knap
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /næp/
homophone: nap
rhymes: -æp
Forms: form: knaps
Etymology: From Middle English knap, knappe (“small projection, knob (button, tassel, tuft, etc.); hill; hilltop; etc.”), from Old English cnæp, cnæpp (“summit, top”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Old Norse knappr (“small projection, knob (button, head of a stick, etc.)”) (whence English knop), from Proto-Germanic *knappô, *knuppô.
Senses: examples: text: [Y]ou ſhall ſee many fine ſeats ſet upon a knap of ground, environed vvith higher hills round about it; […]
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Building”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
text: Through the whole extent of the parish, a line of knaps can be distinctly traced. […] Almost every eminence seems to have had its knap. The use of these knaps cannot be mistaken. The uniform testimony of tradition, their local situation, and the quantity of ashes found in such of them as have been demolished, clearly point it out. They served as beacons, whereon fires were kindled, to indicate alarm, on the appearance of danger, or the approach of an enemy.
ref: 1810 May 9 (date written), Milo [pseudonym], “Tour from Arbroath to Montrose”, in The Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany: […], volume LXXII, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company [b]y J. Harden & Co., published May 1810, →OCLC, pages 342–343:
text: "Now, where's the inn?" said Mountclere, yawning. "Just on the knap," Sol answered. "'Tis a little small place, and we must do as well as we can."
ref: 1876, Thomas Hardy, “Sandbourne—A Lonely Heath—The ‘Old Fox’—The Highway”, in The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 235:
glosses: A piece of raised ground or a short, steep slope; a small hill; a hillock, a knoll.
examples: text: the highest part and knap of the same Iland
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
text: Hearke on knap of yonder hill / Some ſvveet ſhepheard tunes his quill, / And the maidens in a round / Sit (to heare him) on the ground.
ref: 1614, William Browne, “The Shepheard‘s Pipe. The First Eglogue.”, in [Thomas Davies], editor, The Works of William Browne, volume III, London: […] T[homas] Davies, […], published 1772, →OCLC, page 10:
text: […] Don Lucas […] thinkes in the darke morning to get the advantage of the hill-knap, and then to fall dovvne upon his enemie to be in his old Quarters. The hill top that Don Lucas thought to have gotten, vvas the ſame knap vvhich the Rhinegrave had before poſſeſſed himſelfe of: on the ſide of vvhich, Stolhanſhe vvas alſo lodged.
ref: 1633, [William Watts], “The Advancing of Another Spanish Armie into the Palatinate, after the King of Swedens Departure thence towards Bavaria. […]”, in The Swedish Intelligencer. The Fourth Part. Relating the Chiefest of Those Military Actions of the Swedish Generalls; wherein the King Himselfe was Not Personally with the Armie. […], London: […] [John Legate and Miles Flesher] for Nath[aniel] Butter and N[icholas] Bourne, →OCLC, page 5:
glosses: The crest or top of a hill.
Derived terms: knappy