English Explanatory Dictionary

knot

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
  2. A tangled clump of hair or similar.
  3. A maze-like pattern.
  4. A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).
  5. A difficult situation.
  6. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.
  7. Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.
  8. A tightened and contracted part of a muscle that feels like a hard lump under the skin.
  9. A protuberant joint in a plant.
  10. Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.
  11. The swelling of the bulbus glandis in members of the dog family, Canidae.
  12. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter.
verb
  1. To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.
  2. To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.
  3. To unite closely; to knit together.
  4. To entangle or perplex; to puzzle.
  5. To form knots.
  6. To knit knots for a fringe.
noun
  1. One of a variety of shore birds; red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or Tringa canutus).

Pronunciation

nŏt /nɒt/ /nɑt/ en-us-knot.ogg

Word forms

knot knots knotting knotted

Etymology

From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus. * (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the logline (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every ¹⁄₁₂₀ of a mile.

Synonyms

kn kt nm join put together flummox bind tie knit attach baffle

Antonyms

loosen unbind unknot untie

Related words

shake braid bruise hickey knit loop plait tangle tie weave

Derived words

Albright knot alpine butterfly knot alternating knot angler's knot arbor knot Ashley's stopper knot Bachmann knot bag knot balloon knot Bantu knot barrel knot beer knot binding knot black knot blood knot bowknot bowstring knot breastknot burr knot butterfly knot Celtic knot Clytie knot constrictor knot Conway knot cut the Gordian knot cut the knot cystine knot dolly knot double fisherman's knot electrician's knot endknot English knot Englishman's knot equalizer knot Euro death-knot fat knot Fintushel-Stern knot fire-escape knot fireman's chair knot fisherman's knot French knot garlic knot get knotted get one's knickers in a knot get one's shorts in a knot Ghiordes knot Gordian knot granny knot grapevine knot grass knot Grecian knot grief knot handcuff knot hobble knot honda knot human knot inknot interknot jufti knot KCAS
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