knot
n. countablen. a place where two pieces of string or rope are tied together tightly. You use them to keep things secure or to join two lines.
n. a fastening made by looping and tying a piece of string, rope, or fabric. In a nautical context, it refers to a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour.
I tied a tight knot in my shoelaces.
The sailor tied a secure knot to keep the boat from drifting away from the dock.
The climber double-checked the knot in his safety harness, knowing that his life depended on the integrity of the rope's tension.
From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic knottō, from Proto-Germanic knuttô, knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus. * (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the logline (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every ¹⁄₁₂₀ of a mile.
Supposed to be derived from the name of King Canute, with whom the bird was a favourite article of food. See the specific epithet canutus.
Commonly used with the verbs 'tie' and 'untie'.