knap
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /næp/
homophone: nap
rhymes: -æp
Forms: form: knaps
form: knapping
form: knapped
form: knapped
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: knap
form: knap
form: knapped
form: knap
form: knappest
form: knapped
form: knappedst
form: knaps
form: knappeth
form: knapped
form: knap
form: knapped
form: knap
form: knapped
form: knap
form: -
form: knapping
form: knapped
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English knappen (“to strike (something)”); further etymology uncertain, probably related to Middle Dutch knappen, cnappen (“to break (something) with a sharp sound, snap; to crack or crackle”) (modern Dutch knappen), probably ultimately onomatopoeic.
The noun is derived from Late Middle English knap, knappe (“sharp blow, strike”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from the verb (see above), or related to an ancestor of Danish knep and Swedish knäpp (“a flick, rap, snap”), probably ultimately onomatopoeic.
Senses: examples: text: He hath made warres to ceaſſe in all the worlde: he hath broken the bowe, he hath knapped the ſpeare in ſonder, ⁊ brẽt [brent] the charettes in the fyre.
ref: 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Psalm xlv:[9]:
text: O God of peace vvhich makeſt an end of vvarre in al the vvorld, and breakeſt the bovve, and knappeſt the ſpeares aſunder, and burneſt the chariots vvith fire; protect vs from vvarre and ſlaughter; ſcatter the nations that delight in vvarre.
ref: 1586, Iohn Avenar [i.e., Johann Habermann], “A Praier for Peace”, in Thomas Rogers, transl., The Enimie of Securitie or A Daily Exercise of Godlie Meditations, […], London: […] Henrie Denham […], →OCLC, page 179:
text: VVhy I tye about thy vvriſt, / Julia, this my ſilken tvvist, / […] / 'Tis but ſilke that bindeth thee; / Knap the thread, and thou art free; / But 'tis othervviſe vvith me: / I am bound, and faſt bound ſo, / That from thee I cannot go; / If I co'd, I vvo'd not so.
ref: 1648, Robert Herrick, “The Bracelet to Julia”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To break (something) into small pieces with a cracking sound; to fragment, to smash; also, to break (something) apart sharply; to snap.
examples: text: An average workman will knap 3,000 flints in a day of 12 hours, but a good one will make 4,000 at a pinch.
ref: 1879, Sydney B. J. Skertchly, “Manufacture of Gun-flints”, in On the Manufacture of Gun-flints, the Methods of Excavating for Flint, the Age of Palæolithic Man, and the Connexion between Neolithic Art and the Gun-flint Trade (Memoirs of the Geological Survey, England and Wales), London: […] Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, and sold by Longman & Co., […], →OCLC, page 33:
text: After every five or six shots, check the flint and tighten the jaws, if the flint has shifted. After twenty shots, flip the flint and dry fire the gun. This should knap the edge [of the flint].
ref: 1996 November, Lionel Atwill, “The Flash of Flint on Steel”, in Duncan Barnes, editor, Field & Stream, east edition, volume CI, number 7, New York, N.Y.: Times Mirror Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48, column 2:
text: Not all chert and non-chert materials are amenable to knapping. […] Because a knapper removes flakes by loading force into a small area of the target core, materials that contain many inclusions or are coarse-grained are difficult to knap – the inclusions deflect energy producing irregular results.
ref: 1998 January, Anthony Tolonen, Laura Clifford, “Appendix F: Phase I Cultural Resource Report: Proposed Charlotte-Douglas International Airport Expansion, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina [Method]”, in Environmental Impact Statement: Charlotte/Douglas International Airport: Appendices F–J (Project E&A-004), volume I (Technical Report), page 39:
text: [O]ne knapper, who was very skilled and, therefore, presumed to be an adult, made highly standardized prismatic blades. These blades were widely distributed for use throughout the site – in fact, only 10 of the 50 blades and bladelets this individual crafted were found where they were knapped.
ref: 2021, April Nowell, “Stone Tools, Skill Acquisition and Learning a Craft”, in Growing Up in the Ice Age: Fossil and Archaeological Evidence of the Lived Lives of Plio-Pleistocene Children, Oxford, Oxfordshire; Havertown, Pa.: Oxbow Books, →ISBN, page 84:
topics: archaeology
history
human-sciences
sciences
glosses: To break (something) into small pieces with a cracking sound; to fragment, to smash; also, to break (something) apart sharply; to snap.
To break away flakes from (a brittle material which fractures conchoidally (“with planar concentric curves”), usually a mineral such as chert, flint, or obsidian), often to form a tool with a sharp edge or point.
synonyms: chip
examples: text: Take one Veſſel of Siluer, and another of VVood, and fill each of them full of VVater, and then knap the Tongs together, as before, about an handfull from the Bottome, and you ſhall finde the Sound much more Reſounding from the Veſſel of Siluer, than from that of VVood: […] ſuch a Communication paſſeth farre better, thorovv VVater, than Aire.
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching Production, Conseruation, and Delation of Sounds; and the Office of the Aire therein.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 134, page 154:
text: "That will be sixpence," he said without looking up. She knapped her lips together and turned on her heel without another word.
ref: 1977, Marilynne K. Roach, Encounters with the Invisible World: Being Ten Tales of Ghosts, Witches, & the Devil Himself in New England, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell Co., →ISBN, page 10:
synonyms: knack
glosses: To strike (something) sharply; to knock, to rap.
examples: text: VVith his rod […] he knapt of the uppermoſt heads and tops of the poppies.
ref: 1600, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book LIV]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 38:
text: Its [i.e., the foment is] prevalent in fixt Scorbutic Pains, for as much as it ſuſtains the Tone of the parts, layeth the vveary Spirits to reſt, knappeth off the ſharp points of the Salts, and forceth the acrid Ichor to evaporate either by inſenſible Effluvia or Svveat.
ref: 1710, Thomas Fuller, “A Scorbutic Foment”, in Pharmacopœia Extemporanea: Or, A Body of Prescripts. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Walford,, […], →OCLC, page 170:
glosses: Followed by off: to break (something) away from another thing by striking or tapping sharply.
examples: text: [T]he evil spirit of the year sixteen hundred and forty-twa is at wark again as merrily as ever, and ilka [every] auld wife in the chimley-neuck will be for knapping doctrine wi' doctors o' divinity and the godly fathers o' the church.
ref: 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume II (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 150:
text: And there's Leddy Glendochart that is a real credit to the family, and has travelled, and can knap English with the best—far better than you.
ref: 1890, [Margaret] Oliphant, chapter VIII, in Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago […], volume III, London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 142:
glosses: To say (something) crisply or sharply.
examples: text: In ſtringinge of your bovv […] you muſt mark the fit length of youre bovve. […] Yf it [the string] be longe, the bendynge muſt nedes be in the ſmal of the ſtring, vvhich beynge ſore tvvined muſte nedes knap in ſunder to yͤ diſtruction of manye good bovves.
ref: 1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge […], London: […] Edouardi Whytchurch, →OCLC:
glosses: To break or fracture suddenly; to snap.
examples: text: If the Thigh-bone be luxated invvard, and the Patient young and of a tender Conſtitution, it may be reduced by the Hand of the Chirurgeon: […] [H]e muſt ſuddenly force the Knee up tovvards the Belly, and preſs back the head of the Femur into its Acetabulum, and it vvill knap in.
ref: 1676, Richard Wiseman, “An Appendix to the Treatise of Gun-shot Wounds. Chapter VIII. Of Luxation of the Hip.”, in Severall Chirurgicall Treatises, London: […] E. Flesher and J. Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took, […], →OCLC, page 495:
glosses: To make a cracking or snapping sound; to crack, to snap.
glosses: To strike sharply.
glosses: To speak crisply or sharply.
topics: dice
gambling
games
glosses: To cheat while gambling, especially at a dice game.
Derived terms: word: flintknapper
word: flintknapping
word: knapbottle
word: knap it
word: knappable
word: knapped
word: knapper
word: knapping
word: knappish
word: knapple
english: to cheat in a dice game
translation: to cheat in a dice game
word: nab
word: stone knapper
Related terms: word: knapsack
topics: archaeology
history
human-sciences
sciences
word: flake
topics: archaeology
history
human-sciences
sciences
word: hinge
topics: archaeology
history
human-sciences
sciences
word: pressure flaking