah dinnae ken, hen!
translated for Sassenachs as "I'm terribly afraid I don't know, dearest!"
June 11, 2007
misterpolly commented on the word ken
Do you ken John Peel?
February 28, 2008
yarb commented on the word ken
Yes, I am aware of the person of whom you speak.
February 28, 2008
yarb commented on the word ken
We kenned the old cripple, immersed in an elbow chair, with a pillow under his head, cushions under his arms, and his legs supported on a large stool, stuffed with down.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 2 ch. 1
September 13, 2008
smeggo commented on the word ken
I like it better verbed.
October 15, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word ken
Dog in Japanese.
February 5, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ken
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken
From "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" by John Keats
September 6, 2010
gulyasrobi commented on the word ken
"ken" in Hungarian means: to spread (by a knife)
August 7, 2012
bilby commented on the word ken
Recorded in English since 900!
May 16, 2018