Chapter Knights Errant to Knot of K by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Knighten Guild now called Portsoken Ward. King Edgar gave it to thirteen knights on the following conditions:- (1) Each knight was to be victorious in three combats- one above-ground, one underground, and one in the water; and (2) each knight was, on a given day, to run with spears against all comers in East Smithfield. William the Conqueror confirmed the same unto the heirs of these knights. Henry I. gave it to the canons of Holy Trinity, and acquitted it “of all service.”

Knipperdollings A set of German heretics about the time of the Reformation, disciples of a man named Bernard Knipperdolling. (Blount: Glossographia, 1681.)

Knock Under (To). Johnson says this expression arose from a custom once common of knocking under the table when any guest wished to acknowledge himself beaten in argument. Another derivation is knuckle under- i.e. to knuckle or bend the knuckle or knee in proof of submission. Bellenden Kerr says it is Te nock ander, which he interprets “I am forced to yield.”

Knocked into a Cocked Hat Thoroughly beaten; altered beyond recognition; hors de combat. A cocked- hat, folded into a chapeau bras, is crushed out of all shape.

Knockers Goblins who dwell in mines, and point out rich veins of lead and silver. In Cardiganshire the miners attribute the strange noises so frequently heard in mines to these spirits, which are sometimes called coblyns (German, kobolds).

Knot (Latin nodus, French naeud, Danish knude, Dutch knot, Anglo-Saxon cnotta, allied to knit.)
   He has tied a knot with his tongue he cannot untie with his teeth. He has got married. He has tied the marriage knot by saying, “I take thee for my wedded wife,” etc., but the knot is not to be untied so easily.
   The Gordian knot. (See Gordian.)
   The marriage knot. (See Marriage.)
   The ship went six or seven knots an hour. Miles. The log-line is divided into lengths by knots, each length is the same proportion of a nautical mile as half a minute is of an hour. The log-line being cast over, note is taken of the number of knots run out in half a minute, and this number shows the rate per hour.
    The length of a knot is 47'33 feet when used with a 28-second glass, but 50'75 feet when the glass runs 30 seconds.
   True lovers' knot. Sir Thomas Browne thinks the knot owes its origin to the nodus Herculanus, a snaky complication in the caduceus or rod of Mercury, in which form the woollen girdle of the Greek brides was fastened.
   To seek for a knot in a rush. Seeking for something that does not exist. Not a very wise phrase, seeing there are jointed rushes, probably not known when the proverb was first current. The Juncus acutiflorus, the Juncus lampocarpus, the Juncus obtusiflorus, and the Juncus polycephalus, are all jointed rushes.