knitting-machine 
knitting-machine (uifing-ma-shen"), n. A 
hand- or power-machine for knitting. Such ma- 
chines employ barbed or hooked needles, having some 
form of latching device for catching the thread anil draw- 
ing it through a loop previously made in the same thread, 
and throwing it off at the right moment. It is the use of 
these needles and of a single thread that distinguishes a 
knitting-machine from a loom, a braider, or a netting-ma- 
chine. Hand-knitters by machinery for domestic use em- 
ploy either a series of needles laid flat in a frame or a 
ring of upright needles placed in the periphery of a cylin- 
der. By the use of various attachments these machines 
can make hollow or flat knitted fabrics, plain, ribbed, 
etc. The power-machines are essentially the same as the 
hand-machines, except that, being larger, they knit wider 
fabrics. There is also a single-needle hand knitting-ma- 
chine. 
knitting-needle (nit'lng-ne'dl), n. An instru- 
ment used for knitting. Knitting-needles for hand- 
work are straight, slender rods, usually of steel, with 
rounded ends; two or more are used at once. See knitting- 
machine. 
knitting-pin (uit'iug-pin), n. A small bar or 
rod used for knitting, having a button at one 
end. It is made of ivory, bone, gutta-percha, wood, etc., 
and is used in pairs for knitting large work, such as 
shawls. 
knitting-sheath (nit'ing-sheth), . A cylin- 
drical sheath arranged so as to be secured to 
the dress of a knitter, and intended to support 
one of the knitting-needles while in use. Also 
called knitting-case. 
knitting-stick (nit'ing-stik), . A form of the 
knitting-sheath in which the sheath of wood or 
similar material is prolonged so as to be passed 
through the belt or otherwise secured for the 
convenience of the knitter. 
knitting-work (nit'ing-werk), n. 1. The oc- 
cupation of knitting. 2. A piece of knitting, 
with needles, ball of yarn, etc. Hence 3. Any 
occupation for the hands which leaves the 
mind unemployed and permits conversation. 
[U. 8.] 
knittle (nit'l), . [Dim. of knit, n.; or < *knit- 
tle, & supposed freq. of knit, r.] 1. A string that 
gathers or draws together a purse, a bag, or the 
like; a shirring-string. 2. Naut.: (a) A kind 
of small line made of rope-yarns twisted toge- 
ther, used for seizings or for hammock-clues. 
Formerly robbius for bending sails and reef- 
points were sometimes made in this way. 
The reef enwrap'd, the inserted knittles ty'd. 
Falconer, Shipwreck, ii. 
(6) pi. The halves of two adjoining yarns in a 
rope, twisted up together for pointing or graft- 
ing. Also written knettles. 
knives, n. Plural of knife. 
knob (nob), n. [Also sometimes spelled nob, 
formerly nobbe; also invar, form knub, nub (see 
nub) ; < ME. knobbe(= MLG. knobbe, LG. knobbe, 
~knuwe), a knob, a var. of knop, q. v.] A round- 
ed projection; a protuberance; a bunch; a 
knop. 
He [the Pilgrime] had a long staffe in his hand with a 
nobbe in the middle. Coryat, Crudities, I. 20. 
(a) A fleshy protuberance ; a pimple. 
The knobbes sittyng on his cheekes. 
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 633. 
(fr) A rounded projection forming the termination of some- 
thing, as of a staff ; specifically, the more or less ball- 
shaped part of the handle for a door, drawer, or the like. 
One or more Beadles march first, each carrying a long 
Staff, at the End of which is a great Apple or Knob of Sil- 
ver. 
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, 
[I. 57. 
My lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be 
wound up. Kckens, Bleak House, iv. 
(c) A prominent isolated hill ; a hill generally : same as 
mound in Wisconsin and Iowa, and butte in the Cordilleran 
region. [Southern and western U. 8.] (d) In entom., a 
dilated outer portion of a part. Specifically (1) An ex- 
panded apical portion of an insect's antenna, as in a but- 
terfly. (2) In Diptera, the capitulum or outer portion of 
the halter or balancer. (3) The distended outer portion of 
afly's proboscis, (e) In a cannon, the spherical part at the 
rear end of the piece, forming the opposite extremity to 
the muzzle : it is a part of the cascabel. In ships' guns a 
breeching-loop takes the place of the knob. (/) In arch., 
specifically, a bunch of leaves, flowers, or similar orna- 
ments, as the boss at the intersection of ribs, the end of 
a label or other molding, or a bunch of foliage in a capital 
In this sense also called knop and knot. See cut under boss. 
( g) Same as knobstick. (A) The rudiment of a deer's antler. 
Compare knobber. 
knob (nob), v. ; pret. and pp. knobbed, ppr. 
knobbing. [< knob, n.'] I. intrans. To grow 
into knobs; bunch. 
II. trans. \. To produce a knob or knobs 
upon. 
Not stitche, or coughe, or knobbing gowt 
That makes the patiente slaw. 
Drant, tr. of Horace's Satires, i. 9. 
Olives of scarce two centuries' growth, and fig-trees 
knobbed with their sweet produce, overrun the sombre 
so' 1 - J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 196. 
3304 
Rotating discs, covered with a thin sheet of copper, 
whose surface has been knobbed, or raised into rows of 
oval knobs, by the application of a blind punch. 
Spons' Encyc. Manuf., I. 701. 
2. To free from kno^s, as stone in the quarry, 
in rough-dressing it. 
knobbed (nobd), a. [< knob + -ecft."] Having 
a knob or knobs; knobby; in entom., terminat- 
ing in a knob or dilated part, as the antennte of 
a butterfly. 
The horns of a roe deer of Greenland are pointed at the 
top, and knobbed or tuberous at the bottom. Grew. 
Knobbed hairs. See hairi. 
knobber (uob'er), . [Also knobbter; < knob + 
-er 1 .] A hart or stag in its second year; a 
brocket. 
He has hallooed the hounds upon a velvet-headed knob- 
bier. Scott. 
knobbiness (nob'i-nes), . The quality of hav- 
ing knobs or of being full of protuberances. 
knobbing (nob'ing), n. [Verbal n. of knob, v. ] 
The act of rough-dressing stone in the quarry, 
by knocking off the projections and points. 
knobble (nob'l), r. t. ; pret. and pp. knobbled, 
ppr. knobbling. [Preq. of knob, .] 1. Same 
as knob. 2. To hammer feebly. [Prov. Eng.] 
knobbled (nob'ld), p. a. [< knobble + -ed*.] 
Knobby; rough; knobbly. 
The workman [a glass-blower] having thereby taken 
possession of the globe by its bottom or knobbled pole at- 
tached to its punty rod. Ure, Diet., II. 667. 
knobbler (nob'ler), . 1. Same as knobber. 
2. In metal., same as nobbier. 
knobbly (nob'li), a. [< knobble + -7/1.] Full of 
knots or lumps. [Prov. Eng.] 
A band of grey marl forms a line of division from the 
underlying chalk, which for about a foot down is often 
hard and knobbly. Quart. Jour. Qeol. Soc., XLIV. 326. 
knobby (nob'i), o. [< knob + -if 1 .] 1. Having 
knobs or hard protuberances. 
No more 
Round knobby spots deform, but the disease 
Seems at a pause. Grainger, The Sugar Cane, iv. 
2. Abounding in rounded hills or mountains; 
hilly. 3f. Hard; stubborn. 
The informers continued in a knobby kind of obstinacy, 
resolving still to conceal the names of the authors. Howell. 
knob-fronted (nob'frun"ted), a. Having a 
boss on the base of the beak, forming a frontal 
knob: specifically applied to the domesticated 
Chinese swan-goose, Cygnopsis eygnoides. See 
cut under Cygnopsis. 
knobstick (nob'stik). n. 1. A heavy stick or 
cane with a knob. 2. In England, a workman 
who refuses to join a trades-union or retires 
from it, and who works when the members of 
the union are on strike. Also knob, nob, black- 
nob, and blackleg. Equivalent to scab in the 
United States. 
The clashing and clanging and clattering that has 
wearied a' my life long, about work and wages, and mas- 
ters, and hands, and knobsticks. 
Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, xvii. 
The knobstick takes away the striker's hope of bringing 
his employer to terms. Contemporary Ren., LI. 238. 
Also spelled nobstick. 
knobweed (nob'wed), n. Same as knapweed. 
knobwood (nob'wud), n. A thorny shrub or 
small tree of South Africa, Zan thoxylum Capense, 
of the rue family. It has a hard, close-grained 
wood, useful for domestic utensils, agricultural 
implements, etc. 
knock (nok), v. [< ME. knocken, knokkeji, < AS. 
"cnocian, in comp. gecnocian, usually cnucian, 
also cnuwian, cnuian, knock, beat, = Icel. knoka, 
knock ; cf . W. cnocio = Corn, cnoucye, knock ; 
secondary forms parallel with those of the series 
knack, all ult. imitative of a sharp sudden blow 
or report: see knack."] I. trans. 1. To strike 
or beat ; give a blow or blows to ; hit ; affect in 
some way by striking or hitting : as, to knock a 
ball with a bat ; to knock a man senseless ; he 
knocked me down; to knock out one's brains. 
Ill yield him thee asleep, 
Where thoa may'st knock a nail into his head. 
Shak., Tempest, iii. 2, 9. 
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail 
Or knock the breast. Milton, S. A., 1. 1722. 
2. To use in striking; give a blow or blows 
with ; bring into collision ; dash : as, to knock 
the head against a post. 
Tell him 111 knock his leek about his pate. 
Upon Saint Davy's day. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1, 54. 
Was ever Varus the nearer to restoring his Legions for 
Augustus knocking his head against the wall in a rage 
about the loss of them 1 Stillingfleet, Sermons, I. x. 
To knock about, to subject to rough or hard treatment; 
buffet : as, he had been a good deal knocked about by ad- 
verse fortune. 
knock 
The building has been so knocked about and altered in 
modern times, that it is impossible to spe;\k with certainty 
regarding it. J. Feryutxoit,, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 198. 
To knock down, (a) In auctions, to signify the sale of 
(the thing bid for) by a blow with a hammer or mallet ; 
assign as sold to the highest bidder. 
I found it in a volume, all of songs, 
Knock'd down to me when old Sir Robert's . . . books . . . 
Came to the hammer. Tennyson, Andley Court. 
(6) Naut., to lay (a ship) on her side, as a gust or gale. 
To knock down fares, to pilfer railroad or horse-car 
fares : said of a conductor of a railroad-train or of a horse- 
car. [U. s.] To knock Into a cocked hat. Seecoc*2, 
r.t To knock off. (o) To stop ; put an end to. [Colloq.) 
We knocked off work, and began to get dinner. 
The Century, XXVII. 184. 
(6) To accomplish hastily ; put out of hand. 
He could knock off Si parody, a drinking song, a copy of 
Latin verses. Westminster Rev., CXXV. 292. 
(c) To deduct : as, to knock off ten cents from the price. 
IColkxi.) To knock on or in the head, to stun or 
kill by a blow or by blows on the head ; hence, to de- 
stroy; frustrate, as a project or scheme; foil; render 
abortive. [Colloq.) To knock out, to beat in a pugi- 
listic contest; hence, to overcome; get the better of. 
To knock spots out Of, to defeat utterly; "do for" 
thoroughly. [Slang, U. 8.] To knock together, to get 
together or construct hastily : as, I knocked together a few 
necessaries and started off ; he knocked together a rough 
box. To knock up. (a) To arouse by the sound of knock- 
ing, as on a door, (b) To exhaust with fatigue ; tire out. 
If Fanny would be more regular in her exercise, she 
would not be knocked up so soon. 
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, vii. 
(c) In bookbinding, to make even the edges of, as a quan- 
tity of printed sheets, by striking them on a table while 
held loosely upright in the hands, (d) To construct hastily, 
as by nailing. 
Mr. Weevle . . . goes to work devising apologies for 
window-curtains and knocking up apologies for shelves. 
Dickens, Bleak House, xx. 
II. intrans. 1. To strike a blow with the fist 
or with something hard or heavy ; specifically, 
to rap upon a door or gate, as with the knuckles 
or a knocker, in order to atti'act the attention 
of those within. 
"Go up," quod he unto his knave anon ; 
" Clepe at his dore, or knokke with a ston : 
Looke how it is, and tel me boldely." 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, L 24. 
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Rev. iii 20. 
When death knocked at any door in the hamlet, there 
was an echo from every fireside. 
Loirett, Among my Hooks, 2d ser., p. 208. 
2. To move or be moved so as to come in col- 
lision with something ; strike ; clash : as, one 
heavy body knocks against another ; his knees 
knocked together from fright. 
He crawls on knocking knees. Pope, Moral Essays, L 236. 
3f. To smite upon the breast, as in penitence. 
It is not counted for a piece of religion to be at matins, 
at evensong, and at the prayers of the mass, as well as to 
knnck and kneel, and lift up our hands to the sacrament. 
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 350. 
Knock-about Tna,n, a jack of all trades ; a man employed 
to make himself generally useful : corresponding to a gen- 
eral servant in the house. [Australian.] 
The washers were as a class considerably below the 
shearers. They were composed chiefly of what are called 
in the Bush Knockabout men : that is, men who are will- 
ing to undertake any work, sometimes shepherding, some- 
times making yards or droving. 
A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. 80. 
To knock about, to wander here and there, especially in 
a rough, careless, or aimless way. [Colloq. 1 
I have been knocking about Europe long enough to learn 
there are certain ways of doing things. 
H. James, Jr., Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 349. 
To knock off. (a) To cease from labor ; stop work ; cease. 
In noting of their nativities, I have wholly observed the 
instructions of Pitseus, where I knock ojTwith his death, 
my light ending with his life on that subject. 
Fuller, Worthies, x. 
Some of Rouncewell's hands have just knocked off for 
dinner time. Dickens, Bleak House, Ixiii. 
(6t) To die. 
It was your ill fortune to live amongst such a refractory, 
perverse people, . . . that would not knock off in any rea- 
sonable time, but lived long on purpose to spite their re- 
lations. Tom Brown, Works, IV. 183. 
To knock out, to lose the scent : said of hounds in fox- 
hunting. To knock under, to yield ; submit ; acknow- 
ledge one's self conquered. To knock up, to fail from 
fatigue ; become exhausted. [Rare in intransitive use.) 
The horses were beginning to knock up under the fatigue 
of such severe service. De Quincey. 
knock (nok), n. [< knock, .] 1. A blow; a 
buffet ; a stroke with the fist, or with anything 
hard or heavy, as a cudgel, a hammer, or the 
knocker of a door. 
Norfolk, we must have knocks : ha ! must we not? 
Shak., Rich. III., v. 3, 5. 
He's a strange soldier that gets not a knock. 
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, ii. 1. 
2f. A clock. [Scotch.] 
