knuckle
/ˈnʌk(ə)l
/- Raising his right hand, he laid the knuckle of his index finger against his chin.
- Today there's only a miniscule red patch next to the knuckle of my ring finger which isn't even sore.
- Her recipe for an olio required ‘a fowl, a couple of partridges, a piece of a leg of mutton, a knuckle of veal, and a few rump steaks; also a piece of good streaked bacon or ham’.
- There are also culinary records indicating its use for pickled pigs feet, breaded veal knuckles, and sweet breads.
- I'm still not sure what ‘capilutes of lamb’ are, but can vouch for the pork knuckle which one of my companions ordered.
- A small boy laughed at me on the street and shouted something about girls and tongues so I pinned him down and knuckled his head.
- She rose from the chair, knuckling her lower back, and that activity segued into a long stretch-and-yawn.
Phrases
near the knuckle
Phrasal verbs
knuckle down
knuckle under
Derivatives
knuckly
- While Ada sliced chicken, Wakefield focused binoculars on her knuckly hands.
- Hit the edge of the drum with the knuckly part of your palm and let your fingers bounce off the head.
- I watch Miss Match's knuckly fingers work the balance toward the upper end of the scale in five-pound increments.
Origin
Middle English knokel (originally denoting the rounded shape when a joint such as the elbow or knee is bent), from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch knökel, diminutive of knoke 'bone'. In the mid 18th century the verb knuckle (down) expressed setting the knuckles down to shoot the taw in a game of marbles, hence the notion of applying oneself with concentration.
In medieval times a knuckle was the rounded shape made by a joint like the elbow or knee when bent, but over the years it became limited to the joints of the fingers. The word may ultimately be related to knee (Old English). Someone prepared to knuckle down to something is ready to concentrate on a task, but the phrase originally comes from a game. People playing marbles in the 18th century set their knuckles down on the ground before shooting or casting the ‘taw’, a large marble. Something which threatens to go beyond the limits of decency can be described as being near the knuckle. This was originally used more generally to mean ‘close to the permitted limits of behaviour’.