Forms: 1 cnyttan, 3–4 knutte(n (ü), 4 kneotte(n, 4–5 knette(n, 4–6 knytte, knyt(e, knitte, 6– knit (dial. knet). Pa. t. 1 cnytte, 3–4 knutte(ü), 4 knette, 4–5 knyt(te, 4– knit (dial. knet), 5–6 knytted, 5– knitted. Pa. pple. 1 (ʓe)cnyted, 3 i-knut, 4 i-, y-knyt, (y-knitte), 4–6 (–9 dial.) knet, (5 -tte, -te), cnyt, knyt, (-ytte, -yȝt, -ut(t), 4–5 knytted, 4– knitted, knit, (4–7 knitt(e, 6 nit, 7 knite). β. Pa. t. 6– (north. dial.) knat. Pa. pple. 3 i-cnutten, i-cnute, 5–6 (9 dial. and arch.) knitten. [OE. cnyttan, weak vb. = MDu. and MLG. knutten, G. knütten:—OTeut. *knuttjan, f. stem knutt-, of OE. cnotta, KNOT sb. The pa. pple. is regularly knitted, contr. knit; but knitten, after the analogy of strong vbs., has also been used, and (in the north) a strong pa. t. knat; cf. sit, sat, sitten.]
† 1. trans. To tie in or with a knot; to tie, fasten, bind, attach, join, by or as by knotting. With cogn. obj. to knit a knot. arch. and dial.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xxxvi. (Z.), 214. Ic cnytte, necto.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 218. Cnyte mid anum ðræde on anum clænan linenan claþe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 396. Mon knut his kurtel uorte habben þouht of one þinge.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 33. Beo þe cnot icnute anes of wedlac.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 169. To bugge a belle of brasse … And knitten on a colere … And hangen it vp-on þe cattes hals.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 209. Thou knyttest [v.r. knettest] thee ther thou art nat receyued.
14[?]. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 249. Cryst for vs on croys was knet.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 1356. For him behoued knyt þe knott [of monkhood].
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 122. Thre or four splentes that the bees may knitte theyr combes vnto.
1526. Tindale, Acts x. 11. A greate shete knytt at the iiij. corners.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. i. 42. I knit my hand-kercher about your browes.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 404. Look to the first marriage that euer was; the Lorde Himselfe knit the knot.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., VIII. 107. Knit with three Knots the Fillets, knit ’em straight.
17[?]. Ploughman, i. in Burns’ Wks. His garters knit below his knee.
1805. Log H. M. S. ‘Prince,’ 21 Oct., in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. 189, note. Knitting fore and mizen rigging, and securing the masts.
† b. To fasten up, shut up. Cf. 10 a and b. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxxv. (1495), 726. His tonge is bounden and knytted.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 2092. Alle my jowelle loke and knette, I bynde undir this litel keye.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 677. Ye have hys tonge cnyt.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., iii. 451. Now ar the weders cest and cateractes knyt.
1509. Parl. Devylles, xxiii. Thy conclusyon knytteth me so feruently.
† c. To geld (a ram) by tying the scrotum. Obs.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 482. Then do they use to knit them [rams], and so, in time, their stones, deprived of nourishment … by reason of knitting, do dry and consume away.
1744–50. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., IV. I. 129. When he is five years old, he is to be knit and fatted off.
† d. intr. To attach itself, adhere. Obs.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. xxxvi. 11. Heereunto knitteth rightuousnesse, as the effect of the cause.
2. trans. † a. To knot string in open meshes so as to form (a net); to net. Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 436/168. Ase man knut a net: i-knut swiþe harde and stronge.
a. 1687. Waller, Mrs. Baughton, Wks. (1730), 41. Those curious nets … thy slender fingers knit.
b. To form (a close texture) by the interlooping of successive series of loops of yarn or thread.
Now the chief specific sense. App. so called from a general resemblance to the formation of network.
1530. Palsgr., 599/2. I knyt bonettes or hosen.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 312. She can knit him a stocke.
1660. Seas. Exhort., 11. In Knitting, and Sewing of garments.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. xi. III. (1869), I. 259. In the time of Edward IV. the art of knitting stockings was probably not known in … Europe.
1834–7. Southey, T’ terrible Knitters. We knat quorse wosset stockings.
1865. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 288. I have knitted myself a pair of garters.
1889. N. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., Oor Sarah’s knitten yards an’ yards on it.
c. absol. or intr. To do knitting (as in b).
1530. Palsgr., 599/2. I knyt, as a matte maker knytteth.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 310. Item she can knit.
1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, III. xv. A number of women, busily knitting.
3. trans. To interlock, interlace, intertwine; to twine, weave or plait together. arch. or Obs.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VIII. xxii. Kynge Mark and sire Tristram toke eyther other by the handes hard knyt to gyders.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 139. The aungell sate downe & knyt roddes, & wrought on ye basket.
1634. Milton, Comus, 143. Com, knit hands. Ibid., 862. In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair.
4. To draw closely together; to contract in folds or wrinkles; † to clench (the fist).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 270. This Palamon gan knytte his browes tweye.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 48. He frompeled his forhede and knytted his browes.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 15. He knits his Brow, and shewes an angry Eye.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., V. i. Wks. 1856, I. 132. They all … knit their fists at him.
1611. Cotgr., s’Acroupir, a Horse to knit, or draw vp, or gather togither, his hinder parts.
1710. Tatler, No. 253, ¶ 8. May a Man knit his Forehead into a Frown?
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U. S. (1822), 41. April 18. Cold and raw…. The lambs don’t play, but stand knit up.
1874. Burnand, My Time, iv. 34. Knitting his eyebrows.
b. intr. said of the brows.
1815. [see KNITTING ppl. a.].
1862. J. Grant, Capt. of Guard, xx. His brows knit and his eyes loured.
5. trans. To make compact or firm by close contraction or consolidation of parts; to make close, dense or hard; to compact; to concentrate.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., cxciv. Go litill tretise … And pray the reder … Of his gudnese thy brukilnese to knytt.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), ii. 31. William wichttar wes of corss Nor Sym, and bettir knittin.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 19. Knitting all his force, [he] got one hand free.
1607. Markham, Caval., I. (1617), 4. The … sharpenesse … [of] winter … will … harden and knitte him [a foal].
a. 1848. R. W. Hamilton, Rew. & Punishm., v. 231. With striving we knit our strength.
1872. J. L. Sanford, Estim. Eng. Kings, Chas. I., 335. His mind was much more firmly knit … than that of his father.
b. intr. (for refl.) To become compact, firm or strong by close consolidation of parts; to become consolidated.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. v. § 4. Young men, when they knit and shape perfectly, do seldom grow to a further stature.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb. (1623), 45. After your mares have beene covered,… you shall let them rest three weeks, or a moneth, that the substance may knit.
1662. R. Mathew, Unl. Alch., § 111. 182. Warm water,… sprinkle this powder thereon, and keep it stirring with a stick, otherwise it wil knit to a stone in the bottom.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 1264. Hence the limbs Knit into force.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 67. Weakness knits stubborn while it’s bearing thee.
c. intr. spec. Of fruit: To form, ‘set.’ Also of the tree, or of the blossom: To form fruit. (Said also of corn and potatoes.)
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2737. In the moneth of May … frutes were knyt [ed. 1874 mispr. kuyt]. Ibid., 4973.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron. (1807–8), II. 317. The fruit was knit before the growth … could be hindered.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 473. Some trees … doe not knit nor shew their fruit immediatly vpon their blooming.
1699. Poor Man’s Plea, 5. Continued good Weather … gave the Corn … time to knit and kearn, as they call it.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 33. The new Shoots … blossom extremely, but little of the Fruit knits.
1884. Cheshire Gloss., s.v., Potatoes also are said to knit when the tubers begin to form.
1894. Cath. News, 1 Dec., 8/1. A friend … remarked … that the gooseberries he had planted in his garden were ‘knitting’ well.
† d. Of a female animal: To conceive, form fruit: cf. quot. 1614 in b, and KNIT ppl. a. 3. Obs.
1732. W. Ellis, Pract. Farmer, 139. At five weeks end let her take buck, that the former brood may go off before she knits, about a week.
6. trans. To conjoin or unite closely and firmly (contiguous members, broken parts). Cf. KNITTED, quot. 1855.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 3. The vpper head of the thighe, where it is knit with the Bone of the hippe.
1676. Wiseman, Chirurg. Treat., 469 (J.). Nature cannot knit the Bones while the Parts are under a Distemper.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, VIII. 393. There, where the juncture knits the channel bone.
1811. Pinkerton, Petral., II. 624. A piece … which had at some former time been separated from it … was again knitted to the stock in such a perfect manner that the joint was scarcely perceptible.
1849. Murchison, Siluria, iii. 41. The whole of the beds are so knit together.
1862. Stanley, Jewish Ch. (1877), I. xviii. 346. The good physicians who knit together the dislocated bones of a disjointed time.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, II. 786. Huge timbers of oak knitted to timbers, a fabric that reaches to heaven.
b. intr. To become closely united; to grow together.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 91. Leaving of the grief undressed for two daies, that the veins may knit.
1621. Donne, Serm., xv. 150. And invites the severall Ioynts to knit again.
Mod. In young people fractured bones soon knit.
c. intr. Of bees: To cluster together in a mass. Now dial.
[1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 122. Whan the swarme is knytte, take a hyue and splent it within.]
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 181. Bowes and branches,… whereupon they may knit and settle themselves.
1648. Markham, Housew. Gard., III. x. (1668), 77. If your swarm knit in the top of a tree.
1831. Howitt, Seasons, 124. The queen-bee alights … and the rest of the bees clustering, or as it is termed knitting, about her, form a living, brown, dependent cone.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., s.v., I never like to see the bees knit on the ground—it’s a sure sign of a berrin’ [= burial].
d. trans. To form out of parts compacted. rare.
1896. A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, xxxii. From far, from eve and morning And yon twelve-winded sky, The stuff of life to knit me Blew hither: here am I.
7. fig. To conjoin as by knotting or binding together; to bind, join or connect firmly; to unite or combine intimately.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1855. God,… First body and saul togyder knyt.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 258. Ne shal I neuere been vntrewe wyf … I wol been his to whom þat I am knyt.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 295. Manhode was knytte unto godhed in his persone.
1547. J. Harrison, Exhort. Scottes, A ij. So nere neighbors … knitte in Christes faithe.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. i. § 6. The mind may … knit some things together in fictitious Ideas.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 69, ¶ 6. They [merchants] knit Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of good Offices.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, lxiv. 335. Never [hath] love so well his children in harmony knitten.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, II. vii. 69. These lords were closely knit by marriage.
b. intr. (for refl.) To join; to grow together, unite closely.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 206 b. To … allure the hartes of other men, to ioyne and knit with hym, against all hostilitie.
1627. E. F., Hist. Edw. II. (1680), 69. And then retreat to knit with their Confederates.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), I. 252/1. The city … is broken into two parts which will never knit again.
1832–4. De Quincey, Cæsars, Wks. 1859, X. 10. Everywhere the members of this empire had begun to knit; the cohesion was far closer.
8. trans. To make or constitute by joining (a covenant, agreement, or the like); to make fast or firm, to establish (a relation of union); to ‘tie,’ ‘cement.’
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 564. He knyt a couenaunde … with monkynd þere.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11863. Soche acord was here knyt with kynges.
a. 1541. Wyatt, Defence, in Wks. (1861), p. xxxiii. Them that knit company with Chappins.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXV. xxix. 570. When peace was knit again.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 296. It was the very issue, knit by the express words of the plea.
9. intr. To effervesce, form froth, as wine or beer. In pa. pple., effervescing, brisk; not still or dead.
[Perh. related to intrans. senses under 5. But it may be a different word, and properly written nit: cf.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Nit, wine that is brisk, and pour’d quick into a Glass.
1725. in New Cant. Dict.]
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, III. (ed. 2), 220. In Winter they commonly heat their Parcels to invigorate the new Drink … and then … the Malt-Liquor will knit and sparkle in a Glass, though drawn out of a Barrel.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xvi. If the gooseberry wine was well knit, the gooseberries were of her gathering.
10. Knit up. a. trans. To tie up; to fasten up; to string up, to hang; to compose or repair by knitting. lit. and fig.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2014. Þai … knitten vp þe saile, Atyrit the tacle. Ibid., 11460. All … knit vp þere couenaunte.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 241 b. All my vesture is of golde pure,… In siluer net my heare up knet.
1530. Palsgr., 599/2. I knytte up a man, I holde hym shorte or kepe hym from his lybertye.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 37. Sleepe that knits vp the rauel’d Sleeue of Care. Ibid. (1610), Temp., III. iii. 89. These (mine enemies) are all knit vp In their distractions.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. They’re fools that slav’ry like, and may be free; The chiels may a’ knit up themselves for me.
1846. Trench, Mirac., xxvii. (1862), 371. We see how entirely his own life is knit up with his child’s.
† b. To ‘shut up,’ take up; to snub. Obs. Cf. 1 b.
1530. Palsgr., 599/2. I knyt one up, I take hym up, I reprove hym.
1571. Edwards, Damon & Pithias, in Hazl., Dodsley, IV. 46. So sternly he frowned on me, and knit me up so short.
c. To close up; to conclude, finish or end.
1530. Palsgr., 599/2. I knytte up a mater, I make an ende or conclusyon of a matter.
1566. Adlington, Apuleius, VIII. xxxii. (1893), 163. To end and knit up all sorrow.
1587. Thynne, in Holinshed’s Scot. Chron. (1805), II. 377. Before I knit up this exordium.
1622. F. Markham, Bk. War, V. ix. 196. I will heere knit vp this Epistle.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xxv. 434. The tragedy was being knitted up in the deaths of the last actors in it.
† d. To sum up; to express concisely. Obs.
1553. Short Catech., in Lit. & Doctr. Edw. VI. (Parker Soc.), 499. Will you that I knit up in a brief abridgment all that belongeth both to God and men?
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 84 b. To knit up the matter in fewe wordes.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 280. Briefly to knit up their succession.
11. Comb. Knit-back, knit-wort, the herb Comfrey; knit-beggar = COUPLE-BEGGAR.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. cclxxiv. It is called … in English, Comfrey … of some Knitbacke.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Asne.… Oreille d’asne. Th’hearbe Comfrey, knit-backe, knit-wort, blackewort.
1700. Wilmslow Parish Register, Aug. 25, in Earwaker, E. Cheshire (1877), I. 99. Were married by [a] knitbegger, Daniel Hulme of ffulshaw, & Esther Hunt.
