kneesie

English

Etymology

From knee +‎ -sie.

Noun

kneesie (plural kneesies)

1. (childish) Knee.
   • 1923, Homer Croy, West of the Water Tower, page 325:

     Now spread out your little kneesies.

   • 1972, Totie Fields, I THINK I'LL START ON MONDAY The Official 8 1/2 oz. Mashed Potato Diet:

     I've never seen so many strange looking hippies— also strange looking thighsies, kneesies and tummies.

   • 1983, Richard Walter Hall, Three Plays for a Gay Theater & Three Essays, page 71:

     Hurt your kneesie? Let me kiss it and make it well.

2. Knee-to-knee contact, especially as a method of flirtation when out of sight; kneesies.
   • 1958, Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's: a short novel and three stories, page 60:

     We had an irresistible guide, most of him Negro and the rest of him Chinese, and while I don't go much for one or the other, the combination was fairly riveting: so I let him play kneesie under the table, because frankly I didn't find him at all banal, but then one night he took us to a blue movie, and what do you Suppose?

   • 1973, Pat Richoux, The Stardust Kid, page 176:

     If she was out alone on New Year's Eve and playing kneesie under the table with a sex-mad sax man, she must be up to the age of consent.

   • 1986, Rosemary Aubert, Firebrand, page 247:

     There was no way a man with a nickname like Sobersides would be suspected of playing a sophisticated variation of kneesie in front of five hundred of the most important business people in the city.

   • 1997, James Schuyler, Nathan Kernan, The diary of James Schuyler, page 193:

     What I enjoyed most was playing kneesie with Tom, who either thought I was part of the table or put up with it because it was my birthday.

3. A trampoline move in which one bounces on the knees.
   • 2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 237:

     Poppy lifts the hose's heavy head and the purest water in the world forms a rainbow through which Talia does a kneesie, then bounces back onto her feet, squealing.

   • 2019, Joanne Solomon, The Gift Economy:

     It also has a trampoline. I'm doing “kneesies-sitsies-upsees,” a trampoline routine I learned as a child, when I try to pull Eduardo up on the trampoline with me.

4. (dated) A knee-length skirt.
   • 1969, Year Book Covering the Year 1970, page 232:

     The "kneesie" ( from the knee to 2 inches below) was extraspecial, for narrow thirties coats or after-five slinky dresses, at their best with dark shimmery stockings and tall-heeled shoes.

   • 1970, Shepherd - Volumes 15-16, page 32:

     'Kneesies' win skirmish over hot pants Joy reigns supreme in New York's garment center, says a staff reporter for Wall Street Journal, as the result of a compromise reached in the battle between the midis and the hot pants.

   • 1971, Forbes - Volume 108, page 18:

     Last month the $7-billion women's garment industry was nervously poised on the brink of another fall buying season. Would it be another disaster? Had women really kicked the fashion habit? The trade is pinning high hopes on the “kneesie".

   • 1971 July, “The Months Ahead”, in Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 25, number 7, page 5:

     The mini style has almost run its course. In its place and catching on fast is the "kneesie," the skirt with the hemline at the knee.