knot

/nɔt/

Thân thiện

A sailor ties a secure knot in a thick rope.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • A fastening made by tying a piece of rope, string, or similar material upon itself or to something else: A secure interlacement of material.
   • A hard, cross-grained, roundish mass in wood where a branch grew: A natural imperfection or feature in timber.
   • A tight cluster or group of people or things: A small, closely gathered group.
   • A unit of speed used in navigation and aviation, equal to one nautical mile per hour: A measure of speed over water or through air.
   • A feeling of tightness or tension, often in a muscle or the stomach due to stress or anxiety: A physical sensation of constriction.

2. Verb:

   • To tie or fasten with a knot: To secure by making interlocking loops.
   • To form knots or become knotted: To create or develop tight, tangled parts.
   • To make something tangled or complicated: To cause confusion or complexity.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • He tied a secure knot in the rope.
  • The board had a large, dark knot where a branch had been.
  • A small knot of protesters gathered outside.
  • The ship was traveling at fifteen knots.
  • She felt a knot of anxiety in her stomach.

• Verb:

  • Please knot the two ends of the string together.
  • The old fishing line had knotted itself.
  • His explanation only served to knot the issue further.

Advanced Usage

• "Tie the knot": To get married.

  • They finally decided to tie the knot next summer.

• "At a rate of knots": Very quickly.

  • She finished the paperwork at a rate of knots.

• "Cut the Gordian knot": To solve a complex problem with a bold, decisive action.

  • The new manager cut the Gordian knot by firing the entire underperforming department.

Variants and Related Words

• Knotty (adj): Full of knots; complicated or difficult to solve.

  • They faced a knotty problem with no easy solution.

• Unknot (verb): To undo a knot.

  • Can you help me unknot this necklace?

Synonyms

• Noun: Tie, bond, cluster, bunch, gnarl, node.
• Verb: Fasten, secure, tangle, entangle, complicate.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Knot together: To join or fasten things by tying knots.
  • We knotted together several short ropes to make one long one.

Related Idioms

• Tie oneself in knots: To become very confused or anxious when trying to explain or do something.

  • He tied himself in knots trying to justify his mistake.

• A knot in one's stomach: A feeling of nervousness or apprehension.

  • She had a knot in her stomach before the big presentation.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere
2. soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or created by design
3. a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude
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 hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a branch emerged
   • the saw buckled when it hit a knot
6. any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object
7. 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

Verb

1. tangle or complicate
   • a ravelled story
2. tie or fasten into a knot
   • knot the shoelaces
3. make into knots; make knots out of
   • She knotted her fingers

Từ đồng nghĩa

• greyback
• grayback
• Calidris canutus
• slub
• burl
• nautical mile
• mile
• mi
• naut mi
• international nautical mile
• air mile
• gnarl
• ravel
• tangle