▪ I. knob, n.
(nɒb)
Forms: α. 4–6 knobbe, (7 knobb, knobe), 6– knob. β. 5–7 nobbe, 7–9 nob.
[ME., = MLG. and mod.G. knobbe knot, knob, bud, etc., Flem. knobbe(n lump (of bread, etc.): cf. knop, nob, knub, nub.]
1. a. A small rounded lump or mass, esp. at the extremity or on the surface of something, as on a stick, a branch or trunk of a tree, a plate of glass (see bull's-eye 1), the antenna of an insect, the pistil of a flower, etc.; a rounded protuberance, boss, stud; the handle of a door or drawer, the hinder end of a gun (see cascabel).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxi. (MS. Bodl.) lf. 230 b/2 Hurden,..is clensing of offal of hempe oþer of flaxe..þerof is þrede sponne þ{supt} is fulle grete: vneuen and ful of nobbes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 280/1 Knobbe, or knotte yn a tre, vertex. 1557–8 T. Phaer æneid vii. U j b, Another caught a clubbe, with heauy knobbes. 1611 Coryat Crudities 15 He had a long staffe in his hand with a nobbe in the middle, according to the fashion of those Pilgrims staffes. 1774 Foote Cozeners iii. Wks. 1799 II. 190 That..is a watch; if you touch the nob that juts out, it strikes..like a clock. 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 184 Pist[il]... Style thread-shaped... Summit a knob. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 278 The bolt is moved by..a fixed knob or handle, as in the common door catch. 1840 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 400/1 A certain article which forms..a handsome nob for parlour and other doors. 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. (ed. 7) §1872 a, The great advantage of sheet glass is that of..avoiding the waste arising from..the knob or bull's eye in the centre. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 928 A wooden cover.., with nobs for the convenience of lifting it out. Ibid. 936 It has a nob-handle standing upward. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1530/2 Nob (Artillery), the plate under the swing-bed for the head of an elevating screw. 1894 R. Bridges Feast Bacchus v. 1574 A little knob of a nose. |
b. A rounded protuberance or swelling on the skin or on a bodily organ; a bump, hump, wart, pimple, pustule, etc.
Obs. or merged in 1.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 633 The knobbes sittynge on his chekes. c 1490 Promp. Parv. 280/1 (MS. K) Knobbe of a mannys hande, or in another part of him [a 1485 MS. S. knoble; 1499 ed. Pynson knolle], callus. 1530 Palsgr. 326/2 Kyrnell or knobbe in the necke or otherwhere, glandre. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 108 His face is all bubukles and whelkes, and knobs, and flames a fire. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 39 It also dissolves any Knob or swelling in any part. 1792 Hunter Obs. Anim. Œcon. (ed. 2) 80 The hen had nobs on her toes. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 517 The dark-coloured or hepatised knobs. |
c. The bud or rudiment of a horn; in
quot. fig.| 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 658 Those knobs that grow Much harder on the marry'd brow. |
d. Arch. A rounded prominence or boss of carved work,
esp. at the end of a raised moulding or at the intersection of ribs.
| 1730 W. Warren Collectanea in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 230 The Cieling being Timber-work, Pannels and Knobs. 1850 Weale Dict. Terms, Knot or Knob, a boss; a round bunch of leaves or flowers, or other ornament of a similar kind. |
e. with knobs on: jocular slang
phr. = ‘that and more’ (indicating ironic or emphatic agreement, or in retort to an insult, etc.).
| 1930 M. Kennedy Fool of Family xiii. 129 ‘I'm waiting for the Marchese Ferdinando Emanuele Maria Bonaventura Donzati.’ ‘With knobs on,’ agreed Gemma airily. ‘Who's he?’ 1931 J. J. Farjeon House Opposite ii, ‘You are nothing,’ said the Indian. ‘And so are you, with knobs on!’ barked Ben, and slammed the door. 1938 Wodehouse Code of Woosters viii. 196 ‘{oqq}Ha jolly ha!{cqq} to you, young Stiffy, with knobs on,’ I retorted with quiet dignity. 1941 M. Treadgold We couldn't leave Dinah xv. 232 ‘Schweinhund,’ screamed Nannerl. ‘Schweinhund yourself with knobs on,’ returned Petit-Jean tartly. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. iii. 45 Same to you with knobs on. 1969 Guardian 22 Feb. 9/6 They shouted something... ‘The same to you with knobs on,’ Jim shouted back. 1970 A. Price Labyrinth Makers xiv. 179 If the A.S. 12 was the answer to Egypt's Russian missile boats, the A.S. 15 was the answer with knobs on. |
2. A prominent isolated rounded mound or hill; a knoll; a hill in general;
esp. in
U.S.| 1650 T. B. Worcester's Apoph. 30 The ground..is said to rise up, in a round Knob; whereupon St. David pitched his Crosse. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 338 The surface of the land..is..uneven, occasioned by natural mounds or rocky knobs. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 108 Those dividing ridges of streams, which in Kentucky, are called knobs. 1863 E. Hitchcock Remin. Amherst Coll. 241 Hilliard's Knob, the highest point of the Holyoke range. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 81 The rocky knob called Whitemoss Howe. 1895 Century Mag. Aug. 621/2 One of the many knobs from which Daniel Boone is said to have looked first over the Blue Grass land. |
3. A small lump (of sugar, coal, etc.). Also
knub,
nub.
| 1676 Worlidge Cyder (1691) 150 Bottling it with a knob of sugar. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 70 Is your tea bitter? You may sweeten it by putting in a knob of sugar. 1801 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. to Ct. Rumford Wks. 1812 V. 144 Rummage the dark Coal-hole of his brain But not one Knob is in it. 1865 Gd. Words Feb. 125/1 These children..when they are ‘very good’, and work hard,..sometimes get a ‘knob o' suck’..on Saturday. |
4. slang. a. The head. Usually
nob,
q.v.| 1725 New Cant. Dict., Knob, the Head or Skull. 1888 M. Robertson Lombard St. Myst. xvi, It were s'posed the guilty deed were one too much for 'is knob. 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street xxvii, They invariably..‘ketch it in the knob’ in the form of bilious headache. |
b. Austral. and
N.Z. A double-headed penny. Also
nob.
| 1928 J. Devanny Dawn Beloved xv. 163 Sometimes two pennies are filed down to half their thickness and then joined together. A double-tailer is called a ‘grey’; a double-header a ‘nob’. Of course, anyone caught cheating is liable to get bashed about a bit. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 41 Knob, a double-headed penny. |
5. A small collection of widgeons, dunbirds, teals, or the like.
| 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. ix. §1 A ‘knob’ is a still smaller number [than 30] of the above birds [wildfowl]. |
6. = knobstick 2.
| 1838 Ann. Reg. 204/1 note, The chastisement of ‘knobs’, the assassination of oppressive and tyrannical masters. |
† 7. Phr.
to make no knobs: to make no difficulty, not to hesitate. (
Cf. ‘to make no bones’.)
| 1677 Cary Chronol. ii. ii. iii. xvi. 259 Instead of 6 Centuries defalked by the Jews, they make no Knobs in cutting off 9 of them together. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as
knob-end,
knob tail,
knob-twiddling,
knob-twister,
knob-twisting;
knob-billed,
knob-like,
knob-nosed adjs.;
knob-cone pine,
Pinus attenuata, a species native to California;
knob-fly, a kind of fly used in angling;
knob-hole, a hole for the insertion of a knob;
knob-lock, a lock which is opened with a knob;
knob-nose S. Afr., name applied to (a member of) a people having this distinguishing feature; also
attrib. (or as adj.);
knob-nosed a., having a knob-shaped nose;
spec. = knob-nose. Also
knobstick, -weed, etc.
| 1878 Gould Birds N. Guinea V. pl. 50 *Knob-billed Fruit-Pigeon. |
| [1882 A. Kellogg Forest Trees of California in Rep. State Mineralogist California Appendix II. 51 Knobby-cone Pine... The Knobby Pine is a lofty tree of much beauty.] 1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 196 Pinus tuberculata... *Knobcone pine. 1905 ― Man. Trees N. Amer. 22 Pinus attenuata, Lemm. Knob-cone pine... Fruit..becoming light chestnut-brown, with thin flat scales rounded at the apex, those on the outer side being enlarged into prominent transversely flattened knobs. 1932 W. Dallimore in Conifers in Cultivation (R. Hort. Soc.) 28 Pinus...attenuata Lemm. (P. tuberculata Gord.)—Knob-cone Pine—Oregon to California. 1967 N. T. Mirov Genus Pinus iii. 170 Pinus attenuata is known as ‘knobcone pine’. Its area is chiefly in California, although..it extends northward to the mountains of southwestern Oregon. |
| 1894 ‘J. S. Winter’ Red Coats 65 He came to a door on which he rapped with the *knob-end of his stick. |
| 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby I. 177 The following..are well known to the expert angler; viz. barm fly, black fly,..*knob fly. |
| 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1458 The *knob holes of the curtains form, in stitching, the grape leaf. |
| 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 51 In touching a nettle lightly, the *knob-like head is broken off, and the sharp point of the sting enters the skin. |
| 1813 Examiner 10 May 294/2 J. Charlesworth,..*knob-lock-maker. |
| 1900 A. H. Keane Boer States vii. 99 Hence the extraordinary differences that are observed between..the degraded Magwamba (‘demons’ or ‘devils’), called ‘*Knobnoses’ by the Transvaal Boers, and the Basutos. 1943 D. Reitz No Outspan iv. 59 We went up along the Sami river to Sibasa's country and then to the chief of the knob-nose kaffirs. |
| 1839 W. C. Harris Wild Sports S. Afr. xxxix. 350 A friendly tribe of natives, whom, from a peculiarity in the nasal prominence, they dignified with the appellation of ‘*knob-nosed Kafirs’. 1864 J. A. Grant Walk across Afr. 93 A knob-nosed duck. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. ix. 331 A..snub- or rather knob-nosed..simpleton. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 2 Oct. 8/2 The knob-nosed lizard (Lyriocephalus scutatus) from Ceylon. |
| 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney I. 212 An old buck-rabbit with a *nob tail. |
| 1968 Times 29 Nov. 1/1 Some are hi-fi maniacs, *knob-twiddling perfectionists. 1973 Times 7 June 18/6 He thinks commercial competition could benefit the BBC..by encouraging them to do more knob-twiddling, instead of staying tuned to one programme all day. |
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 478/2 *Knob-twister. A casual reference to monitor man or recordist in motion-picture production. 1950 People (Austral.) 7 June 50/2 He believes that 90 per cent of the ‘knob-twisters’, as they are called, favor the abolition of the [betting] boards. |
| 1929 Radio Times 8 Nov. 450/2 ‘Earth's End’ stations can be received..if you..find your fun in *knob twisting. 1958 Listener 13 Nov. 799/2 Audiences for a number of these [programmes] have dropped considerably since they were transferred from their old places in the Light Programme. This might be blamed on mass inertia, as applied to knob-twisting. |
Add:
[1.] f. The penis.
slang.
| 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1160/2. 1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect iii. 272 Probably every man-jack in the Mendips had his hand on his knob that night, giving thanks for survival. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 158 My knob was knee-high to a grasshopper, the size of a toothpick, as I skipped across the room and fell to a crouch by the side of the bed. 1987 Melody Maker 15 Aug. 7 No pictures of pop stars' knobs this week due to a bit of ‘Spycatcher’ type censorship round these parts. |
▪ II. knob, v. (
nɒb)
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To furnish with a knob or knobs; to form knobs upon.
| 1879 Spon's Encycl. Indust. Arts I. 701 A thin sheet of copper, whose surface has been ‘knobbed’, or raised into rows of oval knobs, by the application of a blind punch. |
2. intr. To form a knob or knobs, to bunch; to bulge
out.
| 1566 [see knobbing below]. 1631 Markham Way to Wealth, To make Hasty Pudding..when it boils put in a spoonful of Flower, but not let it knob. 1876 Blackmore Cripps xxiv, Tapering straight as a fishing-rod, and knobbing out on either side with scarcely controllable bulges. |
3. trans. To free from knobs, to rough-dress (stone in the quarry).
4. trans. To hit.
slang.| 1818 Sporting Mag. II. 211 He knobbed his adversary well. |
Hence
ˈknobbing ppl. a.| 1566 Drant Horace i. ix. (1567) N ij b, Stitche, or coughe, or knobbing gowt. |