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Knot vs Pick - What's the difference?

knot | pick |

As verbs the difference between knot and pick

is that knot is (knyta) while pick is to grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.

As a noun pick is

a tool used for digging; a pickaxe.

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

    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

    * ----

    pick

    English

    (wikipedia pick)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
  • A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
  • A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
  • A choice; ability to choose.
  • * Lord Lytton
  • France and Russia have the pick of our stables.
  • That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
  • (basketball) A screen.
  • (lacrosse) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
  • (American football) An interception.
  • (baseball) A good defensive play by an infielder.
  • (baseball) A pickoff.
  • (music) A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
  • A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
  • (obsolete) A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Take down my buckler and grind the pick on 't.
  • (printing, dated) A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.
  • (MacKellar)
  • (art, painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
  • (weaving) The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.
  • so many picks to an inch

    Derived terms

    * pickaxe * take one's pick * toothpick

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
  • Don't pick at that scab.
    He picked his nose.
  • To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.
  • It's time to pick the tomatoes.
  • To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
  • She picked flowers in the meadow.
    to pick feathers from a fowl
  • To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.
  • to pick rags
  • To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.
  • to pick''' the teeth; to '''pick''' a bone; to '''pick''' a goose; to '''pick a pocket
  • * Shakespeare
  • Did you pick Master Slender's purse?
  • * Cowper
  • He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems / With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
  • To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.
  • I'll pick the one with the nicest name.
  • (cricket) To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released.
  • He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.
  • (music) To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.
  • He picked a tune on his banjo.
  • To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.
  • To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.
  • * Dryden
  • Why stand'st thou picking ? Is thy palate sore?
  • To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
  • To steal; to pilfer.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
  • to keep my hands from picking and stealing
  • (obsolete) To throw; to pitch.
  • * Shakespeare
  • as high as I could pick my lance
  • (dated) To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.
  • To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.
  • to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.

    Derived terms

    * a bone to pick * picky * pickpocket * nitpick * pick and choose * pick 'em * nose-picking * pick somebody's brain * pick up * pick up on * pick up where one left * pickin' and grinnin' * ripe for the picking

    See also

    * mattock 1000 English basic words ----