knot (redirected from red knots)

knot

Examples of common knots.

(credit: © Merriam-Webster Inc.)

In cording, the interlacement of parts of one or more ropes, cords, or other pliable materials, commonly used to bind objects together. Knots have existed from the time humans first used vines and cordlike fibers to bind stone heads to wood in primitive axes, and were also used in the making of nets and traps. Knot making became sophisticated when it began to be used in the ropes, or rigging, that controlled the sails of early sailing vessels, and thus became the province of sailors. Knots are still depended on by campers and hikers, mountaineers, fishermen, and weavers, among others.

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knot¹

1. a protuberance or lump of plant tissues, such as that occurring on the trunks of certain trees

2. 

a. Pathol a lump of vessels or fibres formed in a part, as in a muscle

b. Anatomy a protuberance on an organ or part

3. a unit of speed used by nautical vessels and aircraft, being one nautical mile (about 1.15 statute miles or 1.85 km) per hour

4. one of a number of equally spaced knots on a log line used to indicate the speed of a ship in nautical miles per hour

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knot²

a small northern sandpiper, Calidris canutus, with a short bill and grey plumage

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knot [nät]

(computer science)

deadlock

(materials)

A scar on lumber marking a place where a branch grew out of the tree truck.

(mathematics)

In the general case, a knot consists of an embedding of ann-dimensional sphere in an (n + 2)-dimensional sphere; classically, it is an interlaced closed curve, homeomorphic to a circle.

(organic chemistry)

A chiral structure in which rings containing 50 or more members have a knotlike configuration.

(physics)

A speed unit of 1 nautical mile (1.852 kilometers) per hour, equal to approximately 0.51444 meters per second.