or unbeknownst, adj. (once literary: now colloquial or vulgar).—Unknown.
d. 1680. T. GOODWIN, Works, III. 372. The same secret instinct … to sympathise … in praying for such a thing UNBEKNOWN one to another.
1800. PEGGE, Anecdotes of the English Language [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 199. There are wrong forms in London use, as UNBEKNOWN … he knowed … they cotch].
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xxxiv. I was there UNBEKNOWN to Mrs. Bardell.
1879. PHELPS, Sealed Orders, 223. So by and by I creep up softly to my own old little room, not to disturb their pleasure, and UNBEKNOWNST to most.
