knot

plural knots

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.

   Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope.

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   The obstructive tendency attributed to the knot in spiritual matters appears in a Swiss superstition that if, in sewing a corpse into its shroud, you make a knot on the thread, it will hinder the soul of the deceased on its passage to eternity.

   1911, James George Frazer, chapter V, in Taboo and the Perils of the Soul (The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion; II), third edition, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 310

2. A tangled clump of hair or similar.

   The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair.

3. A maze-like pattern.

   Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art / In beds and curious knots, but nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

   1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

4. mathematicsA non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).

   A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon.

5. A difficult situation.

   I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman.

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   A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs.

   1664, Robert South, A Sermon Preached Before the University at Christ-Church, Oxon

6. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.

   When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots, since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks.

7. Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.

   Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe.

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.

    [T]he Queen who sat / With lips severely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat, […]

    1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 185

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.

    the knot of the tale

13. engineeringA node (point at which the lines of a funicular machine meet from different angular directions)
14. A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot.
15. A group of people or things.

    his ancient knot of dangerous adversarie

    c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

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    As they sat together in small, separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief.

    1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC

    When, for instance, he saw a knot of the ruffians on the prairie, discussing, of course, the single topic which then occupied their minds, he would, perhaps, take his compass and one of his sons, and proceed to run an imaginary line right through the very spot on which that conclave had assembled, and when he came up to them, he would naturally pause and have some talk with them, learning their news, and, at last, all their plans perfectly; and having thus completed his real survey he would resume his imaginary one, and run on his line till he was out of sight.

    1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown

    The garden was bounded by a three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top, and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within.

    1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, page 39

    In the interval between Sunday School and Church when the congregation stretched its legs, I saw Atticus standing in the yard with another knot of men.

    1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 15, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

    At corners, under the lights, near drugstores, small knots of white, bright, chattering people showed teeth to each other, pawed each other, whistled for taxis, were whirled away in them, vanished through the doors of drugstores or into the blackness of side streets.

    1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published January 1963, page 4

16. A bond of union; a connection; a tie.

    [I come] to crave a league of amity, And lastly, to confirm that amity With nuptial knot […]

    c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

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    [I]t were very fit, […] to observe carefully this previous betrothing of ourselves, ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed.

    1646, Jos[eph] Hall, The Balme of Gilead: Or, Comforts for the Distressed, both Morall and Divine. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for Nat[haniel] Butter, →OCLC

    Indeed I would advise every ſingle lady, if poſſible, to attend her inamorato, pretty frequently at the card table; […] if he is haſty or pettiſh with any one else in company, she may depend on the ſame fate when once the knot is tied.

    1795, Joseph Addison, “An Essay on Card-playing”, in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments; Tending to Amuse the Fancy, and Inculcate Morality, page 67

17. aeronauticsA unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.

    Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots.

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    Here in Franklin Bay during our first season we hurtle along at 20 knots, dodging ice floes littering the surface.

    1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 588

    Synonyms: kn, kt

18. aeronauticsA unit of indicated airspeed, calibrated airspeed, or equivalent airspeed, which varies in its relation to the unit of speed so as to compensate for the effects of different ambient atmospheric conditions on aircraft performance.

    In the early stages of reentry, due to the extremely-rarefied air at these altitudes, the space shuttle flew at only one to a few knots equivalent airspeed, even when its actual speed was many thousands of knots.

19. nauticalA nautical mile.

    Synonyms: nm

20. slangThe bulbus glandis.
21. collectiveA group of snakes, intertwined.

    Male snakes are expected to return from hunting in September, at which point it’s expected the massive knot of snakes will hibernate and the feed will go dormant until spring.

    July 17, 2024, Adam Kovac, “Livestream Offers a Close-Up View of Thousands of Rattlesnakes in a ‘Mega Den’”, in Gizmodo

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    I have only once come across the spectacular sight of a tightly packed knot of adders sleeping together when my dogs disturbed earth under rocks on a south-facing hillside in Glen Lyon.

    (Can we date this quote?), Polly Pullar, Poisonous Reputation, Scottish Field, page 107

present singular third person knots · participle present knotting · participle past knotted · past knotted

1. transitiveTo form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.

   We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.

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   For many weeks about my loins I wore / The rope that haled the buckets from the well, / Twisted as tight as I could knot the noose, / And spake not of it to a single soul, / And spake not of it to a single soul, / Until the ulcer, eating through my skin, / Betray'd my secret penance, so that all / My brethren marvell'd greatly.

   1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 56

   Synonyms: bind, tie

2. transitiveTo form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.

   She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands.

   Synonyms: knit

3. To unite closely; to knit together.

   The party of the papists in England are become more knotted, both in dependence towards Spain, and amongst themselves.

   a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC

   Synonyms: attach

4. obsoleteraretransitiveTo entangle or perplex; to puzzle.

   Synonyms: baffle

5. intransitiveTo form knots.
6. intransitiveTo knit knots for a fringe.

plural knots

1. One of a variety of shore birds; red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or Tringa canutus).

   My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]

   c. 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist