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Knap
Definitions
- 1 A sudden, sharp blow, knock, or slap; a rap, a whack. dialectal
- 2 A piece of raised ground or a short, steep slope; a small hill; a hillock, a knoll. UK, dialectal
"[Y]ou ſhall ſee many fine ſeats ſet upon a knap of ground, environed vvith higher hills round about it; […]"
- 3 The sound made by such a blow, knock, or slap. dialectal
"Foot Stomp […] The sole of the attacker's foot covers the victim's foot without actually touching it. The sounds of the attacker's heel striking the floor creates the knap. The victim adds vocal and physical pain reactions."
- 4 The crest or top of a hill. UK, dialectal
"the highest part and knap of the same Iland"
- 5 Synonym of chattering damsel (“a component of a traditional mill which creates a vibratory motion to impel portions of grain toward the millstone; a clapper”). dialectal
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- 6 A method of cheating at a dice game. figuratively, obsolete
"'Tis your pence a piece, / […] / Preſto begon? or come aloft? VVhat vvay? / Doublets? or Knap? The Cog? lovv Dice? or high?"
- 1 To break (something) into small pieces with a cracking sound; to fragment, to smash; also, to break (something) apart sharply; to snap. transitive
"He hath made warres to ceaſſe in all the worlde: he hath broken the bowe, he hath knapped the ſpeare in ſonder, ⁊ brẽt [brent] the charettes in the fyre."
- 2 To take a small, quick bite at or of (someone or something); to nibble, to nip, to snap. UK, dialectal, transitive
"I vvould ſhee vvere as lying goſſippe in that, as euer knapt Ginger, or made her neighbors beleeue ſhe vvept for the death of a third husband: […]"
- 3 Obsolete spelling of nap (“to arrest (someone); to grab or nab (someone or something); to steal (something); (obsolete) to receive (severe punishment), especially during a boxing match or a flogging; (generally) to receive (something)”). UK, alt-of, dialectal, obsolete, transitive
"Some entered the ring in very bad condition, and immediately got a-piping, like hot mutton pies—fell on their own blows, and knapped it every round, till they shewed the white feather and bolted."
- 4 break a small piece off from wordnet
- 5 To break (something) into small pieces with a cracking sound; to fragment, to smash; also, to break (something) apart sharply; to snap.; To break away flakes from (a brittle material which fractures conchoidally (“with planar concentric curves”), usually a mineral such as chert, flint, or obsidian), often to form a tool with a sharp edge or point. especially, specifically, transitive
"An average workman will knap 3,000 flints in a day of 12 hours, but a good one will make 4,000 at a pinch."
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- 6 To take a small, quick bite. UK, dialectal, intransitive
"[In Thomas Elyot's book The Boke Named the Governour (1531)] vvere ſome ſharp and quick ſentences; vvhich many of the ſparks could not vvell bear. They complained of his ſtrange terms, as they called them. Theſe Elyot compared to a galled horſe abiding no plaiſters, that vvere alvvays knapping and kicking at ſuch examples and ſentences as they felt ſharp, or did bite them."
- 7 strike sharply wordnet
- 8 To strike (something) sharply; to knock, to rap. transitive
"Take one Veſſel of Siluer, and another of VVood, and fill each of them full of VVater, and then knap the Tongs together, as before, about an handfull from the Bottome, and you ſhall finde the Sound much more Reſounding from the Veſſel of Siluer, than from that of VVood: […] ſuch a Communication paſſeth farre better, thorovv VVater, than Aire."
- 9 Followed by off: to break (something) away from another thing by striking or tapping sharply. transitive
"VVith his rod […] he knapt of the uppermoſt heads and tops of the poppies."
- 10 To say (something) crisply or sharply. figuratively, transitive
"[T]he evil spirit of the year sixteen hundred and forty-twa is at wark again as merrily as ever, and ilka [every] auld wife in the chimley-neuck will be for knapping doctrine wi' doctors o' divinity and the godly fathers o' the church."
- 11 To break or fracture suddenly; to snap. intransitive
"In ſtringinge of your bovv […] you muſt mark the fit length of youre bovve. […] Yf it [the string] be longe, the bendynge muſt nedes be in the ſmal of the ſtring, vvhich beynge ſore tvvined muſte nedes knap in ſunder to yͤ diſtruction of manye good bovves."
- 12 To make a cracking or snapping sound; to crack, to snap. intransitive
"If the Thigh-bone be luxated invvard, and the Patient young and of a tender Conſtitution, it may be reduced by the Hand of the Chirurgeon: […] [H]e muſt ſuddenly force the Knee up tovvards the Belly, and preſs back the head of the Femur into its Acetabulum, and it vvill knap in."
- 13 To strike sharply. intransitive
- 14 To speak crisply or sharply. figuratively, intransitive
- 15 To cheat while gambling, especially at a dice game. figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
Etymology
The verb is derived from Late Middle English knappen (“to strike (something)”); further etymology uncertain, probably related to Middle Dutch knappen, cnappen (“to break (something) with a sharp sound, snap; to crack or crackle”) (modern Dutch knappen), probably ultimately onomatopoeic. The noun is derived from Late Middle English knap, knappe (“sharp blow, strike”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from the verb (see above), or related to an ancestor of Danish knep and Swedish knäpp (“a flick, rap, snap”), probably ultimately onomatopoeic.
The verb is derived from Late Middle English knappen (“to strike (something)”); further etymology uncertain, probably related to Middle Dutch knappen, cnappen (“to break (something) with a sharp sound, snap; to crack or crackle”) (modern Dutch knappen), probably ultimately onomatopoeic. The noun is derived from Late Middle English knap, knappe (“sharp blow, strike”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from the verb (see above), or related to an ancestor of Danish knep and Swedish knäpp (“a flick, rap, snap”), probably ultimately onomatopoeic.
From Middle English knap, knappe (“small projection, knob (button, tassel, tuft, etc.); hill; hilltop; etc.”), from Old English cnæp, cnæpp (“summit, top”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Old Norse knappr (“small projection, knob (button, head of a stick, etc.)”) (whence English knop), from Proto-Germanic *knappô, *knuppô.
Origin uncertain; possibly: * from Middle English *kneppen (compare Middle English knippette (“pincers for cracking nuts”)), from Old Norse kneppa (“to pinch, press, squeeze; to button, clasp; to hug”), from Proto-Germanic *knappijaną (“to clamp; to squeeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ- (“to constrict, tighten; to press”); * related to knap (etymology 1); or * imitative of a mouth snapping shut; compare gnap (“to snap at”) (obsolete except Scotland), nab (“to bite gently, nibble”) (obsolete except Southern and Western England).
See nap (etymology 5).
See also for "knap"
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