knee

 
Pronunciation: /niː/

noun

  • 1the joint between the thigh and the lower leg in humans.
  • the joint in other animals that corresponds or is analogous to the human knee.
  • the upper surface of someone’s thigh when they are sitting; a person’s lap: they were eating their suppers on their knees
  • the part of a garment covering the knee.
  • 2an angled piece of wood or metal frame used to connect and support the beams and timbers of a wooden ship.
  • 3an abrupt obtuse or approximately right-angled bend in a graph between parts where the slope varies smoothly.

verb (knees, kneeing, kneed)

[with object]
  • hit (someone) with one’s knee: she kneed him in the groin

Phrases

at one's mother's (or father's) knee

at an early age.

bend (or bow) the (or one's) knee

submit: a country no longer willing to bend its knee to foreign powers

bring someone/thing to their/its knees

reduce someone or something to a state of weakness or submission: the country was brought to its knees by a new strike

fall (or drop, or sink, etc.) to one's knees

assume a kneeling position.

on bended knee (s)

kneeling, especially when pleading or showing great respect: did your guy propose on bended knee?

on one's knees

in a kneeling position.
on the verge of collapse: when they took over, the newspaper was on its knees

weak at the knees

overcome by a strong feeling, typically desire.

Origin:

Old English cnēow, cnēo, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch knie and German Knie, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin genu and Greek gonu