knee
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: nē
ipa: /niː/
ipa: /ni/
ipa: /kniː/
rhymes: -iː
homophone: nee
Forms: form: knees
form: kneen
Etymology: From Middle English kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu.
See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian kne, Swedish knä; also Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Welsh glin (“knee”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨 (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu).
The obsolete plural kneen is from Middle English kneen, knen, kneon, kneuwene.
Senses: examples: text: Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.
text: He made him ſtoup perforce vnto his knee, / And doe vnwilling worſhip to the Saint, / That on his ſhield depainted he did ſee[…]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 249:
text: KORRIS: I have tasted your heart. You have been with them, but you are still "of" us. Do not deny the challenge of your destiny. Get off your knees and soar. Open your eyes and let the dream take flight.
ref: 1988 March 21, Vaughn Armstrong, Heart of Glory (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
glosses: In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
glosses: In birds:
The tarsal joint, uniting the tarsometatarsus and the tibiotarsus (homologous to the human ankle).
qualifier: non-technical
glosses: In birds:
The joint uniting the tibiotarsus and the femur, typically hidden beneath plumage.
glosses: The part of a garment that covers the knee.
examples: text: Deck beams were supported by hanging knees, triangular pieces of wood typically found underneath the timbers they are designed to support, but in this case found above them.
ref: 1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 41:
topics: business
manufacturing
shipbuilding
glosses: A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
examples: text: Give them title, knee, and approbation.
ref: c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], line 36:
text: […] and he made a knee to the Caesar of Patna, giving that man all honour due to him.
ref: 2009, C. E. Murphy, The Pretender's Crown, page 127:
glosses: An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
examples: text: the knee of a graph
glosses: Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line; an inflection point.
examples: text: Tante was groggy but not quite out so Winnie gave him a knee to the jaw that Rose had shown her, and that was enough. He slumped like a rag-doll to the floor.
ref: 2016, Clive Mullis, Scooters Yard:
glosses: A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.
examples: text: The duty is, or should be, a thing taught at one's father's knee, and the structure of the family gently enforces it.
ref: 1978, Time, volume 111, numbers 18-26, page 49:
text: This has significant implications for sacramental theology which it seems Pusey even realised in the way he spoke of his early life and of learning all he knew about the Eucharist and the Catholic faith at his mother's knee, […]
ref: 2015, Brian Douglas, The Eucharistic Theology of Edward Bouverie Pusey, page 113:
coordinate_terms: lap
glosses: The presence of a parent etc., where a young child acquires early knowledge.
Derived terms: aknee
beach thick-knee
bend the knee
bring to one's knees
bush thick-knee
cypress knee
down on one's knees
drop-knee
Eurasian thick-knee
flying knee
give a knee
great thick-knee
hollow of the knee
housemaid's knee
jumper's knee
knee ache
knee baby
kneeband
knee-band
kneebar
kneeboard
kneebound
knee-breeches
knee britches
kneebuckle
knee-buckler
knee cap
kneecap
knee-cap
knee-capping
knee-cords
knee-crooking
knee-deep
knee-deep in the Big Muddy
knee dragging
knee drop
kneeful
kneegrow
knee guard
knee high
knee-high
knee-high blackberry
knee-high by the Fourth of July
knee-high to a grasshopper
kneehole
knee holly
knee jerk
knee-jerkery
knee-jerking
knee-jerkish
knee-jerkishly
kneejerk
knee-jerk
knee-jerky
kneejoint
kneejointed
knee kicker
kneel
knee-length
kneeless
kneelet
knee lever
kneelike
knee-pad
knee pad
knee-paddle
kneepan
kneepiece
knee pit
kneeprint
knee push-up
knee raise
knee roll
kneeroom
knee scooter
kneesie
kneesies
knee slapper
knee-slapper
knee-slapping
knee slide
knee sock
knee stop
knees-up
knee swell
kneesy
knee tickler
kneetop
knee-tremble
knee-trembler
knee-trembling
knee wall
knock knee
knock-knee
midknee
offer a knee
on bended knee
overknee
ox knee
pushknee
runners' knee
runner's knee
runners knee
take a knee
take the knee
thick-knee
underknee
water on the knee