Knŏt1, n.
(nŏt), n. [A-S. cnot, cnotta, D. knot, knoop, O. D. knutte, O. H. Ger. chnodo, M. H. Ger. knote, knode, N. H. Ger. knoten, Icel. knutr, hnutr, Sw. knut, knota, Dan. knude, allied to Lat. nodus, for gnodus.]
Sense 1. A complication of threads, cords, or ropes, formed by tying, knitting, or entangling, and resisting separation or loosening; a close tie; a fastening of cord.
Sense 2. A bond of union; a connection; a tie. “With nuptial knot.” Shak.
Sense 3. Something not easily solved; an intricacy; a difficulty; a perplexity.
A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs. South.
Sense 4. A figure, the lines of which are interlaced or intricately interwoven.
It fed 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. Milton.
Sense 5. A cluster; a collection; a group; a band; a clique. “His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries.” Shak.
As they sat together in small, separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief. W. Scott.
Sense 6. A joint in the stem of a plant; a protuberance occasioned by the outgrowth of a branch; a hard place in wood where the outgrowth of a branch runs transverse to the general grain of the wood.
Sense 7. (Mech.) The point where cords, ropes, &c., meet from different directions in funicular machines; — called more properly node.
Sense 8. (Naut.) A division of the log-line, serving to measure the rate of the vessel’s motion. The number of knots which run off from the reel in half a minute shows the number of miles the vessel sails in an hour. Hence, when a ship goes eight miles an hour, she is said to go eight knots. [See Illust. of Log.]
Sense 9. A nautical mile of 6086.7 ft.; as, to sail ten knots an hour.
Sense 10. (Ornith.) A bird of the genus Tringa (T. canutus, or T. grisea of Linnæus), allied to the snipe, found in the northern regions of America and Europe, and, when fat, constituting a delicious article of food.
☞ The name is said to be derived from that of King Canute, this bird being a favorite article of food with him.
The knot that called was Canutus' bird of old, Of that great king of Danes his name that still doth hold, His appetite to please that far and near was sought. Drayton.
Sense 11. (Arch.) See KNOP.
