Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The bone capping the protuberance of the knee; the kneepan; the patella. See cut under knee-joint.
- n. Any covering for the knee, worn as a protection from injury either to the joint or to the clothing that covers it.
- n. Milit., same as genouillère.
Wiktionary
- n. The flat, roundish bone in the knee.
- v. transitive To destroy the kneecaps of (a person), usually by shooting at the knees, as a punishment carried out by criminals or terrorists.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Anat.) A roundish, flattened, sesamoid bone in the tendon in front of the knee joint; the patella; the kneepan.
- n. A cap or protection for the knee.
- v. to break the knees of, especially by shooting in the kneecap; -- often done by criminal or terrorist groups as a warning or punishment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a small flat triangular bone in front of the knee that protects the knee joint
- v. shoot in the kneecap, often done by terrorist groups as a warning
Etymologies
- knee + cap (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I walked over and looked underneath the sheet and Tiki's kneecap is sitting up on top of his knee, totally out of place.”
“Guzman, who has missed the last four games with a sore left kneecap, is expected to return to the lineup Friday. ”
“a broken kneecap, is a steady hitter and good fielder, though he never will provide much pop.”
“The sound of the projector hitting his kneecap was a sound I used to hear when I was a kid going to watch the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.”
Simon & Schuster: From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor
“The kneecap is a nasty place to take a bullet because of the conjunction of bone, muscle, and nerve endings.”
“An incision was made where the tendon attaches to the bottom of the kneecap, which is where the fracture was.”
“Shattered kneecap: If you fall hard on your knee or are struck by something on the knee, since the kneecap is a bone, it could break.”
“Just as Louisiana politicians are about to get an up-close-and-personal look at the BP oil spill (it is approaching the shores an hour's drive from Baton Rouge, the state capital), they are considering a bill to "kneecap" all university environmental-law clinics in the state, which have led the way in challenging the historically cozy relationship between state politicians and the petrochemical industry.”
“How can we help deflect, prevent, or clean up after "kneecap" attempts against Obama and his team?”
“I am "presumptuous" that you "would care enough to strategically 'kneecap' presumptive presidential candidates", but your "recent two part series on the Presidential race was simply 'hadicapping' the field ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kneecap’.
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Knee-ded Words
In honor (?) of John
aknee, anomalogonatous, anticnemion, bainberg, bandy-jig, besagne, bight, bott, knee, breast-knee, cartilage, cnemapophysis and 155 more...
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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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kewpid's Words
moleskine, araldite, dessicate, cellar door, grotesque, fallacy, vendetta, raindrop, panacea, ethereal, hircus, treppenwitz and 446 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
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K is for Karate Kid
My K Words
k, kaleidoscope, kamikaze, kangaroo court, karate kid, katie, katydid, kazoo, kickass, killjoy, knackered, kneecap and 23 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, K
kirtle, knapsack, knobbly, kern, kaddish, knight, kaleidoscope, kindling, knell, knoll, kneecap, kindred and 50 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kneecap.
reesetee Rats. I was just about to go poke a kid's knees. Oct 5, 2007
sarra Before all reading go out to poke children's knees in the name of experiment — they do; they're just not yet made of bone. “Ossification is completed about the age of puberty.”—Gray's Anatomy Oct 5, 2007
yarb I can't believe there are six-year olds walking around without kneecaps. Oct 4, 2007
oroboros I'm told that babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age. Huh!
Oct 4, 2007