knuckle
pronunciation
How to pronounce knuckle in British English:
UK [ˈnʌkl]
How to pronounce knuckle in American English:
US [ˈnʌkl]
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- Noun:
- a joint of a finger when the fist is closed
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- Verb:
- press or rub with the knuckles
- shoot a marble while keeping one's knuckles on the ground
Word Origin
- knuckle
- knuckle: [14] Knuckle originally denoted the rounded end of a bone at a joint, which sticks out when you bend the joint. This could be at any joint, including the elbow, the knee and even the joints of the vertebrae; only gradually did it become specialized to the finger joints. The word probably came from Middle Low German knökel (or a relative of it), which appears to have meant etymologically ‘little bone’. Knuckle down, in the sense ‘begin to work hard and conscientiously’, comes from the game of marbles, where players have to put their knuckles on the ground when shooting a marble with the thumb.
- knuckle (n.)
- mid-14c., knokel "finger joint; any joint of the body, especially a knobby one; morbid lump or swelling;" common Germanic (cognates: Middle Low German knökel, Middle Dutch cnockel, German knöchel), literally "little bone," a diminutive of Proto-Germanic root *knuk- "bone" (compare German Knochen "bone). As a verb from 1740, originally in the game of marbles. To knuckle down "apply oneself earnestly" is 1864 in American English, extended from marbles (putting a knuckle on the ground in assuming the hand position preliminary to shooting); to knuckle under "submit, give in" is first recorded 1740, supposedly from the former more general sense of "knuckle" and here meaning "knee," hence "to kneel." The face-busting knuckle-duster is from 1858 (a duster was a type of protective coat worn by workmen).
Example
- 1. Knuckle bumps are a fantastic alternative to saying goodbye .
- 2. You may not be a knuckle cracker yourself but chances are you have heard someone doing it .
- 3. On her right index-finger knuckle is a perfect red dot , like a stamp of quality from the manufacturer .
- 4. If you rap it with your knuckle you hear the thwack of gypsum rather than the ring of cold metal .
- 5. After being warned by his mother to swear off that demon knuckle cracking , young donald unger tested the accuracy of this hypothesis on himself .