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What is the difference between hitch and knot?

hitch | knot |

As nouns the difference between hitch and knot

is that hitch is a sudden pull while knot is a looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.

As verbs the difference between hitch and knot

is that hitch is to pull with a jerk while knot is to form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.

As a proper noun Hitch

is {{surname|from=given names}.

hitch

English

Noun

(es)
  • A sudden pull.
  • Any of various knots]] used to attach a rope to an object other than another rope Knots and Splices by Cyrus L Day, Adlard Coles Nautical, 2001. See [[w:List of hitch knots, List of hitch knots in Wikipedia .
  • A fastener or connection point, as for a trailer.
    • His truck sported a heavy-duty hitch for his boat.
  • (informal) A problem, delay or source of difficulty.
    • The banquet went off without a hitch . (Meaning the banquet went smoothly.)
  • A hidden or unfavorable condition or element; a catch.
    • The deal sounds too good to be true. What's the hitch ?
  • A period of time. Most often refers to time spent in the military.
    • She served two hitches in Vietnam.
    U.S. TROOPS FACE LONGER ARMY HITCH ; SOLDIERS BOUND FOR IRAQ, ... WILL BE RETAINED
  • :: Stephen J. Hedges & Mike Dorning, Chicago Tribune; Orlando Sentinel; Jun 3, 2004; pg. A.1;

    • Synonyms

    * catch

    Derived terms

    * unhitch * unhitched

    Verb

  • To pull with a jerk.
  • To attach, tie or fasten.
  • *, chapter=8
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.}}
  • (informal) To marry oneself to; especially to get hitched .
  • (informal) contraction of hitchhike, to thumb a ride.
  • To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling.
  • * South
    • atomswhich at length hitched together
  • To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded.
  • * (Alexander Pope)
    • Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme.
  • * Fuller
    • To ease themselves by hitching into another place.
  • (UK) To strike the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.
    • (Halliwell)

    References

    knot

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) cnotta, from (etyl) , compare Latin nodus and its Romance successors.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
    • Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope.
  • (of hair, etc) A tangled clump.
    • The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair.
  • A maze-like pattern.
  • * Milton
    • Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art / In beds and curious knots , but nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.
  • (mathematics) A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).
    • A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon.
        A knot in its original sense can be modeled as a mathematical knot''' (or link) as follows: if the knot is made with a single piece of rope, then abstract the shape of that rope and then extend the working end to merge it with the standing end, yielding a mathematical '''knot'''. If the knot is attached to a metal ring, then that metal ring can be modeled as a trivial '''knot''' and the pair of '''knots''' become a link. If more than one mathematical ' knot (or link) can be thus obtained, then the simplest one (avoiding detours) is probably the one which one would want.
  • A difficult situation.
    • I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman.
  • * South
    • A man shall be perplexed with knots , and problems of business, and contrary affairs.
  • The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.
    • When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots , since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks.
  • Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.
    • Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe.
  • A protuberant joint in a plant.
  • Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.
  • * Tennyson
    • With lips serenely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat.
  • The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter.
    • the knot of the tale
  • (engineering) A node.
  • A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot.
  • A group of people or things.
  • * Shakespeare
    • his ancient knot of dangerous adversaries
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • As they sat together in small, separate knots , they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief.
  • * 1968, Bryce Walton, Harpoon Gunner , Thomas Y. Crowell Company, NY, (1968), page 20,
    • He pushed through knots of whalemen grouped with their families and friends, and surrounded by piles of luggage.
  • A bond of union; a connection; a tie.
  • * Shakespeare
    • with nuptial knot
  • * Bishop Hall
    • ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed
    Related terms
    * get knotted * Gordian knot * granny knot * knot theory * knotty * red knot * reef knot * slipknot * unknot * Windsor knot

    Verb

    (knott)
  • To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.
    • We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.
  • * Tennyson
    • as tight as I could knot the noose
  • To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.
    • She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands.
  • To unite closely; to knit together.
    • (Francis Bacon)
  • (obsolete, rare) To entangle or perplex; to puzzle.
    • Synonyms
    * (form into a knot) bind, tie * (form wrinkles in forehead) knit
    Antonyms
    * (form into a knot) loosen, unbind, unknot, untie

    See also

    * * braid * bruise * hickey * knit * loop * plait * tangle * tie * weave

    Etymology 2

    From the practice of counting the number of knots in the log-line (as it plays out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every 1/120th of a mile.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.
    • Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots .
  • (slang) A nautical mile (incorrectly)
    • See also
    *

    Etymology 3

    Supposed to be derived from the name of (King Canute), with whom the bird was a favourite article of food. See the species epithet canutus .

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • One of a variety of shore birds; the red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or ).

    • See also

    * (Red Knot)

    Anagrams

    * ----