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Knuckle vs Fist - What's the difference?

knuckle | fist |

As nouns the difference between knuckle and fist

is that knuckle is any of the joints between the phalanges of the fingers while fist is the act of breaking wind; fise.

As verbs the difference between knuckle and fist

is that knuckle is to apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles while fist is to break wind.

As an initialism FIST is

future Infantry Soldier Technology.

knuckle

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any of the joints between the phalanges of the fingers.
  • (by extension) A mechanical joint.
  • A cut of meat.
  • (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
  • The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being.
  • * Golding
    • With weary knuckles on thy brim she kneeled sadly down.
  • (obsolete) The joint of a plant.
    • (Francis Bacon)
  • (shipbuilding) A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom.
  • A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; a knuckle duster.
    • brass knuckles

    Derived terms

    * brass knuckles * knuckle down * knuckle joint * knuckle under * knuckleball * knuckledragger * knuckleduster * knucklehead * knuckle sandwich * near the knuckle * white-knuckled * white knuckle ride

    Verb

    (knuckl)
  • To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles.
    • He knuckled the sleep from his eyes.

    fist

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) fisten, fiesten, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To break wind.
    • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of breaking wind; fise.
  • A puffball.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fist, from (etyl) 'five'. More at five.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward
    • The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.
  • (printing) the pointing hand symbol
  • (ham radio) the characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code
  • (slang) a person's characteristic handwriting
  • A group of men.
  • The talons of a bird of prey.
  • * Spenser
    • More light than culver in the falcon's fist .
  • (informal) An attempt at something.
  • * 2005 , Darryl N. Davis, Visions of Mind: Architectures for Cognition and Affect (page 144)
    • With the rise of cognitive neuroscience, the time may be coming when we can make a reasonable fist of mapping down from an understanding of the functional architecture of the mind to the structural architecture of the brain.
    Synonyms
    * bunch of fives * fist-size * ductus
    Derived terms
    * fisty * iron fist * hand over fist * fistful * rule with an iron fist
    Related terms
    * fisticuff * tight-fisted

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To strike with the fist.
    • ...may not score a point with his open hand(s), but may score a point by fisting the ball.'' Damian Cullen. "Running the rule." ''The Irish Times 18 Aug 2003, pg. 52.
  • To close (the hand) into a fist.
  • * 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 29:
    • He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.
  • To grip with a fist.
  • * 1851 ,
    • I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fist a bit of old-fashioned beef in the fore-castle, as I used to when I was before the mast.
  • (slang) To fist-fuck.

    • See also

    * knuckle * punch

    Anagrams

    * *