KNUCKLE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Knuckle

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/nˈəkəl/ Listen

noun

Knuckle n.

1.

The joint of a finger, particularly when made prominent by the closing of the fingers.

2.

The kneejoint, or middle joint, of either leg of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being. "With weary knuckles on thy brim she kneeled sadly down."

3.

The joint of a plant. (Obs.)

4.

(Mech.) The joining parts of a hinge through which the pin or rivet passes; a knuckle joint.

5.

(Shipbuilding) A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom.

6.

A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; called also knuckle duster, knuckles or brass knuckles. (Slang.)

Knuckle joint (Mach.), a hinge joint, in which a projection with an eye, on one piece, enters a jaw between two corresponding projections with eyes, on another piece, and is retained by a pin which passes through the eyes and forms the pivot.

Knuckle of veal (Cookery), the lower part of a leg of veal, from the line of the body to the knuckle.

verb

Knuckle v. t. To beat with the knuckles; to pummel. (R.)

Knuckle v. i. (past & past part. knuckled; pres. part. knuckling) To yield; to submit; used with down, to, or under.

To knuckle to.

(a)

To submit to in a contest; to yield to. (Colloq.) See To knock under, under Knock, v. i.

(b)

To apply one's self vigorously or earnestly to; as, to knuckle to work. (Colloq.)

See images of 'Knuckle'

Etymology of 'Knuckle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Knuckle" Quotes from Famous Books

... Red Corpuscles.*—Blood for this purpose is easily obtained from the finger. With a handkerchief, wrap one of the fingers of the left hand from the knuckle down to the first joint. Bend this joint and give it a sharp prick with the point of a sterilized 'needle just above the root of the nail. Pressure applied to the under side of the finger will force plenty of blood ...

— Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools • Francis M. Walters, A.M.

... door of the world's treasure-house guarded by a child—an idle irresponsible child playing knuckle-bones—on whose favor depends the gift of the key, and you will imagine one-half my torment. Till that evening Charlie had spoken nothing that might not lie within the experiences of a Greek galley-slave. ...

— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... visible in three or four ugly scratches. "Confound the little brute!" he exclaimed, feeling as if an altar had been desecrated. He was reminded, however, of the observation this outrage had led him to make, and, for further assurance, he knocked on the wood with his knuckle. It sounded from that position commonplace enough, but his suspicion was strongly confirmed when, again standing beside the desk, he put his head beneath the lifted lid and gave ear while with ...

— Sir Dominick Ferrand • Henry James

... there is no accounting for that conquering spirit of all-besetting drowsiness that attacks us at sundry times and places. It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into an awakening stretch—that we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no more—that we dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our visage, with a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never sinned by drowsing in church time? ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827 • Various

... hungry (bucketee), when she came, and she laughed merrily one day when called so inadvertently. We ourselves went out and gathered several pailsful from the rocks on the first portage. Blue-berries, or knuckle-berries as they are called in Ontario, grow much larger in the North-west than I ever saw them elsewhere, being sometimes as large as small Delaware grapes. The little bushes grow thickly in the crevices of ...

— A Trip to Manitoba • Mary FitzGibbon

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