Word.ws English Dictionary

knob and tube

knob and tube is the alternative form of knob-and-tube.

Meaning of knob-and-tube

Adjective

knob-and-tube (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to a type of electrical wiring consisting of insulated conductive copper wire affixed by porcelain hardware and protected in vulnerable areas by insulated cloth sleeving. Widely used in North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
    • If living in a house with antiquated knob-and-tube wiring—individual wires, not cables, passing through porcelain insulators—live wiring can be detected with a magnetic compass whose needle deflects1993 September 5, John Warde, “Home Clinic: Tips From Professionals To Handle Pesky Tasks”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 Jul 2013

Questions about knob and tube

What is knob and tube the alternative form of?
Knob and tube is the alternative form of knob-and-tube.

Words near knob and tube in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knob and tube (page history and authors); knob-and-tube (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.

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