Knapskull, nap′skul, n. a helmet. [From knap (n.) and skull.]
Knar, när, n. a knot on a tree.—n. Knarl=Gnarl.—adj. Knarred, gnarled, knotty.
Knave, nāv, n. a false, deceitful fellow: a villain: a card bearing the picture of a servant or soldier: (Shak.) a boy.—ns. Knave′-bairn, a male child; Knav′ery, dishonesty; Knave′ship (Scot.), a certain quantity of grain, the due of the miller.—adj. Knav′ish, fraudulent: villainous.—adv. Knav′ishly.—n. Knav′ishness. [A.S. cnafa, cnapa, a boy, a youth; Ger. knabe, knappe.]
Knead, nēd, v.t. to work and press together into a mass, as flour into dough: to operate upon in massage: to mix.—ns. Knead′er; Knead′ing-trough, a trough for kneading. [A.S. cnedan; Ice. knoða, Ger. kneten, to knead.]
Knee, nē, n. the joint between the thigh and shin bones: a piece of timber or metal like a bent knee: (Shak.) a genuflection.—v.t. (Shak.) to kneel to, to go over on one's knees.—n.pl. Knee′-breech′es, breeches extending to just below the knee, as in court-dress.—n. Knee′-cap, the bone above the protuberance of the knee: a cap or strong covering for the knees, used chiefly for horses, to save their knees in case of a fall.—n.pl. Knee′-cords, knee-breeches of corduroy.—adjs. Knee′-crook′ing, obsequious: fawning; Kneed, having knees: (bot.) having angular joints like the knee; Knee′-deep, rising to the knees: sunk to the knees; Knee′-high, rising or reaching to the knees.—ns. Knee′-holl′y, butcher's broom: Knee′-joint, a joint with two pieces at an angle, so as to be very tight when pressed into a straight line; Knee′-pan, a flat, round bone on the front of the knee-joint; Knee′-piece, or -raft′er, an angular piece of timber strengthening a joint where two roof-timbers meet: any defensive appliance covering the knee; Knee′-stop, -swell, a lever worked by the performer's knee, for regulating the wind-supply of a reed-organ, &c.; Knee′-tim′ber, timber bent into a shape suitable for a knee in shipbuilding, &c.; Knee′-trib′ute (Milt.), the homage of kneeling.—Give, or Offer, a knee, to act as second or bottle-holder in a fight, the principal resting on the second's knee during the pauses between the rounds. [A.S. cneów, cneó; Ger. knie, L. genu, Gr. gonu.]
Kneel, nēl, v.i. to bend the knee: to rest or fall on the knee:—pa.t. and pa.p. kneeled, knelt.—n. Kneel′er, one who kneels. [Knee.]
Knell, nel, n. the stroke of a bell: the sound of a bell at a death or funeral.—v.i. to sound as a bell: toll.—v.t. to summon as by a tolling bell. [A.S. cnyllan, to beat noisily; Dut. and Ger. knallen.]
Knelt, nelt, pa.t. and pa.p. of kneel.
Knew, nū, pa.t. of know.
Knickerbockers, nik-ėr-bok′ėrz, n.pl. loose breeches gathered in at the knee.—Also Knick′ers. [From the wide-breeched Dutchmen in 'Knickerbocker's' (Washington Irving's) humorous History of New York, whence Knickerbocker has come to mean the descendant of one of the original Dutch settlers of New York.]