Adjacent Words

knuckle duster definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a small metal weapon; worn over the knuckles on the back of the hand [syn: brass knucks, knucks, brass knuckles, knuckles, knuckle duster]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Knuckle Knuc"kle, n. [OE. knokel, knokil, AS. cuncel; akin to D. knokkel, OFries. knokele, knokle, G. kn["o]chel, Sw. knoge, Dan. knokkel, G. knochen bone, and perh. to E. knock.] 1. The joint of a finger, particularly when made prominent by the closing of the fingers. --Davenant. 2. The kneejoint, or middle joint, of either leg of a quadruped, especially of a calf; -- formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being. With weary knuckles on thy brim she kneeled sadly down. --Golding. 3. The joint of a plant. [Obs.] --Bacon. 4. (Mech.) The joining pars of a hinge through which the pin or rivet passes; a knuckle joint. 5. (Shipbuilding) A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom. 6. A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; as, brass knuckles; -- called also knuckle duster. [Slang.] Knuckle joint (Mach.), a hinge joint, in which a projection with an eye, on one piece, enters a jaw between two corresponding projections with eyes, on another piece, and is retained by a pin which passes through the eyes and forms the pivot. Knuckle of veal (Cookery), the lower part of a leg of veal, from the line of the body to the knuckle.