knee

Definition

  • noun: the joint that bends at the middle of your leg
  • noun: a joint in the middle part of the human leg that is the articulation between the femur, tibia, and patella
  • verb: to hit (a person) with your knee
  • verb: to bend the knee to
  • synonyms: salute, knee holm, knee worship

Examples

  • He was forced to ask for their help 'on bended knee'. [=he was forced to beg for their help; he was forced to ask for their help in a very humble way]

  • If you want to clean the floor properly, you have to 'get down on your (hands and) knees' [=you have to kneel down on the floor] and start scrubbing.

  • She 'dropped/fell/sank to her knees' [=she knelt down] and begged for forgiveness. = She 'got down on her knees' and begged for forgiveness.

Movie quotes

  • (..) -She's gone and got sick, Miss Scarlett. -Sick? Just a little bit sick, that's all. Your pa was wild when they wouldn't let him fight 'cause of his broken knee. He had fits when they took us field hands to dig ditches for white soldiers to hide in. But your ma says the Confederacy needs us. (..)
    1939 Gone with the Wind
  • (..) ...you'll tell your mother I was jumping again. Pa, you know I'm no tattletale like Suellen, but it does seem to me... ...after you broke your knee last year jumping that same fence-- I'll not have me own daughter tellin' me what I shall jump and not jump. It's my own neck, so it is. (..)
    1939 Gone with the Wind