v. Also 6 forknow. [f. FORE- pref. + KNOW v.] a. trans. To know beforehand, have previous knowledge of.

1

1450–1530.  Myrr. our Ladye, 141. Endelesly before all tymes, I was forknowen and ordeyned of god to be made.

2

1680.  Allen, Peace & Unity, 16. St. Paul … fore-knew there would be Heresies among them.

3

1732.  Berkeley, Serm. to Soc. Prop. Gosp., Wks. III. 239. Are not the times and seasons foreknown only to God?

4

1817.  Shelley, To Ollier, 11 Dec. You foresaw, you foreknew all that these people would say.

5

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! (1889), 5/1. He foreknew that it would give her pain.

6

  absol.  1754.  Edwards, Freed. Will, II. xi. (ed. 4), 138. If God does not foreknow, He cannot foretel such events.

7

  b.  intr. To have previous knowledge of.

8

1703.  Rowe, Ulyss., II. i. 857.

        So Silver Thetis, on the Phrygian Shore,
Wept for her Son, foreknowing of his Fate.

9

  Hence Foreknown ppl. a.; Foreknowing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (whence Foreknowingly adv.). Also † Foreknowable a., that may be foreknown; † Foreknower, one who foreknows.

10

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, I. 79.

        For which, [Calkas] for to departen softely
Took purpos ful this forknowinge wyse.

11

1423.  Jas. I., Kingis Q., cxlix.

          Fortune is most and strangest euermore,
Quhare leste foreknawing or intelligence
Is in the man.

12

1450–1530.  Myrr. our Ladye, 4. How he Ioyed euer from wythout begynnynge of the gloryous vyrgyn Mary, hauynge her endelesly as presente in the syghte of hys Godly forknowynge.

13

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. xxv. 34. Now for the illes and displeasures whych ye haue suffered for my sake, take the inheritaunce of the heauenly kyngdome; whiche by the diuine prouision and counsell, was prepared for you of God the foreknower of all thynges, before the world was made.

14

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 115.

        The fore knowne ill to man, would call
Fore felt greefe, of fore knowne vnrest.

15

1647.  Jer. Taylor, The Liberty of Prophesying, xiii. 198. No interest can be so great as to be put in balance against a mans life and his soul, & he does very imprudently serve his ends who seeingly & fore-knowingly loses his life in the prosecution of them.

16

a. 1660.  Hammond, Third let. Prescience, § 75, Wks. 1674, I. 598. The foreknower is not cause of all that are foreknown.

17

1667.  Milton, P.L., XI. 768.

                    Evil he may be sure,
Which neither his foreknowing can prevent.

18

1678.  Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 712. We cannot but grant, such Things therefore to be Foreknowable.

19

1849.  Grote, Greece, II. lxviii. (1862), VI. 143. It is not then to multiply proselytes or to procure authoratative assent—but to create earnest seekers, analytical intellects, foreknowing and consistent agents, capabale of forming conclusions for themselves and of teaching others.

20

1860.  Pusey, The Minor Prophets, 259. That regularity itself sets forth those other foreknown operations of God, whereby He worketh in a way different from His ordinary mode of working in nature.

21