ˈknee-joint
1. The joint of the knee.
| 1648 Wilkins Math. Magick i. v. 36 The weight of the body doth bear most upon the knee-joints. 1831 Youatt Horse (1848) 337 Many horses are sadly blemished..by wounds in the knee-joint. 1876 Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 176, I ordered..an evaporating lotion to be kept applied to the knee-joint. 1891 Flower Horse 148. |
2. Mech. A joint formed of two pieces hinged together endwise so as to resemble a knee, a toggle-joint. † Formerly applied to a ball-and-socket joint. Also attrib., as knee-joint press.
| 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 81 The Semi-circle is mounted upon a Knee-Joint, or Ball, for the Conveniency of turning it every way. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 287 The introduction of the knee-joint gives to the dies a variable motion, and causes the greatest force..at the closing of the joint. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Knee-joint Press, one in which power is applied by means of a double knee-joint articulated at the top to the upright framework, and at the bottom to a cross-head, from which proceeds the shaft which applies the force. |
So ˈknee-ˌjointed a., geniculate: cf. kneed 1 b.
| 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 120 Alopecurus geniculatus, spiked straw knee-jointed. Ibid. 454 Geum..Seeds many, with a knee-jointed awn. 1855 Loudon's Encycl. Plants Gloss. 1101 Kneed or knee-jointed, bent like the knee-joint. |