knuckle
part of speech
noun (a knuckle, knuckles); verb (knuckle down, knuckle under — phrasal)
meaning for a pupil
1) One of the joints of your fingers, especially where the fingers join the hand. tree →
2) A joint of meat from an animal's leg, as in pork knuckle. tree →
3) «knuckle down» — to start working hard. tree →
4) «knuckle under» — to give in and obey. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and health: the knuckles are joints. In maths: a trick to remember how many days each month has is counting on your knuckles (knuckles = 31 days). In everyday life: crack your knuckles, knock with your knuckles. Phrases: knuckle down, rap on the knuckles (a small telling-off), white knuckles (fear).
examples
- He knocked on the door with his knuckles. tree →
- She grazed her knuckles on the wall. tree →
- Time to knuckle down and do your homework. tree →
- Use your knuckles to remember which months have 31 days. tree →
- My knuckles went white as I held the rollercoaster bar. tree →
- He got a rap on the knuckles for being late. tree →
note
Countable. Silent k: said «nuckle». Myth: cracking knuckles does not cause arthritis; the sound is gas bubbles in the joint. «Knuckle sandwich» is slang for a punch (rough talk).
In the corpora
- Gorillas and chimps walk on all fours leaning on their knuckles, while orangutans walk on their fists or the sides of their hands.
- Giant anteaters walk on their knuckles to protect long front claws, which rip open hard termite mounds and can fight off a jaguar.
- Studies have found no link between cracking knuckles and arthritis (stiff, painful joints).
- Count the knuckles and the gaps between them on your fist: every knuckle month has 31 days.
- In the knuckle trick, months that land on a knuckle have 31 days, and months that land in a dip have fewer.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «knuckle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.