Obs. Forms: 1 cennan, 2–4 kennen, Pa. t. 1 cende, kende, 2 kennede, 4 kynned. Pa. pple. 1 (ʓe)cenned, 3–4 kenned, 4 (y)kennyd, (y)kend, kynned, 5 kynde. [OE. cęnnan = OS. kennian (pa. pple. kennit), OHG. (ki)chęnnan:—OTeut. *kannjan, f. *kan-, second ablaut grade of the series kin-, kan-, kun- (see KIN). See also KENE.]
1. trans. To generate, engender, beget; to conceive; to give birth to.
Leiden Riddle, 2. Mec se ueta uong … ob his innaðae aerest caendae [Exeter Bk. cende].
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. i. 25. Heo cende hyre frum-cennedan sunu.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 31. Ure lafdi seinte marie kennede of holie lichame ure louerd ihesu crist.
1340. Ayenb., 12. Þe zone … wes y-kend of þe holi gost.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xvi. 210. He shalbe so kynde That a madyn, sothely, whiche neuer synde, Shall hym bere.
fig. c. 825. Vesp. Psalter vii. 15. Sehðe cenneð unrehtwisnisse.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 915. Hov schulde I huyde me fro hem þat hatz his hate kynned.
b. absol. To conceive or bear a child.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xviii. 13. Sceal ic nu eald wif cennan?
c. 1205. Lay., 15789. Wimmon þurh heore cræfte kenneð anan.
2. intr. To be conceived or born. Of eggs: To hatch out.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1072. Bot much clener watz hir corse, God kynned þerinne.
13[?]. St. Erkenwolde, 209, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 271. Before þat kynned ȝour Criste by cristene acounte A þousande ȝere.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 51. [She] houeth the eyren … And with hir corps keuereth hem till þat þey kenne.
