¦ noun
1. the joint between the thigh and the lower leg.
a person's lap.
2. an angled piece of wood or metal supporting the beams of a wooden ship.
3. an abrupt obtuse or right-angled bend in a graph.
¦ verb (knees, kneeing, kneed) hit with the knee.
Phrases
at one's mother's (or father's) knee at an early age.
bend (or bow) the (or one's) knee submit.
bring someone (or something) to their (or its) knees reduce someone or something to a state of weakness or submission.
on bended knee(s) kneeling.
Origin
OE cneow, cneo, of Gmc origin.