Library / English Dictionary

KNIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: knitted    , knitting   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine

Synonyms:

knit; knitting; knitwork

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("knit" is a kind of...):

needlecraft; needlework (a creation created or assembled by needle and thread)

Domain member category:

bind off; tie up (finish the last row)

Derivation:

knit (make (textiles) by knitting)

knit (tie or link together)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A basic knitting stitch made by putting the needle through the front of the stitch from the lefthand side

Synonyms:

knit; knit stitch; plain; plain stitch

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("knit" is a kind of...):

knitting stitch (a stitch taken in knitting)

Derivation:

knit (make (textiles) by knitting)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A fabric made by knitting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("knit" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "knit"):

balbriggan (a cotton knit fabric used for underwear)

double knit (a knit fabric similar to jersey that is made with two sets of needles producing a double thickness joined by interlocking stitches)

jersey (a slightly elastic machine-knit fabric)

stockinet; stockinette (knit used especially for infants' wear and undergarments)

tricot (a knitted fabric or one resembling knitting)

Derivation:

knit (make (textiles) by knitting)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To gather something into small wrinkles or folds

Example:

She puckered her lips

Synonyms:

cockle; crumple; knit; pucker; rumple

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "knit" is one way to...):

crease; crinkle; crisp; ruckle; scrunch; scrunch up; wrinkle (make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in; 'crisp' is archaic)

Verb group:

draw (contract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make (textiles) by knitting

Example:

knit a scarf

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "knit" is one way to...):

create from raw material; create from raw stuff (make from scratch)

"Knit" entails doing...:

run up; sew; sew together; stitch (fasten by sewing; do needlework)

Domain category:

handicraft (a craft that requires skillful hands)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "knit"):

purl (knit with a purl stitch)

rib (form vertical ribs by knitting)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They knit the cape

Derivation:

knit (needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine)

knit (a basic knitting stitch made by putting the needle through the front of the stitch from the lefthand side)

knit (a fabric made by knitting)

knitter (someone who makes garments (or fabrics) by intertwining yarn or thread)

knitting (creating knitted wear)

knitting (needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tie or link together

Synonyms:

entwine; knit

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "knit" is one way to...):

conjoin; join (make contact or come together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "knit"):

purl stitch (make with purl stitches)

intertwine; loop (make a loop in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

knit (needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Nilson was as cheerful as could be expected, for his broken leg was knitting nicely; but the Cockney was desperately melancholy, and I was aware of a great sympathy for the unfortunate creature.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Of the riders one was young, graceful, and fair, clad in plain doublet and hosen of blue Brussels cloth, which served to show his active and well-knit figure.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As soon as I could use my hands she taught me to knit, which has been a great amusement; and she put me in the way of making these little thread-cases, pin-cushions and card-racks, which you always find me so busy about, and which supply me with the means of doing a little good to one or two very poor families in this neighbourhood.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the morning Snowdrop told them all her story; and they pitied her, and said if she would keep all things in order, and cook and wash and knit and spin for them, she might stay where she was, and they would take good care of her.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

And this again, that that insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye; lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in the confidence of slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed him out of life.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Only one window showed a light behind them; in it there stood a lamp, and beside it, seated at a table, was a dear old ruddy-faced woman in a country cap. She was bending over her knitting and stopping occasionally to stroke a large black cat upon a stool beside her.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you are attached, this full moon could find you knitting baby booties and preparing a bassinette for a pregnancy—perhaps one that you’ve long wanted—that could happen now or very soon.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Every now and then, by an effort, he would throw off the impression, and talk as if the matter were clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and his knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone back once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange, in which this midnight tragedy had been enacted.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the drawing-room, there was the mother knitting and watching again.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)