Learn

v. Pa. t. and pple. learned, learnt. Forms: 1 leornian, Northumb. liorniʓa, 2 leornen, lornen, 2–3 leornie-n, 3 -in, leorny, liernin, lerni(e, 3–4 lernen, 4 leorne, lerny, l(e)urne, Kent. lierne, lyerne, -i, -y, 4–5 leerne, 4–6 lern(e, 4, 6, 9 dial. larn, 6 Sc. leyrne, leirne, 6–7 learne, 6– learn. Pa. t. 1 leornode, -ade, 3 Orm. lerrnde, 3–4 leornede, 4 lernid, leernde, lernd, 4–6 lerned, 5 leerned, lurned, -et, 5–6 lernyd, 6 Sc. lernit, leirned, -it, 7– learned, learnt. Pa. pple. 3 ileornet, 3–5 ilerned, 3, 6 ylerned; from 14th c. onwards as in pa. t. [OE. leornian, Northumb. liorniʓa = OFris. lirna, lerna, OS. lînôn (not found in Du.), OHG. lirnên, lernên (MHG., mod.G. lernen):—WGer. *liznêjan, *liznôjan, f. *lis-, wk.-grade of *lais-, root of OTeut. *lairâ LORE.]

  I.  To acquire knowledge.

  1.  trans. To acquire knowledge of (a subject) or skill in (an art, etc.) as a result of study, experience or teaching. Const. from, of (arch.), † at (a person). Also, to commit to memory (passages of prose or verse), esp. in phrases to learn by heart, by rote, for which see the sbs.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xvii. [xxiii.] (1890), 232. From þæm he þæt ʓemet ʓeleornade reʓollices þeodscipes.

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Mark xiii. 28. From fic-beom ðonne liorniʓe bispell.

c. 1050.  Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia (1885), VIII. 308/26. Þam þe lyste þisne cræft leornian.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 55. Gif we leornið godes lare!

c. 1200.  Ormin, 9309. To leornenn lare att Sannt Johan Off þeȝȝre sawle nede.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 17. Ate biginninge of cristendom elch man leornede pater noster and credo.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 940. Þes is al þe lare þat ich nu leorni.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 367. Þis Julianus in his childehode lerned nygromancie and wicchecraft.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., I. xi. 58. Al that Cristen men and wommen ouþten leerne thei mowe leerne out of the Bible.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 238. I woulde have you to understand and learne this lesson.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XI. 360. To learn True patience, and to temper joy with fear.

1715.  De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. i. (1841), 19. What shall I learn there of God?

1845.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 16. The Frank … learned with implicit belief his faith from the mouth of the Roman priest.

1874.  Green, Short Hist., iv. § 1. 162. It was from Earl Simon … that Edward had learned the skill in warfare which distinguished him among the princes of his time.

  b.  with clause as obj.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Deut. xiv. 23. Leorna þæt þu ondræde Drihten on ælc tid.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4970. Lerneþþ att me þatt icc amm wiss Rihht milde and meoc wiþþ herrte.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 73. Alle þo þe ne wilen listen lorspel and þeron lernen wiche ben sinnen.

1340.  Ayenb., 233. O, þu þet art cristen, lyerne hou þou sselt louie god.

c. 1400.  Cato’s Morals, 62, in Cursor M., App. iv. 1670. Lerne … quat werk þou folow salle.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 561. Henceforth I learne that to obey is best.

1884.  F. Temple, Relat. Relig. & Sci., vii. (1885), 220. Scientific men will learn that there are other kinds of knowledge besides scientific knowledge.

  c.  With inf.; also with how and inf.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xx. [xxviii.] (1890), 246. Þa ða he in wreotum leornade to donne.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 117. Discite bene facere þet is … leorniað god to wurchenne.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 675. Betere him adde ibe Abbe bileued þer doune þan ilerned vor to fle. Ibid., 10693. So hii miȝte lerni traitour to be.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 7496 (Trin.). Þou lernedest neuer to fiȝt.

c. 1500.  Merch. & Son, in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 23. Y wolde lerne of marchandyse to passe ovyr the see!

1547.  Latimer, 2nd Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 70. So your grace must learne howe to do of Salomon.

1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., V. i. 1999. I was a gamesome boy and learned to sing.

1729.  Butler, Serm., Wks. 1873, II. 47. There are times for silence: when they should learn to hear, and be attentive.

1838.  Longf., Ps. Life, ix. Learn to labour and to wait.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 32. We learn morals, as we learn to talk, instinctively.

  d.  Phr. I am (yet) to learn: I am ignorant or unaware. Now usually I have (yet) to learn.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., The truth of it we are as yet to learn, nous n’en savons pas encore la Verité.

1726.  Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 82. I am not to learn [It. Ne mi è nascoso] that some … are of opinion that very high Walls are dangerous.

1789.  Charlotte Smith, Ethelinde, I. 91. Whence be came … Sir Edward was yet to learn.

  2.  intr. To acquire knowledge of a subject or matter; to receive instruction. Const. as in sense 1.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 13. Leorniað æt me, forðon þe ic eom mildheort.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Past. Ep., § 46, in Thorpe, Laws, II. 384. Lange sceal leornian se ðe læran sceal.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 6819 (Trin.). Lerne not of him þat is lyere.

c. 1420.  Liber Cocorum (1862), 36. Thus have I lurnet at gentil men.

1575.  Brief Disc. Troubl. Franckford, 10. God grant, we maye lerne at their ensamples.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, II. ii. 134. Sir, I am too old to learne.

1781.  Cowper, Charity, 120. ’Tis thus reciprocating, each with each, Alternately the nations learn and teach.

1863.  Kingsley, Lett. (1878), II. 161. The great use of a public school education to you, is not so much to teach you things as to teach you how to learn.

1884.  F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer, I. 7. He was always willing to learn and to read.

  † b.  Const. on (the matter studied). Obs.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 15614 (Trin.). Folweþ him ȝoure fadir is: to lerne on his lare.

a. 1400.  Pistill of Susan, 135. Wolt þou, ladi, for loue, on vre lay lerne?

a. 1668.  Denham, Old Age, 274. I have heard that Socrates the wise Learned on the lute for his last exercise.

  3.  trans. To acquire knowledge of (a fact); to become acquainted with or informed of (something); to bear of, ascertain. Also with obj. clause.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 7250. He lerrnde wel þurrh hemm Whatt daȝȝ, and whære o lande, Þatt ȝunge wenchell borenn wass.

1559.  W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 151. When you will learne the time that it shall be full sea.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 278. You, whom I had learned by common voice to be a philosopher of great fame.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, II. ii. 57. I will presentlie goe learne their day of marriage.

1638.  R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 27. This good newes I have learned by a letter of yours.

1798.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), IV. 243. I … have not yet learnt his sentiments on it.

1836.  W. Irving, Astoria, I. 105. Lest the captain should learn the fate of the schooner.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxii. IV. 717. All that he knew about their treachery he had learned at second hand.

1864.  Browning, Dram. Pers., Mr. Sludge, 221. He’s dead I learn.

  b.  To learn out: to find out, discover. Now dial.

1629.  Maxwell, Herodian (1635), 171. Then, secretly torturing them, he [Albinus] learnt out all their treachery.

1677.  Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 109. I will tell you how the Trick is: And if I had not been an old Clothier and a Fulling-Boy when I was young I could not have learnt it out.

1899.  Raymond, Two Men o’ Mendip, xv. 250. But if he should find out? If any should learn it out an’ tell?

  c.  intr. To be informed, to ascertain, hear (of).

1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 243. It has never, that I can learn, been fully observed.

1827.  Sir J. Barrington, Sketches, I. ii. 29. How many rogues ’ill there be at Reuben, as you larn, to-night?

1893.  Stevenson, Catriona, ii. 18. He’ll have to learn of it on the deaf side of his head no later than to-morrow when I call on him.

  II.  To impart knowledge. Now vulgar.

  4.  trans. To teach. In various constructions. a. To teach (a person).

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 19028. In crist lai þat folk to lern.

1382.  Wyclif, Prov. ix. 7. Who lerneth [1388 techith] a scornere, doth wrong he to hymself.

a. 1440.  York Myst., x. 20. Þus lernyd he me.

a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1868), 2. A man aught to lerne his doughters with good ensaumples.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xxiv. 5. Lede me in thy trueth and lerne me.

1549.  Compl. Scot., Prol. 14. Quhen ane ydiot … presumis to teche or to leyrne ane man that hes baytht speculatione ande experiens.

1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, II. xii. 249. No doubt the chickens crowed as the cocks had learned them.

1763.  Foote, Mayor of G., II. Wks. 1799, I. 178. [An uneducated speaker] If they would but once submit to be learned by me.

  b.  To teach (a person) to do or how to do something (Also in passive.)

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 8421 (Trin.). Set him faste to gode teching Til he be lerned him self to lede.

c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1897. To lerne you ffor to ride.

1480.  Caxton, Descr. Brit., 34. Gentilmens children ben lerned and taught from their yongth to speke frenssh.

a. 1540.  Barnes, Wks. (1573), 352/1. Doth hee not learne all men to come to Christ.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. vi. 25. He would learne The Lyon stoup to him.

1666.  Bunyan, Grace Ab., ¶ 27. That my Father might learn me to speak without this wicked way of swearing.

1706.  Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, III. i. The captain learned me how to take it with an air.

1792.  Mary Wollstonecraft, Rights Wom., v. 181. We should learn them, above all things, to lay a due restraint on themselves.

1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., III. i. 115. The frequent practice of this exercise must have learned them … to become excellent horsemen.

1801.  Coleridge, Lett., I. 365. They learn us to associate a keen and deep feeling with all the good old phrases.

1844.  Disraeli, Coningsby, VIII. iii. Learn to know the House; learn the House to know you.

1885.  G. Allen, Babylon, i. ‘Will you learn me to draw a church?’

  c.  To teach (a person a thing). Also with clause.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 19613. To lokenn watt itt lerneþ uss Off [ure] sawle nede.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 171. Logyke I lerned hir and many other lawes, And alle the musouns in musike I made hir to knowe.

c. 1420.  Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 957. I shall lerne hem a new daunce.

c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xi. (1885), 135. Wherby we bith lerned þat it schal … be goode to owre prince … that he be well indowed.

1559.  W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 33. I pray you learne me th’ use of this table.

1606.  J. Carpenter, Solomon’s Solace, xiv. 58. So learneth he all children … in what honor … they should hold those persons.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 365. The red-plague rid you for learning me your language.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. xv. (1840), 255. Having learnt him English.

1742.  Richardson, Pamela, III. 353. Her Ladyship asked one of the Children … who learnt her her Catechism?

1876.  Morris, Sigurd (1877), 86. Thou … hast learned me all my skill.

1889.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, xliv. We made up our minds to learn him a lesson.

  d.  To teach (a thing) to a person. rare.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 374. Many tales ȝe tellen that Theologye lerneth.

1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 15 b. He … commaunded it shulde not be lerned to any Straungers.

1697.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., I. 161. ’Tis the Rod, not the Inclination, which learns the Lesson.

1893.  Stevenson, Catriona, 21. My father learned it to me.

  † 5.  To inform (a person) of something; with clause or thing as second obj. Obs.

1425.  Rolls of Parlt., IV. 271/1. For, as I am lerned, ther ar to consider two thinges.

1441.  Plumpton Corr. (Camden), p. lix. The said misdoers were learned by their especialls [sic] … that the said officers … had knowledge of their said lying in waite for them.

a. 1456.  Ld. Cromwell, in Paston Lett., III. 426. There is a greet straungenesse betwix … John Radcliff and you … as I am lerned.

c. 1500.  in Q. Eliz. Acad., 96. Of brutane the duk … Richast armes is, as I lernit am.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. i. 22. Learne me the Proclamation.

1697.  trans. C’tess. D’Aunoy’s Trav. (1706), 57. You learn me Particulars I was ignorant of. Ibid., 69. Having learnt him all which had past.