Noun

(obsolete) Suitableness.

(uncountable) The quality or state of being able; capacity to do; capacity of doing something; having the necessary power.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)

, volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title=[http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/01/education-michael-gove-finland-gcse Finland spreads word on schools] , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}

The legal wherewithal to act.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title=[http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21579860-g8-pledges-tackle-three-ts-t-time T time] , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}

(archaic) Financial ability.

(uncountable) A unique power of the mind; a faculty.

* (rfdate) (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)

Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study -

(countable) A skill or competence in doing; mental power; talent; aptitude.

* (rfdate) (King James Bible) , (w) 11:29

Then the disciples, every man according to his ability , determined to send relief unto the brethren.

* (rfdate) (1800-1859)

The public men of England, with much of a peculiar kind of ability

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph

, title=[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/8882713/England-Under-21-5-Iceland-Under-21-0-match-report.html England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report] , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.}}

Noun

(en-noun)

(obsolete) Acknowledgement.

The fact of knowing about something; general understanding or familiarity with a subject, place, situation etc.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.}}

Awareness of a particular fact or situation; a state of having been informed or made aware of something.

* 1813 , (Jane Austen), (Pride and Prejudice) :

He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid she had no knowledge of it.

Intellectual understanding; the state of appreciating truth or information.

Familiarity or understanding of a particular skill, branch of learning etc.

* 1573 , George Gascoigne, "The Adventures of Master F.J.", An Anthology of Elizabethan Prose Fiction :

Every time that he had knowledge of her he would leave, either in the bed, or in her cushion-cloth, or by her looking-glass, or in some place where she must needs find it, a piece of money.

(obsolete) Information or intelligence about something; notice.

* 1580 , Edward Hayes, "Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland", Voyages and Travels Ancient and Modern , ed. Charles W Eliot, Cosimo 2005, p. 280:

Item, if any ship be in danger, every man to bear towards her, answering her with one light for a short time, and so to put it out again; thereby to give knowledge that they have seen her token.

The total of what is known; all information and products of learning.

(countable) Something that can be known; a branch of learning; a piece of information; a science.

*, II.12:

*:he weakened his braines much, as all men doe, who over nicely and greedily will search out those knowledges , which hang not for their mowing, nor pertaine unto them.

* Francis Bacon

There is a great difference in the delivery of the mathematics, which are the most abstracted of knowledges .

(obsolete) Notice, awareness.

* 1611 , The Bible, Authorized Version, Ruth II.10:

Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

(UK, informal) The deep familiarity with certain routes and places of interest required by taxicab drivers working in London, England.

* Malcolm Bobbitt, Taxi! - The Story of the London Cab

There is only one sure way to memorise the runs and that is to follow them, either on foot, cycle or motor cycle; hence, the familiar sight of would-be cabbies learning the knowledge during evenings and weekends.