knuckling

Verb

knuckle (third-person singular simple present knuckles, present participle knuckling, simple past and past participle knuckled)

1. (transitive) To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles (noun sense 1).
   • He knuckled the sleep from his eyes.
2. (slang, transitive) To strike or punch.
   • I could feel my big toe snap, but as he's gone down on his good knee and half swung round I knuckled him in the kidney as hard as I could hit. He's gone all the way down, so I dropped my 19 stone into the middle of his back.2013, Lenny McLean, The Guv'nor
3. (intransitive) To bend the fingers.
4. (intransitive) To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.
5. (figuratively, intransitive) To yield.

   Synonyms:

   knuckle under

6. To land on the knuckle (noun sense 9) of a curve of a slope, after a jump off a ramp that precedes the slope.

See all 15 meanings of knuckle