kennings

Noun (1)

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (obsolete) Sight, view; specifically a distant view at sea.
   • Touching the moſt remarkeable things of the Country and our proceeding from the 17 of Auguſt 1585. till the 18. of Iune 1586. we made Roanoack our habitation. The vtmoſt of our diſcouery Southward was Secotan as we eſteemed 80. leagues from Roanoacke. The paſſage from thence was thought a broad...1624, Richard Grenville, “Sir Richard Grenuills Voyage to Virginia, for Sir Walter Raleigh. 1585.”, in Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles...

   Synonyms:

   ken

2. (obsolete) The range or extent of vision, especially at sea; (by extension) a marine measure of approximately twenty miles.
   • Scylley is a Kenning, that is to ſay about an xx. Miles from the very Weſteſte Point of Cornewaulle.1711, John Leland, edited by Thomas Hearne, The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary. … Publish’d from the Original MS. in the Bodleian Library by Thomas Hearne M.A. To which is Added Antoninus’s...
3. As little as one can discriminate or recognize; a small portion, a little.
   • put in a kenning of salt

Noun (2)

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (obsolete, rare) A chalaza or tread of an egg (a spiral band attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell); a cicatricula.
   • The ſtreine or kenning of the egge.1585, “Oui vmbilicus”, in Iohn Higins, transl., The Nomenclator, or Remembrancer of Adrianus Iunius, London: Ralph Newberie and Henrie Denham, page 54

Noun (3)

kenning (plural kennings)

1. A metaphorical compound or phrase, used especially in Germanic poetry (Old English or Old Norse) whereby a simple thing is described in an allusive way.
   • [A]s we are all aware, the Skalds used all sorts of kennings from Jewels, Gold, Silver, &c., to betoken Women, &c. Gold is called "The Sea's Blink (Blik)", and so on, and a female is "Gold's Mistress", "The Goddess of the Golden Jewel", and so forth.1867–1868, George Stephens, “Bracteates”, in The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, Now First Collected and Deciphered, volume II, London: John Russell Smith; Copenhagen...

Noun (4)

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (Northern England) A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel; a container with that capacity.
   • In the hall. One large table, with frame. 10s. ij cobbordes 8s. j fourme, j chaire, and j kenninge measure, 12d.1585–1586 January 18, “LXIII. Testamentum Johannis Ogle. [63. Will of John Ogle.]”, in [William Greenwell], editor, Wills and Inventories from the Registry at Durham. Part II (The Publications of the...

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