subs. (colloquial).—A knowing one; a DOWNY COVE (q.v.); a WHIPSTER (q.v.). [From the Gr., gnosis = knowledge.]
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 27. Many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in Beaumont and Fletcher, and the Gipsies in Ben Jonson’s Masque, are still to be heard among the GNOSTICS of Dyot-street and Tothill-fields.
Adj. (colloquial).—Knowing, ARTFUL (q.v.).
