Knotted

a. [f. KNOT sb.¹ and v. + -ED.]

  1.  Having a knot or knots tied on it; tied in a knot; fastened with a knot.

c. 1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1137. Me did cnotted strenges abuton here hæued.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 1551. Het … beaten hire bare flesch & hire freoliche bodi mit cnottede schurgen.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xviii. 197. He hath abouten his Nekke 300 perles oryent gode & grete, & knotted, as Pater Nostres here of Amber.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXII. (Percy Soc.), 156. In her hand she had a knotted whyp.

1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 15/1. The first is called, the knotted suture or sovvinge, because that in everye [printed evetye] stitche,… is … cutt of, & vvith both the endes of the thred … knitte together.

1607.  Rowlands, Guy Warw., 41. The Dragon winds his crooked knotted tail About the Lyon’s legs.

1788.  Cowper, Negro’s Compl., 29. Ask him, if your knotted scourges,… Are the means that duty urges Agents of his will to use?

1831.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 183. These knotted chains, as they are called, are now made by all the chain-makers.

  b.  fig. Knit together as with knots; formed like network; entangled, intricate.

1648.  Milton, Observ. Art. Peace, Wks. (1851), 576. No breach of any just privilege, but a breach of their knotted faction.

1664.  Butler, Hud., II. iii. 133/18. Th’ are catch’d in knotted Law, like Nets.

1890.  Marie Corelli, Wormwood, III. viii. 160. Little by little, I unravelled my knotted thoughts.

  2.  Formed or decorated with knots or bosses. b. Of a garden, laid out in knots (see KNOT sb.¹ 7).

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 249. The West corner of thy curious knotted garden.

1830.  N. S. Wheaton, Jrnl., 411. A double colonnade of clustered pillars springing aloft into the air, and spanned above by a richly ribbed and knotted arch.

1863–9.  Dict. Archit., Knotted shaft. A peculiarity in the carving of the shafts of columns in the early part of the mediæval period in Italy, representing a knot; sometimes two shafts are knotted together.

1896.  Edin. Rev., July, 169. The term ‘knots’ or ‘knotted garden’ came to be used for any grouping of flower-beds of other than simple shape.

  3.  Characterized by knobs, protuberances, excrescences or concretions; gnarled, as a trunk or branch; having swollen joints, as a stem; gathered into wrinkles, knitted (as the brows): cf. KNOT sb.¹ 13, 14; KNOT v. 3.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 280/1. Knobbyd, or knottyd as trees, vertiginosus.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 50. The splitting winde Makes flexible the knees of knotted Oakes.

1632.  Massinger & Field, Fatal Dowry, III. i. M.’s Wks. (Rtldg.), 278/1. He has a knotted brow, would bruise A court-like hand to touch it.

1664.  Power, Exp. Philos., I. 6–7. The Gray, or Horse-Fly…. Her legs all joynted and knotted like the plant call’d Equisetum or Horse-tayl.

1701.  Sir H. C. Floyer, Hot & Cold Bathing, I. iv. 102. He was afflicted with the Gout … his Joints were so knotted, that he could scarcely go.

1776–96.  Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 49. Branches … Sometimes smooth and regular, sometimes knotted.

1843.  Lytton, Last Bar., I. vii. A formidable knotted club in his hand.

  b.  † Compacted, formed into a knot or compact close mass, as a bud (obs.); forming a close head of blossom (dial.).

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 414. Pulling off the Buds of the Rose, when they are newly knotted, for then the side Branches will bear.

1744–50.  W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., III. I. 83 (E. D. S.). [Clover, when fit for mowing, is] known by its being full knotted.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 209. Knotted flowers of thyme.