English
knap
Pronunciation Verb

knap (knaps, present participle knapping; past and past participle knapped)

  1. (transitive) To shape a brittle material having conchoidal fracture, usually a mineral (flint, obsidian, chert etc.), by breaking away flakes, often forming a sharp edge or point.
  2. (transitive) To rap or strike sharply.
    • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Or, A Naturall Historie: In Ten Centuries
      Knap the tongs together […] about a handful from the bottom.
    • 1820, The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine ↗, volume 8, no.43, page 81, October 1820.
      Some entered the ring in very bad condition, and immediately got a-piping, like hot mutton pies - fell on their own blows, and knapped it every round, till they shewed the white feather and bolted.
    • 1977, Marilynne K. Roach, Encounters with the Invisible World, page 10, ISBN 0690012772.
      "That will be sixpence," he said without looking up. She knapped her lips together and turned on her heel without another word.
  3. (obsolete, UK, dialect) To bite; to bite off; to break short.
    • He will knap the spears apieces with his teeth.
    • Psalms xlvi. 9 (Book of Common Prayer):
      He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder.
    • 1821, John Clare, "The Village Minstrel":
      "Horses..turn'd to knap each other at their ease."
  4. To make a sound of snapping.
Synonyms
  • (break flakes from brittle material) chip
Related terms Noun

knap (plural knaps)

  1. A sharp blow or slap.
    • 2012, Andrew Ashenden, Basics of Stage Combat: Unarmed, ISBN 1612330711.
      It tells the audience the punch was thrown, they hear a knap, and the victim is 'injured'.
Noun

knap (plural knaps) (chiefly dialect)

  1. A protuberance; a swelling; a knob.
  2. The crest of a hill
  3. A small hill
    • the highest part and knap of the same island


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