• (RP, GA) IPA: /ˈkɛnɪŋ/

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (obsolete) Sight, view#Noun|view; specifically a distant view at sea.
   • 1624, Richard Grenville, “Sir Richard Grenuills Voyage to Virginia, for Sir {{w”, in John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: Printed by I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, OCLC 1049014009 ↗, book 1; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, OCLC 633956660 ↗, page 5 ↗:

     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 ''{{w

   • 1827, [Walter Scott], chapter XIV, in Chronicles of the Canongate; [...] In Two Volumes, volume I (The Two Drovers), Edinburgh: Printed [by Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, OCLC 230674472 ↗, pages 321–322 ↗:

     "Saul of my pody, put you are wrang there, my friend," answered Robin, with composure; "it is your fat Englishmen that eat up our Scots cattle, puir things." / "I wish there was a summat to eat up their drover#English|drovers," said another; "a plain Englishman canna make bread without a kenning of them."

2. (obsolete) The range#Noun|range or extent of vision, especially at sea; (by extension) a marine#Adjective|marine measure#Noun|measure of approximately twenty miles.
3. As little as one can discriminate or recognize; a small portion#Noun|portion, a little.

   put in a kenning of salt

   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Heather on Fire”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd., OCLC 976747732 ↗, page 111 ↗:

     His father was none so ill a man, though a kenning on the wrong side of the law, and no friend to my family, that I should waste my breath to be defending him!

• (sight, view; range of vision) ken

1. present participle of ken#English|ken.

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (zoology, obsolete, rare) A chalaza or tread#Noun|tread of an egg#Noun|egg (a spiral#Adjective|spiral band#Noun|band attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell); a cicatricula.

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (poetry) A metaphorical phrase#Noun|phrase used in Germanic poetry (especially Old English or Old Norse) whereby a simple thing is described in an allusive way.

• German: Kenning
• Russian: ке́ннинг

kenning (plural kennings)

1. (Northern England) A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel; a container with that capacity.

1. Surname