Emily Dickinson Lexicon

KNOT, n. [not; Sax. cnotta; G. knoten; D. knot; Sw. knota; Dan. knude; L. nodus; probably connected with knit, but perhaps from swelling or gathering.]

1. The complication of threads made by knitting; a tie; union of cords by interweaving; as, a knot difficult to be untied.
2. Any figure, the lines of which frequently intersect each other; as, a knot in gardening. In beds and curious knots. – Milton.
3. A bond of association or union; as, the nuptial knot.
4. The part of a tree where a branch shoots.
5. The protuberant joint of a plant. – Martyn.
6. A cluster; a collection; a group; as, a knot of ladies; a knot of figures in painting.
7. Difficulty; intricacy; something not easily solved. – South.
8. Any intrigue or difficult perplexity of affairs. – Dryden.
9. A bird of the genus Tringa.
10. An epaulet.
11. In seamen's language, a division of the logline, which answers to half a minute, as a mile does to an hour, or it is hundred-and-twentieth part of a mile. Hence, when a ship goes eight miles an hour, she is said to go eight knots. – Mar. Dict.