Word.ws English Dictionary

knaw

knaw is the archaic spelling of gnaw.

knaw is the nonstandard form of know.

Meaning of gnaw

Verb

gnaw (third-person singular simple present gnaws, present participle gnawing, simple past gnawed or (dialectal) gnew, past participle gnawed or (dialectal) gnew or (archaic) gnawn)

  1. (ambitransitive) To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
    • The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.
  2. (intransitive) To produce excessive anxiety or worry.
    • Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.
  3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
    • VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: […]1637, Thomas Heywood, The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject. […], London: […] Nich[olas] and John Okes, for James Becket, […], →OCLC, Act III, signature E4, verso

See all 4 meanings of gnaw

Meaning of know

Verb

know (third-person singular simple present knows, present participle knowing, simple past knew or (nonstandard) knowed, past participle known or (colloquial and nonstandard) knew)

  1. (transitive) To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.
    • Question things. I have the most fun when I'm writing questioning things that people do not question- the assumptions that everybody knows are true.1985 April 17, Frank Herbert, 15:46 from the start, in Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985, UCLACommStudies, archived from the original on 10 Feb 2017
  2. (intransitive) To be or become aware or cognizant.
    • Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
  3. (transitive) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
    • Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be acquainted (with another person).
    • You, and I haue knowne ſir.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  5. (transitive) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
    • I know your mother, but I've never met your father.
    1. (archaic, euphemistic, transitive) To have sexual relations with. This meaning normally specified in modern English as e.g. to ‘know someone in the biblical sense’ or to ‘know biblically’.
      • AFterwarde the man knewe Heuáh his wife, which cõceiued & bare Káin, & ſaid, I haue obteined a man by yͤ Lord.1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Genesis IIII:1, folio 2...

See all 17 meanings of know

Forms of knaw

third-person singular presentknaws
present participleknawing
past participleknawed
pastknawed
past participleknawn

Questions about knaw

What is knaw the archaic spelling of?
Knaw is the archaic spelling of gnaw.

Words near knaw in the dictionary

  1. knavess
  2. knavesses
  3. knavish
  4. knavishly
  5. knavishness
  6. knaw
  7. knawed
  8. knawel
  9. knawels
  10. knawing
  11. knawlache

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knaw (page history and authors); gnaw (page history and authors); know (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “knaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.