Unknown ppl. a.¹ and sb.

[UN-¹ 8 b. Cf. OE. unʓecnawen.]

  A.  adj. 1. Not known; strange, unfamiliar: a. Of places.

13[?].  Cursor M., 1170 (Gött.). I sal be flemed for mi sinne, In vnknaun land to duell ine.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1679. He … carfully is out-kast to contre vnknawen.

a. 1440.  Sir Eglam., 917. As sche were of an unknowen londe.

1586.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 71. As if he should undertake to … walke through unknowen places without a guide.

1638.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 90. Some unknown place in the world.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 532. So vast a Space Of Wilds unknown … Allures their Eyes.

1790.  Cowper, Odyss., XXIV. 344. The fishes of the unknown deep.

1844.  H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, II. 402. The armies … beheld countries previously unknown.

1853.  M. Arnold, Scholar Gypsy, xiv. Where o’er thy unknown grave … white flowering nettles wave.

  b.  Of persons.

  For the phrase unknown, unkissed, see UNKISSED.

13[?].  Cursor M., 12131 (Gött.). Ani man, vnknauen or cuth.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Cor. xiv. 38. Forsothe if ony man vnknowith, he schal be vnknowen [Vulg. ignorabitur].

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Friar’s T., 99. I am vnknowen as in this contree.

c. 1440.  Alph. Tales, 175. Ane vnknowen man sittand on a hors.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., 53. He schal be vnknowen of God forto be eny of hise.

1526.  Tyndale, Acts xvii. 23. I founde an aultre wher in was written: vnto the vnknowen god.

1555.  Eden, Decades (Arb.), 49. It had byn better for hym to haue byn obscure and vnknowen.

1622.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Sir G. Nonsence. To Nobody, The narration of the Vnknowne Knight.

1676.  Ray, Corr. (1848), 123. An unknown person, who sent me a letter without a name.

1718.  Free-thinker, No. 4. 25. The Discourse … turned upon the Unknown Fair.

1797.  S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T. (1799), I. 364. To Lothaire the lord of St. Aubert was personally unknown.

1846.  Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. x. 164. Mr. Keyes … was a man quite unknown about town.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, iv. Unknown, doubtful Americans, neither rich nor highly-placed are beyond the pale.

  c.  Of things or facts.

  Unknown quantity, orig. a term of algebra (see quots. 1676, 1728, and cf. QUANTITY 12); also freq. in figurative use.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Ware (Rolls), 2757. [They] caste þer armes of, þe vnknowen, And armede hem eft wyþ here owen.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Former Age, 6. Onknowyn was þe quyerne and ek the melle.

c. 1450.  Myrr. our Ladye, 158. Then oure lady … was sturred in her harte wyth vnspecable & vnknowen gladnesse.

1509.  Fisher, Wks. (1876), 297. It is not vnknowen how studyously she procured Iustyce to be admynystred.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 180. A man of vnknowen or low birth.

1622.  S. Ward, Life of Faith (1627), 51. Death is the knownest and vnknownest thing in the world.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. i. 138. Many times the Ship is carried away by unknown Currents.

1676.  Glanvill, Ess., II. 15. The degree of Composition in the unknown Quantity of the Æquation.

1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Equation, The Root of an Equation, is the value of the unknown Quantity in the Equation.

a. 1768.  Secker, Serm. (1770), IV. xviii. 387. Their having a real, though unknown, Subserviency to valuable Ends.

1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., xv. 389. As the whole volume of gas introduced is unknown, and the specific gravity is as yet unknown.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, vi. For some reasons unknown very little was said of the occurrence in the newspapers.

  d.  Const. to (unto, † till) or † of (= by).

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 7694. Na thyng … tylle him unknawen es.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 263. It is not vnknowen to kunnynge leodis.

1486.  Paston Lett., III. 328. What pleasur ye maie do to the Kings Grace … is not to your unknowen.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 5. Straunge herbes … vnknowen of the common people.

1600[?].  C. Percy, in Shaksp. Cent. of Praise, 38. Anything … that may bee unknown unto you.

1670.  Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 11. That Mine, which was afterward discovered … in that Countie (as yet unknown to the Societie).

1738.  Gay, Propertius, III. 65. Happy the youth, and not unknown to Fame.

1823.  H. J. Brooke, Introd. Crystallogr., 231. A crystal whose primary form is unknown to us.

1866.  Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, Introd. 16. These things are often unknown to the world.

  e.  With of. (Cf. KNOW v. 18 b.)

1606.  G. Woodcock, Lives Emperors, in Hist. Ivstine, G g 2. When nature did hatch such euils as were vnknowne of to the whole world.

1839.  Mary Howitt, Boy of Southern Isle, I. xx.

1864.  Pusey, Lect. Daniel, ii. 94. It is … one strange, unknown-of, God, whom he shall recognise.

  2.  In absolute const.: Without it being known (to one), without the knowledge of (some one).

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 169. Diane his dowhter he begat Unknowen of his wif Juno.

1423.  James I., Kingis Q., xlv. Bewailling myn infortune…, Vnknawin how or quhat was best to doon.

c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 207. Scho … was þer þrytte ȝere vnknowon of all men wythout mete oþir drynke.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, I j. Two prestes unknowen of her cam wher as she was alone.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. 74. The kyng … was ther unknowen of his ennemyes.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., IV. ii. 48. Thus he vnknowne to me should be in debt. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., II. vii. 84. Being done vnknowne, I should haue found it afterwards well done.

1672.  Wiseman, Wounds, I. viii. 74. The Patient, unknown to me, pursued his intention.

1761.  Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph, III. 106. He stole, unknown to anybody, on board a ship.

1820.  Keats, Isabella, xi. All close they met,… Unknown of any, free from whispering tale.

1823.  Southey, Hist. Penins. War, I. 77. An agent … was employed to negociate it unknown to the Spanish embassador.

1898.  ‘Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, iii. The terrible distress … going on unknown to us in our very midst.

  † 3.  a. Ignorant (of), unskilled in. Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11809. Þis herods … [was] O carles costes al til vnknauin.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 127. Sen ellis thow art vnknawin, To mak me Lord of my awin.

1653.  W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 3. We see thereby the folly of such … gain-sayers of what they are altogether unknown in.

  † b.  Not recognizing, owning, acknowledging, or confessing. Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 18796. Or vn-man-hede es it draun, To be again god dede vn-knaun. Ibid., 28288. Ic ha made vous oft vn-right, And halden þam efter my might, Þe gode vous ic am vn-knaun. Ibid. (c. 1375), 26666 (Fairf.). Þat is þou art vnknawen of ani man synnis bot Þine awen.

  B.  sb. 1. An unknown person: a. With the.

  The Great Unknown (quot. 1825), the author of the Waverley Novels.

1597.  in Salusbury & Chester, Poems (1914). 79. To the Honorable minded vnknowne, the Name-lesse wisheth … perpetuall happines.

1652.  Loveday, Hymen’s Præludia, 8. The faire Unknowne found enough in his Noble looks to claime respect.

17[?].  Watts, Hymn, ‘Who dares,’ iv. When shall we see the Great Unknown, And in his presence stand?

1774.  Trinket, 70. The charming unknown turned his eyes on me.

1825.  R. Wilson, Sk. Hist. Hawick, 51. The powerfully superior mind of the Great Unknown.

1834.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho., i. The distinguished unknown who condescends to play the ‘swell’ in the pantomime.

  b.  With an, this, etc., or pl.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., IV. iv. 43. I am asham’d To looke vpon the holy Sunne,… remaining So long a poore vnknowne.

1686.  trans. Agiatis or Civ. Wars Lacedemonians, 71. To unite her self to that Unknown, whom she prefers before me.

1709.  Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1720), IV. 140. I’ll never run after the Cant of a Letter from an unknown again.

a. 1774.  Goldsm., trans. Scarron’s Com. Romance (1775), II. 160. He immediately recollected his unknown by her person.

1839.  W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 45. I have only to find out this amiable Unknown, to wed her, and be happy!

1902.  Eliz. Banks, Newspaper Girl, 214. Looking at the bodies of the unfortunate unknowns.

  2.  a. With the: That which is unknown.

1656.  Stanley, Hist. Philos., VIII. (1687), 433/2. From which proceedeth Opinion … to the false and unknown.

1759.  B. Porteus, Death, 300. When my Soul starting from the dark unknown Casts back a wishful look.

1816.  Chalmers, Lett., in Life (1851), II. 65. Running into the dark unknown of legal perplexities.

1876.  T. Hardy, Ethelberta, xxxv. Losing the indefinite interest of the unknown, it acquired the charm of a riddle.

  b.  An unknown state or condition.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. IV. i. A new omnipotent Unknown of Democracy was coming into being.

  3.  Math. An unknown quantity.

1817.  H. T. Colebrooke, Algebra, etc., 63. The demonstration is by resolution of a quadratic equation involving several unknown.

1890.  A. Marshall, Princ. Economics, p. xi. His equations are neither more nor less in number than his unknowns.