Knot - Definition

n 1: a tight cluster of people or things; "a small knot of women
listened to his sermon"; "the bird had a knot of feathers
forming a crest"
2: any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope
(or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object
3: a hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a
branch emerged; "the saw buckled when it hit a knot"
4: something twisted and tight and swollen; "their muscles stood
out in knots"; "the old man's fists were two great gnarls";
"his stomach was in knots" [syn: knot, gnarl]
5: a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters;
historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of
arc in latitude [syn: nautical mile, mile, mi, naut
mi, knot, international nautical mile, air mile]
6: soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or
created by design [syn: slub, knot, burl]
7: a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the
southern hemisphere [syn: knot, greyback, grayback,
Calidris canutus]
v 1: make into knots; make knots out of; "She knotted her
fingers"
2: tie or fasten into a knot; "knot the shoelaces"
3: tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story" [syn: ravel,
tangle, knot] [ant: ravel, ravel out, unknot,
unpick, unravel, unscramble, untangle]