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knowed

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knowed verb Past tense and past participle of know. [OED dates this usage from the 15th century; EDD labels it "northern Ireland, England"; DARE labels both usages "chiefly South, South Midland" in the U.S.]

1837 McLean Diary (Sept 16) the watters is loar tha[n] they evar was knowan by the present inhabitants. 1864 Poteet CW Letters (Nov 20) Mr. and Mrs Landis wanted to now whether I node any thing about John Landis are not. 1913 Kephart Our Sthn High 284 In many cases a weak preterite supplants the proper strong one: ... drawed, growed, knowed, throwed. 1937 Hall Coll (Mingus Creek NC) I never knowed nothin’ about cannin’ fruits and vegetables when I was a girl. 1953 Atwood Verbs East US 17 From c. Pa. to the south and southwest knowed becomes more and more common, being used by more than nine tenths of the Type I informants [i.e. older speakers having little formal education] in Va. and N.C. 1969 GSMNP-37:3:7 I knowed Old Man Aden ever since I knowed anybody. 1973 GSMNP-84:15 She disappeared, and nobody never knowed whatever become of her. 1980 Miles Verbs in Haywood Co NC 92 I never knowed him to work a day in his life. 1997 Dante OHP-14 That’s the only church I’ve knowed of to be here.

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