Word.ws English Dictionary

knob

/nɒb//nɑb/

knob noun: a rounded protuberance, especially one arising from a flat surface; a fleshy lump or caruncle.

knob: a rounded protuberance, especially one arising from a flat surface; a fleshy lump or caruncle
Image: Derek Jensen ( Tysto ), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

knob (plural knobs)

  1. A rounded protuberance, especially one arising from a flat surface; a fleshy lump or caruncle.
  2. A rounded control switch that can be turned on its axis, designed to be operated by the fingers.
  3. A ball-shaped part of a handle, lever, etc., designed to be grabbed by the hand.
  4. A rounded ornament on the hilt of an edged weapon; a pommel.
  5. A prominent, rounded bump along a mountain ridge.
  6. (Appalachia, Lancashire) A prominent rounded hill.
    • We climbed to the top of Slate Hill, the highest knob in our town, and Ricky gave me a whole talk on how slate formed, how it was and was not shale.2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 144
  7. (in plural, slang) A woman's breast.
  8. (slang) The head of the penis; the glans.
    Synonyms:
    knobhead
  9. (broadly, derogatory, slang) A contemptible person; a dick.
    • Arthur slammed his fist down on the table so hard, the cup jumped, spilling coffee. The rotten bastard means to have the guvnor’s guts. That fucking knob has never been on a live deployment in his entire life.[…]2013, Roger Gray, Target Trojan, page 157
    • […] He must really hate those people!” my father said in an all-too audible aside to Mom. “I don’t hate them, you stupid knob!” Critch said. It’s you and your whole kind I hate!”2014 May, Thirteen O’Clock Press, Behind Closed Doors
  10. (slang, vulgar) The clitoris.
    • A hot and strong sexual odour emanated from her fanny. I extended my head and pressed my nose between her lips. I pushed my tongue into her crack and lapped up the juices. [...] Then I moved up and grasped her long clitoris in my lips and began to suck and play with it with my tongue. She thrashed...2009 July, Angela Meadows, The Education of Victoria, Headline, →ISBN
    • He was seriously talented, and his fingers were now sliding back and forth over her wet knob, and she was losing her mind. Almost gasping for air from the pleasure, she felt the undeniable need for her release. […] Then his fingers quickened their strokes against her swollen rose bud, […]2011 April, Angelica Rose, Labyrinth of Passions, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 133
  11. A dollop, an amount just larger than a spoonful (usually referring to butter).
  12. A chunky branch-like piece, especially of a ginger rhizome.
    • Place whole, unpeeled knobs of ginger in a zipper-lock freezer bag for up to 3 months. Slice or break off what you need and return the rest to the freezer.2001, David Joachim, The Clever Cook's Kitchen Handbook
  13. A bulb of the garlic plant consisting of multiple cloves.
  14. (US, slang) A freshman at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina.
    • Males voices, raised in anger, screamed at an unseen freshman. One voice demanded to know the rank on each jacket. “Hey, smack, what rank is this cadet uniform? Answer me, knob! Don’t you know, knob? What’s wrong, are you stupid, knob? For the first time since arriving at The Citadel, I fought to...2002 September, Nancy Mace, Mary Jane Ross, In the Company of Men: A Woman at the Citadel, page 44
    • “You went to The Citadel?” her mother chimed in. “I’ve heard so many great things about that institution. Did you go through a plebe year?” I told her I did and that we called it the knob year because freshman cadets had to shave their heads bald to resemble the butt end of a door knob and keep it...2018 October, Joe Crochet, My Winning Seasons: Discovering the Champion Within, page 3

Verb

knob (third-person singular simple present knobs, present participle knobbing, simple past and past participle knobbed)

  1. (intransitive) protrude
  2. (transitive) furnish or produce with a knob, knobble
  3. (UK, slang, transitive, vulgar) To have sex with.
    • One morning, maybe three weeks after my last grapple with Penny, Thomson came roaring into our form room. ‘Oi, Fleming, you spastic. Guess who I knobbed last night?’1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 17
    • Had Jack knobbed her as well? Molly wondered.2013, Sarah-Kate Lynch, Finding Tom Connor

knob meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

knob in Hindi

knob; doorknob
घुंडी ghuṇḍī

knob in Tamil

குமிழ், கைப்பிடி

knob in Urdu

گھنڈی, گرہ, گمڑی, لٹو, مٹھ, مٹھیا

knob in Bengali

knob, a ball-shaped part of a door, handle, lever, etc., designed to be grabbed by the hand
নব nob
knob
গাঁট gãṭ
More languagesFewer languages
knob in Telugu
గుబ్బ gubba
knob in Malayalam
മുട്ട് muṭṭŭ
knob in Kannada
ಗುಬುಟು, ಬುಗುಟೆ, ಗಂಟು, ಗುಂಡು
knob in Assamese
চুলা sula
knob in Indonesian
kenop

Examples of knob in a sentence

  • Birdie McBride has a big knob.” “No,” I corrected, deadpan, “I said he is a big knob,”2015, C. J. Cronin, chapter 29, in Assassination:
  • “Bloody knob!” I called out, and then began to wipe off the dirt and water with my sweater sleeve.2016 August, Zona Haselton, chapter 2, in Vengeance:
  • Fearn picks Jeremy Clarkson (“absolute knob.2023 March 5, Miranda Sawyer, quoting Andrew Fearn, “Sleaford Mods: ‘The UK is like a crazy golf course – all we’ve got left are...
  • Through it all I kept my grip on her knob until her orgasm began to subside.2009 July, Angela Meadows, The Education of Victoria, Headline, →ISBN:

All 40 example sentences with knob

Synonyms of knob

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of knob

Forms of knob

Noun
pluralknobs
Verb
third-person singular presentknobs
present participleknobbing
past participleknobbed
pastknobbed

Plural of knob: knobs

Origin of knob

From Middle English knobbe, from Middle Low German knobbe (“knob, knot in wood, bud”), probably ultimately from a variant of Proto-Germanic *knappô (“knob, lump”), one of several kn- words related to *knudaną (“to knead”). Compare Middle Dutch knobbe, cnoppe, Middle Low German knobbe (“knob, knot in wood”), knubbe, Dutch knop (“knob, button, bud”), Old Frisian knopp, knapp, Old High German knopf (“bud, pommel of a sword, knot, loop”), Middle High German knospe, German Knopf (“button, knob”), Knospe (“bud”), Danish knap (“button”), knop (“knob, button, bud”), Faroese knappur (“button”), Icelandic hnappur (“button”), Norn knapp (“round button”), knubbi (“potato”), snapp (“knob, round top”), Norwegian and Swedish knapp (“button”), Norwegian knopp (“bud”), Swedish knopp (“bud, knob”), Finnish nappi (“button, knob”), nuppi (“knob, pommel”), Old Norse knyfill (“short horn”). Also compare Middle English knap, knappe (“small projection, knob (button, tassel, tuft, etc.), hill, hilltop, etc.)”), from Old English cnæp, cnæpp (“summit, top”), which is possibly related to Old Norse knappr (“small projection, knob (button, head of a stick, etc.)”) (whence English knop), from Proto-Germanic...

Words formed from knob

Phrases with knob

Words that rhyme with knob

20 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about knob

What does knob mean?
Knob means a rounded protuberance, especially one arising from a flat surface; a fleshy lump or caruncle.
What is knob in Hindi?
Knob in Hindi is घुंडी (ghuṇḍī). See Knob meaning in Hindi.
How do you use knob in a sentence?
Birdie McBride has a big knob.” “No,” I corrected, deadpan, “I said he is a big knob,”
What part of speech is knob?
Knob can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce knob?
Knob is pronounced /nɒb/ (UK).
What is the plural of knob?
The plural of knob is knobs.

Words near knob in the dictionary

  1. KNKT
  2. knn
  3. KNNB
  4. KNNBCCB
  5. kno
  6. knob
  7. knob and tube
  8. knob celery
  9. knob cheese
  10. knob end
  11. knob ends

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knob (page history and authors); घुंडी (Hindi) (page history and authors); knob (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); knob (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); গাঁট (Bengali) (page history and authors); గుబ్బ (Telugu) (page history and authors); മുട്ട് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); knob (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); চুলা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-knob.ogg, Knob (English US).wav.

Cite this entry: “knob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.