knot

Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope.

The obstructive tendency attributed to the knot in spiritual matters appears in a Swiss superstition that if, in sewing a corpse into its shroud, you make a knot on the thread, it will hinder the soul of the deceased on its passage to eternity.

1911, James George Frazer, chapter V, in Taboo and the Perils of the Soul (The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion; II), third edition, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 310:

A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.

The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair.

Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art / In beds and curious knots, but nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon.

(mathematics) A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).

I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman.

A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs.

1664, Robert South, A Sermon Preached Before the University at Christ-Church, Oxon:

When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots, since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks.

The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.

Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe.

Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.

A tightened and contracted part of a muscle that feels like a hard lump under the skin.

[T]he Queen who sat / With lips severely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat, […]

1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 185:

Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.

The swelling of the bulbus glandis in members of the dog family, Canidae.

the knot of the tale

The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter.

(engineering) A node (point at which the lines of a funicular machine meet from different angular directions)

his ancient knot of dangerous adversarie

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

As they sat together in small, separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief.

1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

When, for instance, he saw a knot of the ruffians on the prairie, discussing, of course, the single topic which then occupied their minds, he would, perhaps, take his compass and one of his sons, and proceed to run an imaginary line right through the very spot on which that conclave had assembled, and when he came up to them, he would naturally pause and have some talk with them, learning their news, and, at last, all their plans perfectly; and having thus completed his real survey he would resume his imaginary one, and run on his line till he was out of sight.

1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown:

The garden was bounded by a three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top, and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within.

1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, page 39:

At corners, under the lights, near drugstores, small knots of white, bright, chattering people showed teeth to each other, pawed each other, whistled for taxis, were whirled away in them, vanished through the doors of drugstores or into the blackness of side streets.

1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, page 4:

1968, Bryce Walton, Harpoon Gunner, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, NY, (1968), page 20,
He pushed through knots of whalemen grouped with their families and friends, and surrounded by piles of luggage.

[I come] to crave a league of amity,
And lastly, to confirm that amity
With nuptial knot […]

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

[I]t were very fit, […] to observe carefully this previous betrothing of ourselves, ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed.

Indeed I would advise every ſingle lady, if poſſible, to attend her inamorato, pretty frequently at the card table; […] if he is haſty or pettiſh with any one else in company, she may depend on the ſame fate when once the knot is tied.

1795, Joseph Addison, “An Essay on Card-playing”, in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments; Tending to Amuse the Fancy, and Inculcate Morality, page 67:

Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots.

(aviation, nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.

In the early stages of reentry, due to the extremely-rarefied air at these altitudes, the space shuttle flew at only one to a few knots equivalent airspeed, even when its actual speed was many thousands of knots.

(aviation) A unit of indicated airspeed, calibrated airspeed, or equivalent airspeed, which varies in its relation to the unit of speed so as to compensate for the effects of different ambient atmospheric conditions on aircraft performance.

колту́н m of hair or fur on a living creature or person

From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”).
See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus.
* (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the log-line (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every ¹⁄₁₂₀ of a mile.


knot

We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.

For many weeks about my loins I wore / The rope that haled the buckets from the well, / Twisted as tight as I could knot the noose, / And spake not of it to a single soul, / And spake not of it to a single soul, / Until the ulcer, eating through my skin, / Betray'd my secret penance, so that all / My brethren marvell'd greatly.

1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 56:

(transitive) To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.

She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands.

(transitive) To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.

The party of the papists in England are become more knotted, both in dependence towards Spain, and amongst themselves.

a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC:

(transitive, obsolete, rare) To entangle or perplex; to puzzle.

(intransitive) To knit knots for a fringe.

en-verb

knot (third-person singular simple present knots, present participle knotting, simple past and past participle knotted)

knots (present singular third-person)
knotting (participle present)
knotted (participle past)
knotted (past)


knot

My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]

Calidris canutus
Calidris canutus#Translingual

One of a variety of shore birds; red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or Tringa canutus).

Supposed to be derived from the name of King Canute, with whom the bird was a favourite article of food. See the specific epithet canutus.