Meaning & Definition of Knot in English

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"

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

6. Soft lump or unevenness in a yarn

• Either an imperfection or created by design

7. A sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere

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"