knot

• enPR: nŏt, IPA^(key): /nɒt/

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• Homophones: not, naught (some dialects)

From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); (cognate with Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte); compare also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur). Probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”), compare Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of node.

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.

2. (of hair, etc) A tangled clump.

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

3. A maze-like pattern.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     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.

4. (mathematics) A 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.

       A knot in its original sense can be modeled as a mathematical knot (or link) as follows: if the knot is made with a single piece of rope, then abstract the shape of that rope and then extend the working end to merge it with the standing end, yielding a mathematical knot. If the knot is attached to a metal ring, then that metal ring can be modeled as a trivial knot and the pair of knots become a link. If more than one mathematical knot (or link) can be thus obtained, then the simplest one (avoiding detours) is probably the one which one would want.

5. A difficult situation.

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

   • (Can we date this quote?) South

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

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 protuberant joint in a plant.
9. Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Tennyson

     With lips serenely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat.

10. the swelling of the bulbus glandis in members of the dog family; Canidae
11. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter.

    the knot of the tale

12. (engineering) A node.
13. A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot.
14. A group of people or things.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

      his ancient knot of dangerous adversaries

    • (Can we date this quote?) Sir Walter Scott

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

    • 1968, Bryce Walton, Harpoon Gunner, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, NY, (1968), page 20,

      He pushed through knots of whalemen grouped with their families and friends, and surrounded by piles of luggage.

15. A bond of union; a connection; a tie.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

      with nuptial knot

    • (Can we date this quote?) Bishop Hall

      ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed

16. (nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour. (From the practice of counting the number of knots in the log-line (as it plays out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every 1/120th of a mile.)

    Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots.

17. (slang) A nautical mile (incorrectly)

knot (third-person singular simple present knots, present participle knotting, simple past and past participle knotted)

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

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

   • (Can we date this quote?) Tennyson

     as tight as I could knot the noose

2. To 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.

3. To unite closely; to knit together.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

4. (obsolete, rare) To entangle or perplex; to puzzle.

• (form into a knot): bind, tie
• (form wrinkles in forehead): knit
• (unite closely): attach, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
• (entangle or perplex): baffle, flummox; see also Thesaurus:confuse

• (form into a knot): loosen, unbind, unknot, untie

Supposed to be derived from the name of King Canute, with whom the bird was a favourite article of food. See the species epithet canutus.

knot (plural knots or knot)

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

• Red Knot on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Tkon, Tonk, tonk

knot m

1. A candle wick

• IPA^(key): /knɔt/

From Middle Dutch cnudde, from Proto-Germanic *knuttan-; cognate with knod, English knot, Frisian knotte, (Middle) High German Knotze (German Knoten), Danish knude, Norwegian knute, Swedish knut, etc.

knot f or m (plural knotten, diminutive knotje n)

1. A knot, bun (of hair), skein
2. The top or crest (with messy branches) of certain woody plants, notably willows
3. A flax seed box
4. (dialect) A marble to play with
5. A prank, joke

• knotten (verb)
• knotrank
• knottenkaf n
• haarknot
• vlasknot
• beknotten (verb)

• knotwilg

From the cognate English knot, possibly influenced by Vulgar Latin canutus (“grey-headed", "grizzled”)

knot f or m (plural knotten, diminutive knotje n)

1. The bird species Tringa canutis, Calidris canutus

• kanoetstrandloper m
• kanoetvogel m

• kont

knot

1. Alternative form of knotte

• IPA^(key): /knɔt/

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knot m inan

1. A wick (as of a candle)