A Quick and Simple Dictionary

knot

1. Noun.  A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
2. Noun.  (context, of hair) A tangled clump.
3. Noun.  A maze-like pattern.
4. Noun.  (mathematics) A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).
5. Noun.  A difficult situation.
6. Noun.  Either of two species of small wading birds, the red knot ''(Calidris canutus)'' and the great knot ''(Calidris tenuirostris)''.
7. Noun.  The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.
8. Noun.  Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.
9. Noun.  A group of people or things.
10. Verb.  To form into a knot; tie with (a) knot(s).
11. Verb.  To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.
12. Noun.  (nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.
13. Noun.  (slang) A nautical mile (qualifier, incorrectly) .
14. Noun.  one of a variety shore bird; the red-breasted sandpiper (variously ''Calidris canutus'' or ''Tringa canutus'').