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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Learn

Lẽarn, v. t.

verbtransitive

(lẽrn, 14), v. t. [imp. & p. p. LEARNED, or LEARNT; p. pr. & vb. n. LEARNING.] [O. Eng. lerne, lurne, A-S. leornian, liornian, O. Sax. linôn, for lirnôn, O. H. Ger. lirnên, lernên, N. H. Ger. lernen, allied to A-S. læran, to teach, O. Sax. lêrian, O. H. Ger. lêran, lêrran, for lêrian, N. H. Ger. lehren, Goth. laisyan, verb causative from leisan, to know, to learn; O. Eng. lear, lere, D. leeren, Dan. läre, Sw. lära, to teach, and to learn.]

Sense 1. To gain knowledge of; to acquire new knowledge or ideas from or concerning.

Now learn a parable of the fig-tree. Matt. xxiv. 32.

Sense 2. To communicate knowledge to; to teach.

Hast thou not learned me how To make perfumes? Shak.

This use of learn is found in respectable writers, but is now deemed improper, as well as inelegant.

Synonyms—To teach; instruct; inform.—To LEARN, TEACH. Learn originally had the sense of teach, in accordance with the analogy of the French and other languages, and hence we find it with this sense in Shakespeare, Spenser, and other old writers. This usage has now passed away. To learn is to receive, and to teach is to give, instruction. He who is taught learns, not he who teaches.

Learn, wretches, learn the motions of the mind, And the great moral end of human kind. Dryden.

I am too sudden bold; To teach a teacher ill beseemeth me. Shak.

Lẽarn, v. i.

verbintransitive

(lẽrn), v. i. 1. To receive information or intelligence. 2. To gain or receive knowledge; to receive instruction; to take pattern; — with of. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart. Matt. xi. 29. 3. To acquire skill in any thing; to gain by practice a faculty of performing; as, to learn to play on a flute or an organ. The chief art of learning is to attempt but little at a time. Locke.