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Knuckle

//ˈnʌkəl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of the joints between the bones of the fingers.
  2. 2
    a joint of a finger when the fist is closed wordnet
  3. 3
    A mechanical joint. broadly
  4. 4
    The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
  5. 5
    The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly, the kneejoint of a human being.

    "With wearie knockles on thy brim she kneeled sadly downe"

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  1. 6
    A cut of meat of various kinds.

    "Beef knuckle is from the knee joint. Pork knuckle, or ham hock, is from the joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot of a pig, where the foot was attached to the leg."

  2. 7
    The joint of a plant. obsolete

    "In the West Indies there are found, even in sandy deserts and very dry places, large canes, which at every joint or knuckle yield a good supply of fresh water"

  3. 8
    A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom.
  4. 9
    A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; a knuckle duster.

    "brass knuckles"

  5. 10
    The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.
Verb
  1. 1
    To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles (noun sense 1). transitive

    "He knuckled the sleep from his eyes."

  2. 2
    shoot a marble while keeping one's knuckles on the ground wordnet
  3. 3
    To strike or punch. slang, transitive

    "I could feel my big toe snap, but as he's gone down on his good knee and half swung round I knuckled him in the kidney as hard as I could hit. He's gone all the way down, so I dropped my 19 stone into the middle of his back."

  4. 4
    press or rub with the knuckles wordnet
  5. 5
    To bend the fingers. intransitive
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  1. 6
    To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect. intransitive
  2. 7
    To yield. figuratively, intransitive
  3. 8
    To land on the knuckle (noun sense 9) of a curve of a slope, after a jump off a ramp that precedes the slope.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill.

Etymology 2

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill.

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