ken

present singular third person kens · participle present kenning · participle past kenned · past kenned

1. obsoleteTo give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).

   To the soul this ghostly bread is the learning and the teaching and the understanding in the commandments of God, wherethrough the soul is kenned and lives.

   1524, Desiderius Erasmus, translated by Margaret Roper, A Devout Treatise upon the Paternoster

present singular third person kens · participle present kenning · participle past kenned · past kenned · participle past kent · past kent

1. ScotlandtransitiveTo know, perceive or understand.

   Ah thought he wis being harsh, flippant and show-oafy, until ah got sae far in. Now ah ken precisely what the cunt meant.

   1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 6

   2 more examples

   It was noted by them that kenned best that her cantrips were at their worst when the tides in the Sker Bay ebbed between the hours of twelve and one.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

   Johnny: Is your name Maggie? / Maggie: How'd you ken that? / Johnny: It's just a hunch. Are you looking for the, uh, petulant dwarf?

   1993, Mike Leigh, Naked (motion picture)

2. ScotlandobsoleteTo discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.

   We ken them from afar.

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 60

   2 more examples

   'Tis he. I ken the manner of his gate, / He riſes on the toe:

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], line 14

   I proposed to the Mariners, that it would be of great benefit in Navigation to make use of [the telescope] upon the round-top of a ship, to discover and kenne Vessels afar off.

   1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Dialogue 2

1. uncountableRange of perception.

   I had somehow the impression that he was on the point of letting go the ladder to swim away beyond my ken.

   1909, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Sharer Chapter 1

2. uncountableKnowledge, perception, or sight.

   Within our ken / The Nightingale—ah! Love, the Nightingale! / Her tender sweetness made our cheeks grow pale,

   1913, Louise Jopling, Poems

   5 more examples

   So far is it from the kenne of theſe wretched projectors of ours that beſcraull their Pamflets every day with new formes of government for our Church.

   1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, “That Church-governement is Prescrib’d in the Gospell, and that to Say Otherwise is Unsound”, in The Reason of Church-governement Urg’d against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 4

   These people, these 20 or 25, were in my ken. Senator Jenner. In his what? Mr. Greenglass. My ken, my line of vision, my knowledge.

   1957, United States Congressional serial set, number 11976

   On this occasion, I wrote to them: "Two more modest and deserving people than you are not in our ken; and it is but fitting that you receive this, preservation's most prestigious prize, for your selfless devotion to the cause through the years.

   1977, Roulhac Toledano, Sally Kittredge Evans, The Esplanade Ridge

   Though he was out in the streets and away from the Firm and the Firm's ken, though he had work to do and action to relieve him, he was angry.

   1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy

   Since nothing in our ken differentiates knowledge from luck, something beyond our ken is introduced to do so. But the conviction that we know something is small comfort when coupled with the realization that we cannot tell what.

   1999, Catherine Z. Elgin, Considered Judgment

3. uncountablenauticalRange of sight.

   At once as far as Angels kenn he views / The dismal Situation waste and wilde […]

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 59-60

plural kens · alternative obsolete kene

1. UKregionalslangthieves' cantA house, especially a den of thieves.

   Up she goes to any likely ken, where she knows there are women that are married or expect to get married, and commences begging.

   1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 351

   2 more examples

   Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.

   1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129

   Ah, Bess, my covess, strike me blind if my sees don't tout your bingo muns in spite of the darkmans. Egad, you carry a bene blink aloft. Come to the ken alone—no! my blowen; did not I tell you I should bring a pater cove, to chop up the whiners for Dawson?

   1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, page 383

plural kenim

1. JudaismYouth or children's group.

   At the beginning of 1944 he was sent to Debreccen to operate the local ken and to organize self-defense.

   2007, David Gur, דוד גור, Eli Netser, Brothers for Resistance and Rescue, page 87

   2 more examples

   Gilboa and Habonim Dror also run year-round programming, holding regional reunions (called kenim) up and down the state

   2016 January 15, Dan Pine, “Hike, swim, fix the world: Kids mix it up at Gilboa camp”, in The Jewish News of Northern California

   Gavriella: At an annual movement conference. I went for the first time, and we proposed creating new kenim [branches] and it was approved, which is amazing!

   2018 October 6, Meital Shapiro, “What It's Like to Be a Socialist Zionist in the U.S.”, in Israel News

plural kens

1. A Japanese unit of length equal to six shakus.

1. The tsurugi (type of sword).

1. A diminutive of the male given name Kenneth.

   1 more example

   The vote was 213-209 along party lines. Republican members of the House Ethics Committee – Michael Guest of Mississippi, Dave Joyce of Ohio, Andrew Garbarino of New York, John Rutherford of Florida and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota – voted present. GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado also voted present but he is not on the Ethics Committee.

   2023 June 21, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, “House votes to censure Democratic congressman who led Trump investigations”, in CNN, archived from the original on 29 Jun 2023

2. colloquialin compoundsKensington in London.

   Kensington High Street — better known as High Street Ken after the nearby tube — is dominated architecturally by […]

   2003, Rob Humphreys, The Rough Guide to London, page 327

   1 more example

   The ladies (and gentlemen) of South Ken and Chelsea do like their raw food, and Daphne's does a terrific tuna tartare with avocado and wild fennel, black figs, gorgonzola and hazelnuts; […]

   2015, James Sherwood, James Sherwood's Discriminating Guide to London

3. Synonym of Ken doll.

   After the ceremony, the "Barbies and Kens" (excluding Tommy and Britney) gathered at Lindsay's mansion to have a barbeque party. They laughed and talked about good times and vowed to remain friends forever.

   2007, Vanessa Rose Lee, The Beauty Queen and the School Nerd

   Synonyms: Ken doll

plural Kens

1. A surname.