Word: knot Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus. * (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the logline (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every ¹⁄₁₂₀ of a mile. Pronunciation: /nɒt/, /nɑt/ 1. A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops. Example: Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope. Example: The obstructive tendency attributed to the knot in spiritual matters appears in a Swiss superstition that if, in sewing a corpse into its shroud, you make a knot on the thread, it will hinder the soul of the deceased on its passage to eternity. 2. A tangled clump of hair or similar. Example: The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair. 3. A maze-like pattern. Example: Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art / In beds and curious knots, but nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain. 4. A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above). Example: A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon. 5. A difficult situation. Example: I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman. Example: A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs. 6. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk. Example: When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots, since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks. 7. Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury. Example: Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe. 8. A tightened and contracted part of a muscle that feels like a hard lump under the skin. 9. A protuberant joint in a plant. 10. Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance. Example: [T]he Queen who sat / With lips severely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat, […] 11. The swelling of the bulbus glandis in members of the dog family, Canidae. 12. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter. Example: the knot of the tale 13. A node (point at which the lines of a funicular machine meet from different angular directions) 14. A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot. 15. A group of people or things. Example: his ancient knot of dangerous adversarie Example: As they sat together in small, separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief. 16. A bond of union; a connection; a tie. Example: [I come] to crave a league of amity, And lastly, to confirm that amity With nuptial knot […] Example: [I]t were very fit, […] to observe carefully this previous betrothing of ourselves, ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed. 17. A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour. Example: Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots. 18. A unit of indicated airspeed, calibrated airspeed, or equivalent airspeed, which varies in its relation to the unit of speed so as to compensate for the effects of different ambient atmospheric conditions on aircraft performance. Example: In the early stages of reentry, due to the extremely-rarefied air at these altitudes, the space shuttle flew at only one to a few knots equivalent airspeed, even when its actual speed was many thousands of knots. 19. A nautical mile. 20. The bulbus glandis. Labels: slang