• (British) enPR: nē, IPA: /niː/
• (America) IPA: /ni/
• (obsolete) IPA: /kniː/

knee

1. In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.

   Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book II, canto V, page 249 ↗:

     He made him ſtoup perforce vnto his knee, / And doe vnwilling worſhip to the Saint, / That on his ſhield depainted he did ſee{{...}

2. In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
3. The part of a garment that covers the knee.
4. (shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
   • 1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 41

     Deck beams were supported by hanging knees, triangular pieces of wood typically found underneath the timbers they are designed to support, but in this case found above them.

5. (archaic) An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
   • circa 1605, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act III, scene iii, [http://books.google.com/books?id=s3AXgW0-Kb4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Give+them+title,+%27%27%27knee%27%27%27,+and+approbation.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tpiqUJviMejC0AHjm4GIBw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Give%20them%20title%2C%20%27%27%27knee%27%27%27%2C%20and%20approbation.%22&f=false line 36]

     Give them title, knee, and approbation.

   To make a knee.
6. Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line; an inflection point.

   the knee of a graph

7. A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.

• French: genou
• German: Knie
• Italian: ginocchio
• Portuguese: joelho
• Russian: коле́но
• Spanish: rodilla, hinojo

• German: Knie

• German: Kniefall

knee (knees, present participle kneeing; past and past participle kneed)

1. (transitive, archaic) To kneel to.
   • 1605: I could as well be brought / To knee his throne and, squire-like, pension beg / To keep base life afoot. — William Shakespeare, King Lear II.ii
2. (transitive) To poke or strike with the knee.
3. (reflexive) To move on the knees; to use the knees to move.