white-knuckle

See also: white knuckle

English

Alternative forms

• white knuckle

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Adjective

white-knuckle (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Causing fear, excitement, apprehension, suspense, or nervousness.
   • 2010 July 16, Colleen Long and Harry R. Weber, "BP capped well holding nearly a day into new fix", Associated Press wire:

     BP said its capped-off well appeared to be holding steady Friday morning, almost midway into a white-knuckle waiting period in which engineers watched the pressure gauges for signs of a leak.

   • 2009 November 27, “Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff'”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     "No surprise given both Bellamy and White share - or have inherited - Hendrix's unique blend of experimental instincts and white-knuckle showmanship," said Mr Goldsmith.

Derived terms

• white-knuckle ride

Translations

causing fear, excitement, apprehension, suspense or nervousness

• German: aufregend (de), dramatisch (de), spannend (de), nervenaufreibend (de), erregend (de), spannungsvoll

Verb

white-knuckle (third-person singular simple present white-knuckles, present participle white-knuckling, simple past and past participle white-knuckled)

1. (transitive) To endure despite feeling terror, fear, apprehension, anxiety, discomfort, or torment.
   • 2010, Tanya Ebert, Mystical Puzzle, page 24:

     The rest of the drive home I white knuckled it.

   • 2017, Susan Mallery, Maisey Yates, Baby, It's Christmas & Hold Me, Cowboy:

     “I white-knuckled it down there. Went as fast as I could. I didn't tell anyone I was going. When I got there, they wouldn't let me in. Because I wasn't family.”

   • 2021 April 25, Erin Griffith, “We’re All Crypto People Now”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     There’s an industry term for white-knuckling it through crypto’s wild volatility without selling: “hodl.”

   • 2023, Justin Cook, Infectious Injustice:

     Some J-CATs didn't even take medication, meaning they white-knuckle this lifestyle, possibly unaware of their deviation from reality and normality.

2. (transitive) To grip tightly in fear, apprehension, suspense, or nervousness.
   • 2020 November 2, a425couple, “Honda Pulls Mario Andretti From Driving the Two-Seater IndyCar”, in rec.autos.sport.nascar‎^[3] (Usenet):

     That lifting sensation is so strong, I inadvertently feel myself white-knuckling the hand grips.

Translations

to endure

• German: durchbeißen (de), durchkämpfen (de)