KNUCKLE

knuckle, knuckle joint, metacarpophalangeal joint

(noun) a joint of a finger when the fist is closed

knuckle

(verb) shoot a marble while keeping one’s knuckles on the ground

knuckle

(verb) press or rub with the knuckles

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

knuckle (plural knuckles)

Any of the joints between the phalanges of the fingers.

(by extension) A mechanical joint.

A cut of meat.

(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 used of the kneejoint of a human being.

(obsolete) The joint of a plant.

(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.

(skiing, snowboarding) The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.

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.

(intransitive) To bend the fingers.

(intransitive) To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.

(intransitive, figurative) To yield.

Synonym: knuckle under

Source: Wiktionary

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Knuc"kle, n. Etym: [OE. knokel, knokil, AS. cuncel; akin to D. knokkel, OFries. knokele, knokle, G. knöchel, Sw. knoge, Dan. knokkel, G. knochen bone, and perh. to E. knock.]

1. The joint of a finger, particularly when made prominent by the closing of the fingers. Davenant.

2. The kneejoint, or middle joint, of either leg of a quadruped, especially of a calf; -- formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being. With weary knuckles on thy brim she kneeled sadly down. Golding.

3. The joint of a plant. [Obs.] Bacon.

4. (Mech.)

Definition: The joining pars of a hinge through which the pin or rivet passes; a knuckle joint.

5. (Shipbuilding)

Definition: 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.

6. 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; as, brass knuckles; -- called also knuckle duster. [Slang.] Knuckle joint (Mach.), a hinge joint, in which a projection with an eye, on one piece, enters a jaw between two corresponding projections with eyes, on another piece, and is retained by a pin which passes through the eyes and forms the pivot.

– Knuckle of veal (Cookery), the lower part of a leg of veal, from the line of the body to the knuckle.

Knuc"kle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Knuckled;; p. pr. & vb. n. Knuckling.]

Definition: To yield; to submit; -- used with down, to, or under. To knuckle to. (a) To submit to in a contest; to yield to. [Colloq.] See To knock under, under Knock, v. i. (b) To apply one's self vigorously or earnestly to; as, to knuckle to work. [Colloq.]

Knuc"kle, v. t.

Definition: To beat with the knuckles; to pommel. [R.] Horace Smith.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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