Also 5– knor, 5–6 knorre, 6 knour, 6–7 knurre, 7–9 (dial.) knorr, 9 nurr. [ME. knorre, knurre, corresp. to MDu., MLG., MHG. knorre (Du. knor, G. knorre(n), Sw. dial. knurr, knurra hard swelling, knot, knob; ulterior etym. uncertain. The ME. word may be older than the quotations show: cf. the related KNURNED.]
† 1. A hard excrescence, swelling or concretion in the flesh. Obs. Cf. KNOB sb. 1 b.
c. 1400. Beryn, 2513. Strecching forth his fyngirs,… Withouten knot or knor or eny signe of goute.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health (1575), cix. Knottes, knobbes, knorres, or burres, the which is in man’s flesh or fatnesse.
1621. Molle, Camerar. Liv. Libr., I. v. 11. Hard knurs or knobs in his hands with working in the fields.
2. A knot or hardened excrescence on the trunk of a tree, a KNAR; a hard concretion or kernel in stone; any swollen formation, a bur.
1545. Elyot, Dict., Bruscum, a bunche or knur in a tree.
1548. Cooper, Centrum,… an hard knotte or knurre in tymbre [1565–73 adds or stone].
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1429/2. The euil tree of our harte,… with al the crooks, knots and knoures.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 467. The bunch or knurre in the Maple, called Bruscum, is passing faire.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 28. Oaks bear also a knur, full of cottony matter.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Seminary, If you raise your Trees of such sorts as bear a Knur or Burry Swelling, set that part into the Ground.
1853. G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 143. The knots or knurs on the stem are in repute for making snuff-boxes.
1861. C. A. Johns, Forest Trees Gt. Brit., 150. We may often see, on the bole of a beech, scattered excrescences called knurs, varying in size from a pea to a large marble.
3. A wooden ball or a hard knot of wood used in the north country game of Knur and spell or Spell and knur, resembling ‘bat and trap,’ or trap-ball. Also, A similar ball used in other games, as hockey.
1852. Househ. Words, 23 Oct., 139. The mysterious game of Nurr and spell.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Knor or Gnar, a small ball of lignum vitæ for playing at cricket with, or a similar game which is called ‘Spell and Knor.’
1868. Morning Star, 10 Feb. A well-known Yorkshire game known as ‘knurr and spell,’ in which an ordinary stick some two feet in length has a solid piece of wood 3 in. long and 2 in. in depth screwed on for the purpose of striking a marble.
1872. Prior, Croquet, 15. Bandy is the same game as hockey, and is played … with a wooden ball that … is cut from a blackthorn bush and called a ‘knurr.’
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Knur, a hard wooden ball with which children play. Ibid., Nur, a small ball, such as that used in the game of hockey.
4. north. dial. = KNURL 2. (See quots.)
1691. Ray, N. C. Words, 135. A Knor or Knurre, a short stubbed dwarfish Man.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Knorr, a dwarfish fellow, a hard fellow.
