Etymology: Compare Old English cnyssan to strike, dash, beat; Old High German knusjan, knussan to dash, German knüssen to push, beat, Dutch kneuzen to bruise; also German dialect knuschen to crush, to knock or strike with the fist; Icelandic knúska to knock, ill-treat.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1901; most recently modified version published online September 2018).