Definition of "knot"

knot¹

/nɒt/

noun
plural knots
1. A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
  Quotations
  The obstructive tendency attributed to the knot in spiritual matters appears in a Swiss superstition that if, in sewing a corpse into its shroud, you make a knot on the thread, it will hinder the soul of the deceased on its passage to eternity.
  1911, James George Frazer, chapter V, in Taboo and the Perils of the Soul (The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion; II), third edition, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 310
2. (of hair, etc) A tangled clump.
3. A maze-like pattern.
  Quotations
  Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art / In beds and curious knots, but nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.
  1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
4. (mathematics) A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).
5. A difficult situation.
  Quotations
  A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs.
  1664, Robert South, A Sermon Preached Before the University at Christ-Church, Oxon
6. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.
7. Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.
8. A tightened and contracted part of a muscle that feels like a hard lump under the skin.
9. A protuberant joint in a plant.
10. Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.
  Quotations
  [T]he Queen who sat / With lips severely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat, […]
  1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], page 185
11. The swelling of the bulbus glandis in members of the dog family, Canidae.
12. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter.
13. (engineering) A node (point at which the lines of a funicular machine meet from different angular directions)
14. A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot.
15. A group of people or things.
  Quotations
  his ancient knot of dangerous adversarie
  c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]
  As they sat together in small, separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief.
  1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co.
  When, for instance, he saw a knot of the ruffians on the prairie, discussing, of course, the single topic which then occupied their minds, he would, perhaps, take his compass and one of his sons, and proceed to run an imaginary line right through the very spot on which that conclave had assembled, and when he came up to them, he would naturally pause and have some talk with them, learning their news, and, at last, all their plans perfectly; and having thus completed his real survey he would resume his imaginary one, and run on his line till he was out of sight.
  1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown‎
  At corners, under the lights, near drugstores, small knots of white, bright, chattering people showed teeth to each other, pawed each other, whistled for taxis, were whirled away in them, vanished through the doors of drugstores or into the blackness of side streets.
  1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, page 4
  He pushed through knots of whalemen grouped with their families and friends, and surrounded by piles of luggage.
  1968, Bryce Walton, Harpoon Gunner, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, NY, (1968), page 20
16. A bond of union; a connection; a tie.
  Quotations
  [I come] to crave a league of amity,And lastly, to confirm that amityWith nuptial knot […]
  c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]
  [I]t were very fit, […] to observe carefully this previous betrothing of ourselves, ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed.
  1646, Joseph Hall, The Balm of Gilead
  Indeed I would advise every ſingle lady, if poſſible, to attend her inamorato, pretty frequently at the card table; […] if he is haſty or pettiſh with any one else in company, she may depend on the ſame fate when once the knot is tied.
  1795, Joseph Addison, “An Essay on Card-playing”, in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments; Tending to Amuse the Fancy, and Inculcate Morality, page 67
17. (aviation, nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.
18. (aviation) A unit of indicated airspeed, calibrated airspeed, or equivalent airspeed, which varies in its relation to the unit of speed so as to compensate for the effects of different ambient atmospheric conditions on aircraft performance.
19. (nautical) A nautical mile.
20. (slang) The bulbus glandis.
21. (fandom slang) In omegaverse fiction, a bulbus glandis-like structure on the penis of a male alpha, which ties him to an omega during intercourse.
  Quotations
  Since the knot won't release until the alpha has finished and can't be controlled by either party, the sex has to go on until it's done.
  2014 July 18, Mark Shrayber, “'Knotting' Is the Weird Fanfic Sex Trend That Cannot Be Unseen”, in Jezebel
  The pair cannot separate until the knot has subsided – anywhere from twenty minutes to hours, depending on the fic.
  2017, Taylor Boulware, "Fascination/Frustration: Slash Fandom, Genre, and Queer Uptake", dissertation submitted to the University of Washington, page 155
  When John bites down on Sherlock's neck as his knot locks them together, the act which would otherwise be a tool for domination only reinforces the existing emotional bonds they have for each other.
  2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 89
verb
third-person singular simple present knots, present participle knotting, simple past and past participle knotted
1. (transitive) To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.
  Quotations
  For many weeks about my loins I wore / The rope that haled the buckets from the well, / Twisted as tight as I could knot the noose, / And spake not of it to a single soul, / And spake not of it to a single soul, / Until the ulcer, eating through my skin, / Betray'd my secret penance, so that all / My brethren marvell'd greatly.
  1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, page 56
2. (transitive) To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.
3. To unite closely; to knit together.
  Quotations
  The party of the papists in England are become more knotted, both in dependence towards Spain, and amongst themselves.
  a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629
4. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To entangle or perplex; to puzzle.
5. (intransitive) To form knots.
6. (intransitive) To knit knots for a fringe.

knot²

/nɒt/

noun
plural knots or knot
1. One of a variety of shore birds; red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or Tringa canutus).
  Quotations
  My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]
  c. 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist

Definition of "knot"

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