knee

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The joint between the thigh and the lower leg, formed by the articulation of the femur and the tibia and covered anteriorly by the patella.
2. n. The region of the leg that encloses and supports this joint.
3. n. An analogous joint or part of a leg of a quadruped vertebrate.
4. n. Something resembling the human knee, such as a bent piece of pipe.
5. n. The part of a garment, as of trousers, that covers the knee.
6. n. An abrupt woody projection arising from the roots of some swamp-growing trees: cypress knees.
7. v. To strike with the knee.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The joint between the two principal parts of the leg of man or the hind limb of lower animals; the articulation of the thigh-bone or femur with the tibia or fibula, or with both. See def. 2 and knee-joint.
2. n. Some other joint in animals other than man, likened to the human knee-joint or regarded as its representative The carpal articulation or wrist-joint of various animals, as the horse, cow, etc.: as, the horse went down on his knees.
3. n. The tarsal articulation or heel-joint of a bird; the suffrago: as, tibiæ feathered down to the knee, The joint of an insect's leg connecting the femur and the tibia. In descriptions the word is often used to indicate the apex of the femur, sometimes including the base of the tibia: as, black or yellow knees.
4. n. Something resembling the knee in shape.
5. n. Specifically— In ship-building, a piece of timber or iron having an angular bend like that of the knee, used to secure the beams of a ship to her sides or timbers. The branches of the knee form an angle of greater or smaller extent, according to the situation of the pieces which it is designed to unite. Lodging-knees are knees fixed parallel to the deck. Hanging-knees are knees placed vertically, generally under a deck-beam. Diagonal hanging-knees are knees which cross the timbers in a slanting direction. Also knee-piece. See cut nnder stern.
6. n. In carpentry, a piece of wood having a natural bend, or sawn into shape, and fitted into an angle.
7. n. In architecture, a part of the back of a hand-rail of a convex form: the reverse of a ramp, which is concave.
8. n. In botany a spur-like process on the roots of the bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, by which a part of their surface is kept above water.
9. n. A genuflection; reverence.
10. To go down on the knees; kneel.
11. To kneel to.
12. To pass over on the knees.
13. In ship-building, to fit with a knee or knees.
14. n. In graphics, a break or abrupt change in a plotted curve.
15. n. A natural prominence; a rock, hill, or part of a hill.

Wiktionary

1. n. In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
2. n. In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
3. n. The part of a garment that covers the knee.
4. n. shipbuilding A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
5. n. archaic An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
6. n. Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line, "the knee of a graph", an inflection point.
7. n. A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.
8. v. transitive, archaic To kneel to.
9. v. transitive To poke or strike with the knee.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. In man, the joint in the middle part of the leg.
2. n. The joint, or region of the joint, between the thigh and leg.
3. n. In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in man.
4. n. (Mech. & Shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
5. n. A bending of the knee, as in respect or courtesy.
6. v. obsolete To supplicate by kneeling.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
2. n. joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee
3. n. the part of a trouser leg that provides the cloth covering for the knee