# knuckle
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) +‎ *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: nŭkˈ-əl, IPA: /ˈnʌkəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌkəl

### Noun

knuckle (plural knuckles)
* Any of the joints between the bones of the fingers.
* (by extension) A mechanical joint.
* (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
* The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly, the kneejoint of a human being.
** 1567, Ovid, “(please specify the book number or chapter)”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC:With wearie knockles on thy brim she kneeled sadly downe
* A cut of meat of various kinds.
    Beef knuckle is from the knee joint. Pork knuckle, or ham hock, is from the joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot of a pig, where the foot was attached to the leg.
* (obsolete) The joint of a plant.
** 1623, Francis Bacon, The History of Dense and Rare:In the West Indies there are found, even in sandy deserts and very dry places, large canes, which at every joint or knuckle yield a good supply of fresh water
* (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.
* 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; a knuckle duster.
    brass knuckles
* (skiing, snowboarding) The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.

#### Derived terms

* knuckleball
* knuckle bow
* knuckle-buster
* knuckle children
* knuckle dragger, knuckle-dragging
* knuckle duster
* knucklehead
* knuckle joint
* knuckle sandwich
* knuckle-scraper
* knuckle-tat
* knuckle-walking
* bare-knuckle → bare-knuckle boxing
* brass knuckles
* five-knuckle shuffle
* fuck-knuckle
* moose knuckle
* near the knuckle
* pea-knuckle → pea-knuckle war
* white-knuckle → white-knuckle ride

#### Translations
### Verb

knuckle (third-person singular simple present knuckles, present participle knuckling, simple past and past participle knuckled)
* (transitive) To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles (sense 1).
    He knuckled the sleep from his eyes.
* (transitive, slang) To strike or punch.
** 2013, Lenny McLean, The Guv'nor:I could feel my big toe snap, but as he's gone down on his good knee and half swung round I knuckled him in the kidney as hard as I could hit. He's gone all the way down, so I dropped my 19 stone into the middle of his back.
** 2014, W. Smyth, Mama OM, page 415:Only then I knuckled him. He had to be taught a hard lesson.
* (intransitive) To bend the fingers.
* (intransitive) To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.
* (intransitive, figurative) To yield.
    Synonym: knuckle under
* (snowboarding, skiing) To land on the knuckle (sense 9) of a curve of a slope, after a jump off a ramp that precedes the slope.

#### Derived terms

* knuckle down
* knuckle to
* knuckle under
* knuckle up