knead

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To mix and work into a uniform mass, as by folding, pressing, and stretching with the hands: kneading dough.
2. v. To make or shape by or as if by folding, pressing, and stretching with the hands.
3. v. To squeeze, press, or roll with the hands, as in massaging: kneading a painful calf muscle.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To manipulate by squeezing, pressing, or thumping different parts of; work upon by successive thumps or compressions: as, to knead a person's limbs in the operation of massage.
2. Specifically To work upon, as plastic materials, by repeatedly pressing or squeezing; prepare or mix by working over and over with the hands or by tools or machinery, as dough for bread or clay for bricks.
3. Hence To mix thoroughly; incorporate; form into a homogeneous compound.
4. To make by kneading.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To work and press into a mass, usually with the hands; especially, to work, as by repeated pressure with the knuckles, into a well mixed mass, the materials of bread, cake, etc.
2. v. transitive, figuratively To treat or form as if by kneading; to beat.
3. v. intransitive, of cats To make an alternating pressing motion with the two front paws.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To work and press into a mass, usually with the hands; esp., to work, as by repeated pressure with the knuckles, into a well mixed mass, as the materials of bread, cake, etc..
2. v. Fig.: To treat or form as by kneading; to beat.
3. v. To press repeatedly with the hands or knuckles, sometimes with a twisting or squeezing motion; -- performed for example on the body of a person as a form of massage.
4. v. To perform movements like kneading, with the paws; -- said of cats, which may knead{3} a master's body when stroked, presumably a sign of contentment.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make uniform
2. v. manually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal or relaxation purposes