knob
/nɒb
/noun
1A rounded lump or ball, especially at the end or on the surface of something.After the glue has hardened, rub fine-grain sandpaper across the surface of both knobs, making their surfaces smooth....
- For example, the handlebar end plugs are unsightly rounded black rubber knobs, rather than the attractive chrome-look plastic buttons that some companies supply.
- It is a left-sided flatfish, with its eyes normally on the left side of the head, and it is scaleless, though its head and body are studded with numerous bony knobs, or tubercles.
Synonyms
lump, bump, protuberance, projection, protrusion, bulge, swelling, knot, node, nodule, gnarl, growth, outgrowth, excrescence, carbuncle, tumour;
boss, stud, ball, knop, nub
technical umbo
rare tumescence
nugget, nub, nubble, lump, pat, cake, ball, cube, chunk, gobbet, dollop, piece, bit, portion, wedge, hunk, bar, slab
British informal wodge, gob
1.1A ball-shaped handle on a door or drawer.I turned the knob and pulled the door towards me....
- She pulled at the knobs but the doors wouldn't open.
- Updating a scheme can be as simple and economic as painting, replacing or removing unit doors, or updating accessories such as knobs and handles.
Synonyms
doorknob, handle, door handle, grip, pull
1.2A round button for adjusting or controlling a machine: she fiddled with the knobs on the radio...
- The keyboard has 40 buttons and knobs, and it's so complicated I'm sure flying Concorde would be easier.
- I fiddled with the knob that controlled the water, turning it until the sprinkler was going full blast.
- And all controls are push buttons instead of switches and knobs.
Synonyms
dial, button, switch, on/off switch, key
1.3A small lump of a substance: add a knob of butter...
- I took a handful of fresh white breadcrumbs, a few leaves of fresh thyme, pan-toasted them in a knob of butter until crispy and golden, then set them aside.
- The main courses were quickly spirited away, and generous bowls of steaming tomato soup brought, each with a slice of fresh bread and a knob of butter.
- In a hot frying pan, add olive oil and a knob of butter.
2chiefly North American A prominent round hill.
3 vulgar slang A man’s penis.
4 rare A small flock of wigeon, pochard, or teal (ducks): peacocks would have seemed but a knob of wigeons in comparison...
- Little knobs of teal, our smallest native duck, appear out of nowhere.
verb (knobs, knobbing, knobbed) [with object] British vulgar slang
(Of a man) have sexual intercourse with (someone).
Phrases
with (brass) knobs on
Derivatives
knobbed
/ adjective ...- A mandibular condyle is the knobbed ending of the lower jaw; it joins the lower jaw to the temporal bone of the skull on both sides of the head at the temporomandibular joint.
- Their instruments include long wooden drums, kettlegongs, knobbed gongs, cymbals, bamboo beaters, flutes, and buffalo horns.
- Most of the shellfish remains in the Florida coast middens were oyster shells while shells of clams, knobbed whelks and periwinkles were present in lesser amounts.
knobby
/ adjective (knobbier, knobbiest) ...- Hybrid bikes are bikes that generally have 27-inch tires which are larger and not usually as knobby as your average mountain bike; this makes them quicker and quieter.
- Apple trees produce fruit on very short knobby branches, called spurs.
- The nodules are disc-shaped, knobby, pale greenish-yellow, and 2-12 cm in diameter.
knob-like
- Woolly mammoths grew to about the size of present-day Asiatic elephants, possessed warm coats consisting of long, brown guard hairs and soft underwool, large curved ivory tusks, and knob-like heads.
- One end of the receptor cell extends to the epithelium where it forms a knob-like projection with cilia protruding from it; the other end of the receptor cell connects to a neuron.
- In some taxa the bill has a conspicuous horny or fleshy knob-like projection.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Middle Low German knobbe 'knot, knob, bud'.