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Fine Dictionary

knee

ni
WordNet
Dieuwke Fountain (1800-79).Second wife of Adriaan van der Hoop (married 1834)
Dieuwke Fountain (1800-79).Second wife of Adriaan van der Hoop (married 1834)
Portrait of Dieuwke Fontein, Adriaan van der Hoop's second wife since 1834. Knee pad, sitting in a chair, a fan in the right hand, glove in the left. Pendant to SK-C-169.
  1. (n) knee
    joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee
  2. (n) knee
    the part of a trouser leg that provides the cloth covering for the knee
  3. (n) knee
    hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
Illustrations
Model of a part of the ship's hull with weighing and two deck beams for a lower deck. Composite metal knees support the beams; they consist of two parts that clamp the deck beam between them. The knees are each other's mirror image.
Model of two iron lower deck knees
Portrait of Albertus Henricus Wiese (1761-1810). Governor General (1805-08). Knee pad, sitting in a chair, to the right with command staff in right hand. The facial features are modeled on a miniature portrait painted by Joseph Gillis in Batavia. Part of a series of portraits of the governors-general of the former Dutch East Indies.
Albertus Henricus Wiese (1761-1810).Governor General (1805-08)
Portrait of a man, possibly Jacob de Graeff, alderman from Amsterdam in 1672. Knee piece, leaning against a rock, right hand resting on the head of a greyhound, right a dead hare.
Portrait of a man, possibly Jacob de Graeff, alderman from Amsterdam in 1672
Portrait of Jan van Gelder, captain at sea, stepson of Michiel Adriaensz de Ruyter. Knee piece, standing in front of a coast with a ship at sea in the distance. Walking stick and glove in the left hand, gesturing with the right hand. A dog jumps up on him.
Jan van Gelder (1647-73).Captain at sea, stepson of Michiel Adriaensz de Ruyter
Portrait of a girl, known as 'The Little Princess'. Knee pad, standing, with the right hand she strokes a dog.
Portrait of a girl, known as 'The Little Princess'
The clogs. Study of a child sitting on a sofa, with clogs and bare knees above the stockings. This is To, the daughter of Breitner's sister.
The clogs
Three Apostles, standing, seen to the knees. The man on the left has a sword in his right hand. Probably a fragment of a larger whole.
Three Apostles
Portrait of a woman. Knee pad, standing with a rose in the right hand. In the background a garden. Pendant to SK-C-24.
Portrait of a woman. Knee pad, standing with a rose in the right hand. In the background a garden. Pendant to SK-C-24.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Interesting fact
Hacky Sack was invented by a football player in the mid 1970's who used it to stregthen tendons he had torn in his knee.
  1. Knee
    A bending of the knee, as in respect or courtesy. "Give them title, knee , and approbation."
  2. Knee
    (Mech. & Shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
  3. Knee
    In man, the joint in the middle part of the leg.
  4. Knee
    (Anat) In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in man.
  5. Knee
    (Anat) The joint, or region of the joint, between the thigh and leg.
  6. Knee
    To supplicate by kneeling. "Fall down, and knee The way into his mercy."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Interesting fact
If you lock your knee while standing long enough, you will pass out.
  1. (n) knee
    The joint between the two principal parts of the leg of man or the hind limb of lower animals; the articulation of the thigh-bone or femur with the tibia or fibula, or with both. See def. 2 and knee-joint.
  2. (n) knee
    Some other joint in animals other than man, likened to the human knee-joint or regarded as its representative The carpal articulation or wrist-joint of various animals, as the horse, cow, etc.: as, the horse went down on his knees.
  3. (n) knee
    The tarsal articulation or heel-joint of a bird; the suffrago: as, tibiæ feathered down to the knee, The joint of an insect's leg connecting the femur and the tibia. In descriptions the word is often used to indicate the apex of the femur, sometimes including the base of the tibia: as, black or yellow knees.
  4. (n) knee
    Something resembling the knee in shape.
  5. (n) knee
    Specifically— In ship-building, a piece of timber or iron having an angular bend like that of the knee, used to secure the beams of a ship to her sides or timbers. The branches of the knee form an angle of greater or smaller extent, according to the situation of the pieces which it is designed to unite. Lodging-knees are knees fixed parallel to the deck. Hanging-knees are knees placed vertically, generally under a deck-beam. Diagonal hanging-knees are knees which cross the timbers in a slanting direction. Also knee-piece. See cut nnder stern.
  6. (n) knee
    In carpentry, a piece of wood having a natural bend, or sawn into shape, and fitted into an angle.
  7. (n) knee
    In architecture, a part of the back of a hand-rail of a convex form: the reverse of a ramp, which is concave.
  8. (n) knee
    In botany a spur-like process on the roots of the bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, by which a part of their surface is kept above water.
  9. (n) knee
    A genuflection; reverence.
  10. knee
    To go down on the knees; kneel.
  11. knee
    To kneel to.
  12. knee
    To pass over on the knees.
  13. knee
    In ship-building, to fit with a knee or knees.
  14. (n) knee
    In graphics, a break or abrupt change in a plotted curve.
  15. (n) knee
    A natural prominence; a rock, hill, or part of a hill.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Interesting fact
1 in 5 men proposed on his knees.
  1. (n) Knee
    the joint between the thigh and shin bones: a piece of timber or metal like a bent knee:
  2. (v.t) Knee
    (Shak.) to kneel to, to go over on one's knees
  3. (n) Knee
    (Shak.) a genuflection
Quotations
We need tough days to drive us to our knees.
Source Unknown
If your knees are knocking, kneel on them.
Source Unknown
Victor Hugo
Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.
Victor Hugo
Emiliano Zapata
Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.
Emiliano Zapata
William Cowper
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
William Cowper
H. Ross Perot
Failures are like skinned knees, painful but superficial.
H. Ross Perot
Idioms

Bee's Knees - If something is the bee's knees, it's outstanding or the best in its class.

Knee slapper - A knee slapper is something that is considered funny, though it is often used sarcastically.

Knee-high to a grasshopper - If something happened when you were knee-high to a grasshopper, it happened when you were a very young child.

Knee-jerk reaction - A knee-jerk reaction is an instant, instinctive response to a situation.

Weak at the knees - If people go weak at the knees, they have a powerful emotional reaction to something and feel that they might fall over.

Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary OE. kne, cneo, As. cneó, cneów,; akin to OS. knio, kneo, OFries. knī, G. & D. knie, OHG. chniu, chneo, Icel. knē, Sw. knä, Dan. knæ, Goth. kniu, L. genu, Gr. go`ny, Skr. jānu, √231. Cf. Genuflection

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary A.S. cneów, cneó; Ger. knie, L. genu, Gr. gonu.

Usage in the news

Chas is an honor-roll student and has been a big help to his family after his mother's knee surgery. nj.com

Dena Cooper never imagined that at age 47 her doctor would recommend double knee-replacement surgery. nj.com

Surgery at age 14 to remove bone chips in his right knee. nytimes.com

Ken knocked out the room's two 12-foot-long knee walls, reframed both eaves , and then Sheetrocked the studded walls. yankeemagazine.com

On my knees in Ohio, prayin' for an echo chamber . appeal-democrat.com

The fracture failed to set properly, and soon his hip and knee had stiffened up as well. nytimes.com

Former UT star puts knee injury behind him with historic outing. star-telegram.com

Vail knee surgeon awarded esteemed orthopaedic reseach award. vaildaily.com

Pittsburgh lost rookie guard David DeCastro to a gruesome right knee injury in the first quarter of an otherwise dominant 38-7 preseason win over the Buffalo Bills. ncnewsonline.com

Fans will now be patted down from the ankles to the knees, and from the waist up. 999ktdy.com

Laurence Bowers had 20 points and seven rebounds in his return from a knee. ksdk.com

Tra Thomas has some pain in his back these days where he had surgery once, and his knees bark at him occasionally, but for a man who played a dozen seasons of offensive tackle in the NFL, Thomas got away almost clean. philly.com

Jose Aldo knees Mike Brown during the World Featherweight Championship Wednesday at the Palms. lasvegassun.com

Brown Knee Out for the season. nst.net

'Family' lifted Eric Maynor after knee injury, literally and figuratively . newsok.com

Usage in scientific papers

In the second case, cosmic ray protons peaking at ∼ 1015 − 1016 eV (close to the knee in the CR spectrum) are produced. A distinct model of UHECR particles above the GZK cutoff has been recently proposed .
Neutron Stars as Sources of High Energy Particles - the case of RPP

We recover the knee at low luminosities that is found in observations.
The phase-diagram of the IGM and the entropy floor of groups and clusters: are clusters born warm?

This, of course, is a direct consequence of the fact that the velocity spectrum of planetesimals has a knee at xk , see §4.2.1.
Dynamical evolution of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks

As a result, mass spectrum exhibits a pronounced “knee” at this mass.
Dynamical evolution of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks

Note that the separation of ℓ2 (L, p) and Lξ increases with increasing number of shortcuts x in the system, making the “knee” of the first-return distribution more pronounced.
Scaling Properties of Random Walks on Small-World Networks

Usage in literature

Or the hot bathing of a sore knee may be most effective for a while, and then may give rise to sore pain. "Papers on Health" by John Kirk

Roach recoiled, then sunk upon his knees with an abject whine for mercy. "Prisoners of Hope" by Mary Johnston

He shut it in and rose from his knees. "The Long Roll" by Mary Johnston

On the shore every one fell to his knees in prayer. "The Best Short Stories of 1920" by Various

He was a little uncertain about the knees, but very sanguine for all that. "The Forbidden Trail" by Honoré Willsie

They were heavy-set men in leather jackets and short, wide knee-length trousers. "Beyond the Vanishing Point" by Raymond King Cummings

Were it not in a ball-room, I should beg the favour upon my knees. "The War Trail" by Mayne Reid

Whenever she had an easy moment, she used to like to have him placed on her knee. "How It All Came Round" by L. T. Meade

As Julius rose his knees gave under him. "The History of Sir Richard Calmady" by Lucas Malet

Finally the excavation was three feet deep, and high enough to admit Hamp on his hands and knees. "The Camp in the Snow" by William Murray Graydon

Usage in poetry
What sweet solemnity to see
The little life upon thy knee,
And whisper as so soft it lies,—
'Our little babe!'
But if my brothers thou dost call
As children to thy knee,
Thou givest me my being's all,
Thou sayest child to me.
And Nature, the old nurse, took
The child upon her knee,
Saying: "Here is a story-book
Thy Father has written for thee."
And mother dear, take my young son,
(Since I was born of thee)
And care for all his little ways
And nurse him on thy knee.
Underneath thine open sky,
Father, as we bend the knee,
May we feel thy presence nigh,
--Nothing 'twixt our souls and thee!
"O Mother, Mother, come to me,
For I am sore distrest,
And I would kneel beside your knee
And weep upon your breast. . . ."