could : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: could	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for could
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Can \Can\, v. t. & i. Note: [The transitive use is obsolete.] [imp. {Could}.] [OE. cunnen, cannen (1st sing. pres. I can), to know, know how, be able, AS. cunnan, 1st sing. pres. ic cann or can, pl. cunnon, 1st sing. imp. c[d4][eb]e (for cun[eb]e); p. p. c[d4][eb] (for cun[eb]); akin to OS. Kunnan, D. Kunnen, OHG. chunnan, G. k[94]nnen, Icel. kunna, Goth. Kunnan, and E. ken to know. The present tense I can (AS. ic cann) was originally a preterit, meaning I have known or Learned, and hence I know, know how. [fb]45. See {Ken}, {Know}; cf. {Con}, {Cunning}, {Uncouth}.] 1. To know; to understand. [Obs.] I can rimes of Rodin Hood. --Piers Plowman. I can no Latin, quod she. --Piers Plowman. Let the priest in surplice white, That defunctive music can. --Shak. 2. To be able to do; to have power or influence. [Obs.] The will of Him who all things can. --Milton. For what, alas, can these my single arms? --Shak. M[91]c[91]nas and Agrippa, who can most with C[91]sar. --Beau. & Fl. 3. To be able; -- followed by an infinitive without to; as, I can go, but do not wish to. Syn: {Can but}, {Can not but}. It is an error to use the former of these phrases where the sens requires the latter. If we say, [bd]I can but perish if I go,[b8] [bd]But[b8] means only, and denotes that this is all or the worst that can happen. When the apostle Peter said. [bd]We can not but speak of the things which we have seen and heard.[b8] he referred to a moral constraint or necessety which rested upon him and his associates; and the meaning was, We cannot help speaking, We cannot refrain from speaking. This idea of a moral necessity or constraint is of frequent occurrence, and is also expressed in the phrase, [bd]I can not help it.[b8] Thus we say. [bd]I can not but hope,[b8] [bd]I can not but believe,[b8] [bd]I can not but think,[b8] [bd]I can not but remark,[b8] etc., in cases in which it would be an error to use the phrase can but. Yet he could not but acknowledge to himself that there was something calculated to impress awe, . . . in the sudden appearances and vanishings . . . of the masque --De Quincey. Tom felt that this was a rebuff for him, and could not but understand it as a left-handed hit at his employer. --Dickens.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Could \Could\ (k??d), imp. of {Can}. [OF. coude. The l was inserted by mistake, under the influence of should and would.] Was, should be, or would be, able, capable, or susceptible. Used as an auxiliary, in the past tense or in the conditional present.