Definition of "knee"

knee

/niː/

noun
plural knees or (obsolete or dialectal) kneen
1. In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
  Quotations
  He made him ſtoup perforce vnto his knee, / And doe vnwilling worſhip to the Saint, / That on his ſhield depainted he did ſee […]
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, page 249
  KORRIS: I have tasted your heart. You have been with them, but you are still "of" us. Do not deny the challenge of your destiny. Get off your knees and soar. Open your eyes and let the dream take flight.
  1988 March 21, Vaughn Armstrong, Heart of Glory (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television
2. In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
3. The part of a garment that covers the knee.
4. (shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
  Quotations
  Deck beams were supported by hanging knees, triangular pieces of wood typically found underneath the timbers they are designed to support, but in this case found above them.
  1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 41
5. (archaic) An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
  Quotations
  Give them title, knee, and approbation.
  c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii], line 36
  […] and he made a knee to the Caesar of Patna, giving that man all honour due to him.
  2009, C. E. Murphy, The Pretender's Crown, page 127
6. Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line; an inflection point.
7. A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.
  Quotations
  Tante was groggy but not quite out so Winnie gave him a knee to the jaw that Rose had shown her, and that was enough. He slumped like a rag-doll to the floor.
  2016, Clive Mullis, Scooters Yard
8. (figurative) The presence of a parent etc., where a young child acquires early knowledge.
  Quotations
  The duty is, or should be, a thing taught at one's father's knee, and the structure of the family gently enforces it.
  1978, Time, volume 111, numbers 18-26, page 49
  This has significant implications for sacramental theology which it seems Pusey even realised in the way he spoke of his early life and of learning all he knew about the Eucharist and the Catholic faith at his mother's knee, […]
  2015, Brian Douglas, The Eucharistic Theology of Edward Bouverie Pusey, page 113
verb
third-person singular simple present knees, present participle kneeing, simple past and past participle kneed
1. (transitive, archaic) To kneel to.
  Quotations
  I could as well be brought / To knee his throne and, squire-like, pension beg / To keep base life afoot
  c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]
2. (transitive) To poke or strike with the knee.
3. (reflexive) To move on the knees; to use the knees to move.
  Quotations
  Hassan kneed himself up, over, in, soundlessly, feet on floor, knife out, eyes like blunter knife trying to cut darkness.
  1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 489

Definition of "knee"

knee

noun

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verb

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