- knot´less
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–n.1. a) a fastening made by tying or twining together pieces of one or more ropes, strings, or cords: »
a square knot, a slipknot, a knot in a shoelace.
b) an accidental tying or twisting of rope, cord, string, cable, or wire, usually drawn tight; tangle.2. a bow of ribbon or lace, worn as an ornament: »a shoulder knot.
3. a) a group; cluster: »A knot of students stood talking outside the classroom. They had now arrived at the knot of palm trees (Scott).
SYNONYM(S): company. b) a central, thickened point where lines, nerves, or especially mountain chains are joined.4. a) a hard mass of wood formed in a tree where a branch grows out, which shows as a round, cross-grained piece in a board. b) any one of several diseases of trees in which large lumps or gnarls are formed.5. a hard lump. A knot sometimes forms in a tired muscle. SYNONYM(S): knob.6. a) a joint where leaves grow out on the stem of a plant. b) a node on a stem, especially when of swollen form, such as one of the joints in grasses.7. a) a measure of speed used for ships and aircraft; one nautical mile per hour. A ship with a 20-knot speed can go 20 nautical miles an hour. b) a nautical mile; 6,076.11549 feet. c) (formerly) one of the equal divisions on a hand log line to measure the speed of a ship. It is marked by pieces of knotted string.8. Figurative. a difficulty or problem: »Knots worthy of solution, which alone A Deity could solve (William Cowper).
SYNONYM(S): puzzle, perplexity.9. Figurative. a) a thing that unites closely or intricately; bond; link: »O night and shades! How are ye joined with Hell in triple knot! (Milton).
b) the bond of wedlock.10. a design or figure formed of crossing lines, such as an intricate flourish of the pen.11. Dialect. a flower bed of fanciful or intricate design.–v.t.1. to tie in a knot; fasten with a knot: »He knotted the loose threads together so that they would not tear any further. At his side a wretched scrip was hung, Wide-patch'd and knotted to a twisted thong (Alexander Pope).
2. to tangle in or as if in knots; entangle.3. to make knots for (a fringe).4. Figurative. to unite closely in a way that is hard to undo: »The deed knots us together for time and eternity, like the coil of a serpent (Hawthorne).
SYNONYM(S): bind.–v.i.1. to tangle in knots; be or become tied or twisted into a knot: »My thread has knotted.
SYNONYM(S): snarl.2. to make a fringe by tying knots.3. to form into a hard lump.╂[Old English cnotta]–knot´less, adjective.a small shore bird, of the same family as the sandpipers, which breeds in the Arctic and migrates southward in the winter. It has a reddish breast in its spring plumage.╂[origin uncertain]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
