knot

Noun

• a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere

• soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or created by design

• a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude

• 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
    

• a hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a branch emerged
  • the saw buckled when it hit a knot
    

• any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object

• 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

• tangle or complicate
  • a ravelled story
    

• tie or fasten into a knot
  • knot the shoelaces
    

• make into knots; make knots out of
  • She knotted her fingers
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  greyback , grayback , Calidris canutus , slub , burl , nautical mile , mile , mi , naut mi , international nautical mile , air mile , gnarl , ravel , tangle
• Antonyms: 
  unravel , unknot , unscramble , untangle , unpick , ravel , ravel out