1893 text

“Naturally grown timber or bars of iron bent to a right angle or to fit the surfaces and to secure bodies firmly together as hanging knees secure the deck beams to the sides.” — Smyth’s Sailor’s Word- Book. There are several kinds of knees.


2 Annotations

Terry F  •  Link

"KNEES, are crooked pieces of timber. One leg or arm is bolted to the beams, and the other to the ship's side. They are either lodging or hanging. The hanging knees are fayed up and down, and the others fore and aft the side, and rest upon the clamps." A GLOSSARY, OR EXPLICATION, OF TERMS relating to SHIPBUILDING, 1765. http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Etymology/Eng...

cum salis grano  •  Link

Knees. Context be needed to see if it be show of skin or wood.:
Sam has a ref. in OED to his body part.

knee #5. The part of a garment covering the knee.
"1662 PEPYS Diary 12 June, I tried on my riding-cloth suit with close knees..I think they will be very convenient, if not too hot to wear any other open knees after them."

Source of word:
[Com. Teut.: OE. cnéow, cnéo neut., = OFris. kniu, kni, kn OS. knio, kneo (Du. knie fem.), OHG. chniu, kneo (MHG. kniu, knie, Ger. knie), ON. kn (Sw. knä, Dan. knæ), Goth. kniu, gen. kniwis:
OTeut. *knewom = pre-Teut. *gneuo-: cf. L. genu, Gr Skr. j....with bent knee, Skr. abhi-jnu to the knee. These forms point to an orig. ablaut stem geneu-, goneu-, gneu-, liable to shortening of the second syllable.]

Knee up to 18C has these refs: there are others. a selection from OED:
I. The part of the limb, etc.
1. a. The joint, or region about the joint, between the thigh and the lower leg; by extension, the part of the thigh of a sitting person over the knee. .......
3. esp. In phrases having reference to kneeling or bowing in worship, supplication, or submission.
a. With governing prep.: on or upon the (one's) knee(s; to fall, go, kneel, set oneself, on knee(s), to bring one to his knees; see also AKNEE, FALL v. 20.

b. With governing vb.: to bend, bow, drop, e hie hiene me ne on cneowum sittende metten.
II. Something resembling the knee in position or shape.
6. a. Part of a hill, tree, etc., regarded as corresponding to the knee.
7. A piece of timber having a natural angular bend, or artificially so bent; also a piece of metal of the same shape.
a. Shipbuilding and Naut.
A piece of timber naturally bent, used to secure parts of a ship together, esp. one with an angular bend used to connect the beams and the timbers; by extension, a bent piece of iron serving the same purpose; formerly applied to any naturally grown bent timber used in shipbuilding. knee of the head, a cutwater: cf. HEAD1 21.
1352 Excheq. Acc. Q.R
........1626 CAPT. SMITH Accid. Yng. Seamen 9 All the beames to be bound with two knees at each ende.
....b. Carpentry and Mech. A piece of timber or metal naturally or artificially shaped, so as to fit into an angle; also, the bend in such a piece, or one made by the junction of any two pieces.
1677-83 MOXON Mech. Exerc. (1703) 142 Knees of the principal Rafters, to be made all of one piece with the principal Rafters. Ibid. 162, Knee, a piece of Timber growing angularly, or crooked.
.....1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 68/1 One [Fly-boat] of 300 Tuns, with..Deal, *Knee-pieces, and other Oak timber for ships. 1677-83 [see knee-rafter].
Knee timber : Timber having a natural angular bend, suitable for making knees in shipbuilding or carpentry; = KNEE n. 7. Also fig.
1607-12 BACON Ess., Goodness & Goodness of Nat. (Arb.) 206 Like to knee-tymber that is good for Shipps..but not for building houses.
1673 E. BROWN Trav. Germ., etc. (1677) 55 It is built with large Knee Timber, like the ribs of a Ship

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