different between knag vs knap

English

Alternative forms

• knage
• knagge
• knagg

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

From Middle English knagge. Cognate with German Low German Knagge, Danish knage, Swedish knagg. Related to knarr and knur.

Noun

knag (plural knags)

1. A short spur or stiff projection from the trunk or branch of a tree, such as the stunted dead branch of a fir
2. A peg or hook for hanging something on
3. (obsolete) One of the points of a stag's horn or a tine
4. A knot in a piece of wood or the base of a branch
5. A pointed rock or crag
6. (Scotland) A small cask or barrel; a keg or noggin
7. (Scotland, obsolete) The woodpecker

Etymology 2

From Middle English knaggen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

knag (third-person singular simple present knags, present participle knagging, simple past and past participle knagged)

1. To hang something on a peg

Anagrams

• Kang, gank, kang

Danish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a??

Noun

knag n (singular definite knaget, plural indefinite knag)

1. creak

Inflection

Synonyms

• (rare) knagen

Noun

knag c (singular definite knagen, plural indefinite knage)

1. dab, dab hand

Inflection

Verb

knag

1. imperative of knage

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /næp/
• Rhymes: -æp
• Homophone: nap

Etymology 1

From Middle English knappen (verb) and knappe (“strike”) (noun), an onomatopoeia.

Verb

knap (third-person singular simple present knaps, present participle knapping, simple past and past participle knapped)

1. (transitive) To shape a brittle material having conchoidal fracture, usually a mineral (flint, obsidian, chert etc.), by breaking away flakes, often forming a sharp edge or point.
2. (transitive) To rap or strike sharply.
   • 1820, The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, volume 8, no.43, page 81, October 1820.

     Some entered the ring in very bad condition, and immediately got a-piping, like hot mutton pies - fell on their own blows, and knapped it every round, till they shewed the white feather and bolted.

   • 1977, Marilynne K. Roach, Encounters with the Invisible World, page 10, ?ISBN.

     "That will be sixpence," he said without looking up. She knapped her lips together and turned on her heel without another word.

3. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) To bite; to bite off; to break short.
   • Psalms xlvi. 9

     He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder.

   • 1821, John Clare, "The Village Minstrel":

     "Horses..turn'd to knap each other at their ease."

4. To make a sound of snapping.
   • 1676, Richard Wiseman, Severall Chirurgical Treatises

     Press back the head of the Femur into its Acetabulum , and it will knap in

Usage notes

(to shape a brittle material) In modern usage knap is restricted to the specific technique of percussion flaking whereby flakes are removed across an entire face or facet leaving a conchoidal fracture. It is distinguished from the more general verb chip and is different from "carve" (removing only part of a face), and "cleave" (breaking along a natural plane). The term is used in archaeology for the production of flaked stone tools and in gunsmithing for the production of gunflints. Knap is rarely used in stonemasonry except to denote fine chipping done with smaller hammers but without the chisel.

Synonyms

• (break flakes from brittle material): chip

Derived terms

• knapper
• knappable

Related terms

• knapsack

Noun

knap (plural knaps)

1. A sharp blow or slap.
   • 2012, Andrew Ashenden, Basics of Stage Combat: Unarmed, ?ISBN.

     It tells the audience the punch was thrown, they hear a knap, and the victim is 'injured'.

See also

• conchoidal
• flake
• hinge
• pressure flaking

Etymology 2

From Middle English knappe (“knob”), from Old English cnæp, akin to cnotta (“knot”).

Noun

knap (plural knaps) (chiefly dialect)

1. A protuberance; a swelling; a knob.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Building

     you shall see many fine seats set upon a knap of ground

2. The crest of a hill
3. A small hill

   • the highest part and knap of the same Iland

References

knap in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Danish

Etymology 1

Likely related to næppe (“hardly at all”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /knap/, [k?n?b?]
• Rhymes: -ap

Adjective

knap

1. scant, scarce
2. brief, concise

Inflection

Adverb

knap

1. hardly, scarcely
2. just under
3. barely

Etymology 2

From Old Norse knappr, from Proto-Germanic *knappô.

Noun

knap c (singular definite knappen, plural indefinite knapper)

1. button (in clothes etc.)
2. button (in machines)

Inflection

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kn?p/

Etymology 1

Of unknown origin. Found only in Dutch and Low German (whence German knapp). Compare Ancient Greek ?????? (knápt?, “to card wool”), ????????? (knéphallon, “flock, wool”), compared in the sense of "tight-fitting, shapely."

Adjective

knap (comparative knapper, superlative knapst)

1. smart, intelligent, gifted, talented, clever

   Synonyms: begaafd, slim

2. impressive

   Synonym: netjes

3. attractive, beautiful, handsome

   Synonym: aantrekkelijk

Inflection

Derived terms

• knappe kop
• knapperd

Adverb

knap

1. quite, rather, pretty (reinforces what follows)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

knap

1. first-person singular present indicative of knappen
2. imperative of knappen

References

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English cnæp.

Noun

knap

1. Alternative form of knappe (“knob”)

Etymology 2

Possibly onomatopoeic.

Noun

knap

1. Alternative form of knappe (“strike”)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German knapp

Adjective

knap (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. (colloquial) tight

Adverb

knap (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. (colloquial) tightly, barely

Related terms

• jedva, tijesno

Swedish

Noun

knap

1. A cleat

Anagrams

• pank