Meaning

6 senses

  1. (transitive)To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles (noun sense 1).

    He knuckled the sleep from his eyes.

    She knuckled her eyes in disbelief.

    press or rub with the knuckles

  2. (slang, transitive)To strike or punch.

  3. (intransitive)To bend the fingers.

  4. (intransitive)To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.

  5. (figuratively, intransitive)To yield.

  6. To land on the knuckle (noun sense 9) of a curve of a slope, after a jump off a ramp that precedes the slope.

Examples

35 sentences

  1. You'd better knuckle down to work.

    ruЛучше тебе приступить к работе. — RusVictoric1993

    deMach dich besser an die Arbeit. — Roujin

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. I heard Tom cracking his knuckles.

    ruЯ слышал, как Том хрустит костяшками. — Karok

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Tom says he heard Mary cracking her knuckles.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Tom doesn't like it when Mary cracks her knuckles.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Tom skinned his knuckles.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Origin

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill. More at knock.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

knuckles, knuckling, knuckled, knuckled
Base formknuckle · to knuckle
3rd person singularknuckles
Present participleknuckling
Past simpleknuckled
Past participleknuckled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyknuckle
he, she, itknuckles

Past simpleLesson

all personsknuckled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave knuckled
he, she, ithas knuckled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill knuckle

Phrasal verbs

4 phrasal verbs

Synonyms

1 synonyms
knuckle under

Word family

4 related words
Derivedknuckle downknuckle toknuckle underknuckle up

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
knowledgeA2knowledgeableC1koalakochkojikoko
knuckle — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto