knack 
2. To sneer; taunt; mock. Jamicfton. 
Fast flokit about ane multitude of young Troianis, 
Byssy to knack and pull the prisonere. 
Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, p. 40. 
[Obsolete or provincial in all uses.] 
knack (uak), . [< ME. kiwkke = D. knak = 
G. knack = Dan. ktuek = Sw. knack = Gael. 
enac = Ir. cnag = W. cnec, a knock, crack, 
snap; from the verb: see knack, v. In sense 4, 
cf . knwkknack.] If. A crack or snap ; a sharp 
sound; a snap with the finger or finger-nail. 
2. A dexterous exploit; a trick; a device; 
a mockery; a repartee. 
I shall hamper him, 
With all his knacks and knaveries. 
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, Hi. 4. 
For how should equal colours do the knack? 
Chameleons who can paint in white and black? 
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 155. 
3. Readiness; habitual facility of performance; 
dexterity; adroitness. 
My author has a great knack at remarks. Up. Atterbury. 
Story-telling is therefore not an art, but what we call a 
knack; it doth not so much subsist upon wit as upon hu- 
mour. Steele, Guardian, No. 42. 
Ho person ever had a better knack at hoping than I. 
(Goldsmith, Vicar, xx. 
The damper and more deliberate falls [of snow] have a 
choice knack at draping the trees. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 44. 
4f. An ingenious trifle; a toy; a knickknack. 
A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap. 
Shalt., T. of the S., iv. 3, 67. 
This to confirm, I've promis'd to the boy 
Many a pretty knack and many a toy. 
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, it 3. 
6. A kind of figure made of a small quantity 
of corn at the end of the harvest, and carried 
in the harvest-home procession. HalKwell. 
[Prov. Eng.] = 8yn. Facility, Expertness, etc. See 
readiness. 
knackaway, knockaway (uak'-, nok'a-wa), 
n. [An accom. form, simulating an E. anaqua: 
see anagua.] A Texan tree of the borage fam- 
ily, Ehretia elliptica, which has a hard (but not 
strong), close-grained, unwedgeable wood. The 
native name is anagua or anaqua. 
knacker 1 (nak'er), n. [< knack, v., + -eel.] J. 
That which knacks or knocks ; in the plural, 
two pieces of wood or bone used as a plaything 
by boys, who strike them together by moving 
the hand ; castanets ; bones. 
Our knackers are the fifes and drums ; 
Sa, sa, the gypsies' army comes ! 
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, iii. 2. 
2f. A maker of knacks, toys, or small work. 
Knacker's brandy, a sound beating. 
knacker 2 (nak'er), n. [Perhaps all particular 
uses of knacker^ ; but the senses are involved, 
and two or more words may be concerned.] 1. 
A collar- and harness-maker, employed chiefly 
byfarmers. [Prov.Eng.] 2. A colliers' horse. 
[Prov. Eng.] 3. One whose occupation is the 
slaughtering of diseased or useless horses ; also, 
one who deals in such horses, whether for use 
or slaughter. [Eng.] 
There is a regular occupation in London and other large 
cities, of men known as the Knackers. It consists in buying 
old and worn-out horses, as well as buying and removing 
dead ones. If there is any work left in the former, it is 
utilized till the last. Then the animal is killed. The 
flesh is generally converted into food for dogs and cats, in 
the sale of which there is a large trade and a considerable 
number of persons employed. To say that a horse is only 
fit for the "Knackers' yard " is to say that it ought to be 
dead. A J. Hinton, Eng. Radical Leaders, p. 208. 
knackingt (nak'ing), n. [ME. knacky ng ; verbal 
n. of knack, v.] 1. The act of making a sharp 
abrupt noise. 2. A sounding. 
Whether this sotile and swete knackyng to the eeris 
makis us to praye with sorowes that mowne not be tolde 
oute? Wydif, Select Works (ed. Arnold), III. 481. 
knackingt (nak'ing), p. a. Striking; slashing: 
used in emphasis. 
distance. Tush, ye speake in jest 
Mery. Nay, sure, the partie is in good knocking earnest 
Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2. 
knackisht (nak'ish), a. [< knack, n., + -jsfel.] 
Trickish; knavish; artful. 
Beating the air with knactnsh forms of gracious speech- 
es, and vain grandiloquence that tends to nothing. 
Dr. H. More, Mystery of Godliness, p. 479. 
knackishnesst (nak'ish-nes), n. The state or 
quality of being knackish ; artifice; trickery. 
knack-kneedt (nak'ned), a. An obsolete vari- 
ant of knock-kneed. 
knafet, A Middle English form of knave. 
knag (nag), H. [Formerly also enag; ("ME. knagg 
= MLG. knagge, a knob, a thick piece, LG. a 
thick piece, also a peg or pivot (of a gate or 
3298 
window), G. dial, knagge = Sw. knagg = Dan. 
kntii/i; a knot in wood, a peg ; prob. orig. Celtic : 
cf . Ir. cnag, a knob, peg, cnaig, a knot in wood, 
= Gael, cnag, a knob, pin, peg ; prob. orig. ' knob, 
boss, bump,' from the verb, Ir. cnagaim, knock, 
strike, Gael, cnac, crack, snap, knock: see knack 
and knock.'] 1. A hook; a peg; a wooden peg 
for hanging things on. [Prov. Eng.] 
Take her the golde in a bagg. 
I schall hyt hynge on a knagg, 
At the schypp borde ende. 
Le Bone Florence (Ritson's Metr. Rom., III.). 
2. One of the projecting points of a deer's 
antler ; a snag or tine. 
The knags that sticke out of a harts homes neare the 
forhead. Nomenclator (1586), p. 42. 
Horns . . . most dangerous by reason of their sharp 
and branching knayi. Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 1039. 
3. A protuberant knot; a wart; also, a decora- 
tive knot or tuft, as in costume. 4. The rugged 
top of a rock or hill. [Prov. Eng.] 
knagged (nagd or nag'ed), a. [< ME. knaggcd; 
< knag + -erf 2 .] If. Provided with hooks or 
teeth; jagged. 
If there be any suspicion of sorcerie, witchcraft, or en- 
chantment practised for to hurt young babes, the great 
horns of beetles, such especially as be knagged as it were 
with small teeth, are good as a countre charm and pre- 
servative, if they be hanged about then- necks. 
Hottand, tr. of Pliny, xiii. 15. 
2. Formed into knots; knotty. 3. Decorated 
with knags, as an article of dress. 
With polaynez, . . . policed ful clene, 
Aboute his knez knaged wyth knotez of golde. 
Sir Qawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.X L 577. 
knagginess (uag'i-ues), . The state of being 
knaggy. 
knaggy (nag'i), a. [< knag + -yi.] 1 . Knotty; 
full of knots ; rough with knots ; having promi- 
nent joints. 
Tho' thou 's howe-backit, now, and knaggie, 
I've seen the day 
Thou could ha'e gaen like ony staggie. 
Burns, Auld Farmer's Salutation to his Auld Mare. 
But now upstart the Cavalier, 
He could no longer speach forbear; 
Their knaggie talking did up barme him, 
Their sharp reflections did much warm him. 
Cleland's Poems, p. 90. (Jamieson.) 
Hence 2. Rough in temper ; cross; waspish. 
knaket, . An obsolete spelling of knack. Chau- 
cer. 
knap 1 (nap), v. [Also gnap; < ME. 'knappen, 
gnat/pen = E>. knappen, snap, crack, crush, eat, 
= G. knappen, snap, crack, crunch, = Dan. kncp- 
pe = Sw. knappa, snap ; cf . Gael, cuap, strike, 
beat, thump, = Ir. cnapaim, strike ; a series of 
words parallel to knack, etc. : see knack. Hence 
ult. fcjmfel, knap 2 , knop, etc.] I. trans. If. To 
strike with a sharp noise. 
Take a vessel of water, and knap a pair of tongs some 
depth within the water, and you shall hear the sound of 
the tongs. Bacon, Nat. Hist, 133. 
2. To snap; crack; break in pieces with blows: 
as, to Jmap stones. 
Knap boy on the thumbs. Tmser, Dinner Matters. 
He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder. 
Book of Common Prayer, Psalter, xlvi. 10. 
The stone [flint] is ready for knapping as soon as it is 
dry. ... A blow is ... struck from the elbow, and the 
flint breaks. Ure, Diet, IV. 376. 
3f. To bite; bite off ; nibble. 
And sum ynapped here fete and handes, 
As dogges done that gnawe here bandes. 
MS. Harl. 1701, f. 07. (UalliweU.) 
As lying a gossip as ever knapped ginger. 
Shak.,M. of V., iii. 1, 10. 
Knap the thread, and thou art free, 
But tis otherwise with me. 
Herrick, The Bracelet to Julia. 
II. intrans. I. To make a short sharp sound. 
The people standing by heard it knap in, and the patient 
declared it by the ease she felt Wiseman, Surgery, vii. 5. 
2f. To talk short. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
knapH (nap), n. [Also gnap; < ME. knap (= 
LG. knap = Dan. knep = Sw. knapp), a snap, 
crack: from the verb.] 1. A short sharp noise; 
a snap. 2. A stroke; blow. 
And mony strokes, in that stoure, tho stithe men hym 
gefe, 
Till the knight, vndnr knappis, vppon knes fell. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6437. 
3. A clapper. 
As once a windmill (out of breath) lack'd winde, 
A fellow brought four^bushels there to grinde, 
And hearing neither noyse of knap or tiller, 
Laid downe his come, and went to seeke the miller. 
John Taylor, Works (1630). 
knap 2 (nap), n. [< ME. knap, a knop, < AS. 
cnaep, a hilltop, = OFries. knap = Icel. knappr 
= Sw. knapp = Dan. knap, a knob, button, stud ; 
knapweed 
avar. of knop, q. v.; appar. of Celtic origin: W. 
enap, a knob, = Gael, enap, a knob, button, boss, 
stud, hillock, = Ir. enap, a knob, hillock, prob. 
< cnapaim, I strike : see knap 1 , v. Hence nap' 2 
and nope.] If. A protuberance; a swelling; 
a knob or button. 
His cloke of calabre, with alle the ktiappes of golde. 
Piers Plowman (B), vi. 272. 
2f. A rising ground; a knoll; a hillock; a sum- 
mit. 
And both these rivers running in one, carying a swift 
streame, doe make the knappe of the sayd hill very strong 
of scituacion to lodge a campe upon. 
North, tr. of Plutarch (1579). 
You shall see many fine seats set upon nknap of ground, 
Ii higher hills round about it. 
environed with higher 
Bacon, Building (ed. 1887). 
Harke, on knap of yonder hill, 
Some sweet shepheard tunes his quill. 
W. Browne, Shepheard's Pipe. 
3. The bud of a flower. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng. ] 
4. The flower of the common clover, Trij'olium 
pratense. [Prov. Eng.] 
knapbottle (nap'bof'l), n. [< knap 1 , v., + obj. 
bottle 2 .] The bladder-campion, Silene inflata. 
knapet, n. A Middle English variant of knave. 
knape-childt, A Middle English variant of 
knave-child. Ormulwn, 1. 7895. 
knapper (nap'er), . 1. A stone-breaker; spe- 
cifically, one who breaks up flint-flakes into the 
sizes used for gun-flints. 
The knapper's tools consist of three simple forms of 
hammer and a chiseL Encyc. Brit., IX. 326. 
The . . . most difficult process is flaking, or the driving 
off of flakes at a single blow, of a given width and thick- 
ness, with two ribs running down them. In this the 
Brandon knappers excel the prehistoric workmen, but the 
process is so delicate that few attain to great proficiency. 
Ure, Diet, IV. 376. 
2. A stone-breakers' hammer; a kuapping- 
hammer. 
knapperts(nap'erts),. [Also knapparls, gnap- 
perts; perhaps orig. "knapwort : so called from 
its knotty tubers; < knap 2 + wort 1 ."] The le- 
guminous plant Lafhyrus macrorMziis, the bit- 
ter-vetch or heath-pea. It bears tubers, which 
children like to eat. [Prov. Eng.] 
knapping-hammer (nap ' ing-ham " er), n. A 
hammer for breaking stones ; especially, a ham- 
mer of steel with which flint-flakes are broken 
into lengths for gun-flints. 
Ye'd better ta'en up spades and shools, 
Or knappin '-hammers. 
Burns, First Epistle to Lapraik. 
knapping-machine (nap'ing-ma-shen"), n. A 
machine for breaking stones by a sudden blow 
instead of sustained pressure. 
knappisht (nap'ish), a. [< knap 1 + -ish 1 .] 1. 
Inclined to knap or snap. 2. Snappish. 
Answering your snappish quid with a knappish quo. 
Stanihurst, Descrip. of Ireland, p. 35. (Halliu-eU.) 
knapple (nap'l), . t. ; pret. and pp. knappled, 
ppr. knappling. [Freq. of knap 1 . Cf. knobble.'] 
If. To break off with an abrupt sharp noise. 
2. To bite; nibble. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
knappy (nap'i), a. [< knap* + -y 1 .] Full of 
knaps or hillocks. Jamicson, Supp. [Scotch.] 
knapsack (nap'sak), n. [< D. knapzak (= MLG. 
knapsack, LG. knappsack), < knappen, snap, eat, 
+ zak = LG. sack = E. sack 1 . Cf . equiv. snap- 
sack.'] A case or bag of leather or strong cloth 
for carrying a soldier's necessaries, closely 
strapped" to the back between the shoulders ; 
hence, any case or bag for similar use. Various 
forms of knapsacks are now used by tourists and others 
tor carrying light personal luggage. Originally the mili- 
tary knapsack was meant for carrying food, but it has 
gradually become appropriated to a totally different pur- 
Ce, as the transportation of clothes and the like, and 
[1 is carried in the haversack. 
If you are for a merry jaunt, 111 try for once who can 
foot it farthest, ... I with my knapsack, and you with 
your bottle at your back. Dryden, Spanish Friar. 
knapscapt (nap'skap), n. [Appar. < knap' 2 + 
scap = skep, a beehive (used for 'skull'). Cf. 
knapskull.] The skull. 
Thro' the knapscap the sword has gane. 
Jamie Telfer (Child's Ballads, VI. 112). 
knapskullt (nap'skul), n. [Formerly also knap- 
nciill, kiiapescul; < knap 2 + skull.'] A helmet. 
Geton your jacks, platesleeves, and Icnapsculls, that your 
presence may work some terror if you meet with opposers. 
Scott, Abbot, xxvi. 
knapweed (nap'wed), n. [So called in allusion 
to its knob-like heads; < knap 2 + weed!.] 1. A 
general name for plants of the genus Cent<u<ri 
of the composite family, as C. Calcitrapa, the 
star-thistle, and C. Cyanus, bachelor's-buttons. 
2. Specifically, C. ni/jni, also called 
