knuckle
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), not attested in (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English, likely 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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Knuckles.jpg/220px-Knuckles.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Schweizerhaus_roast_knuckle_dsc02946.jpg/220px-Schweizerhaus_roast_knuckle_dsc02946.jpg)
Pronunciation
Noun
knuckle (plural knuckles)
- Any of the joints between the phalanges of the fingers.
- (by extension) A mechanical joint.
- A cut of meat.
- (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
- The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being.
- Golding
- With weary knuckles on thy brim she kneeled sadly down.
- Golding
- (obsolete) The joint of a plant.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
- (shipbuilding) 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.
- 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
- (skiing, snowboarding) The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.
Derived terms
Terms derived from “knuckle”
Translations
joint of the finger
|
A mechanical joint
|
Verb
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- (transitive) To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles.
- He knuckled the sleep from his eyes.
- (intransitive) To bend the fingers.
- (intransitive) To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.
- (intransitive, figurative) To yield.
- Synonym: knuckle under
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌkəl
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Sports
- en:Billiards
- en:Snooker
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Requests for quotations/Francis Bacon
- en:Skiing
- en:Snowboarding
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Cuts of meat