English

Knitting

Verb

knit ‎(third-person singular simple present knits, present participle knitting, simple past and past participle knit or knitted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine.

   to knit a stocking

   The first generation knitted to order; the second still knits for its own use; the next leaves knitting to industrial manufacturers.

2. (figuratively, transitive) To join closely and firmly together.

   The fight for survival knitted the men closely together.

   • Wiseman

     Nature cannot knit the bones while the parts are under a discharge.

   • Shakespeare

     Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit.

   • Milton

     Come, knit hands, and beat the ground, / In a light fantastic round.

   • Tennyson

     A link among the days, to knit / The generations each to each.

3. (intransitive) To become closely and firmly joined; become compacted.
4. (intransitive) To grow together.

   All those seedlings knitted into a kaleidoscopic border.

5. (transitive) To combine from various elements.

   The witness knitted together his testimony from contradictory pieces of hearsay.

6. (intransitive) Of bones: to heal following a fracture.

   I’ll go skiing again after my bones knit.

7. (transitive) To form into a knot, or into knots; to tie together, as cord; to fasten by tying.
   • Bible, Acts x. 11

     a great sheet knit at the four corners

   • William Shakespeare

     When your head did but ache, / I knit my handkercher about your brows.

8. (transitive) To draw together; to contract into wrinkles.
   • William Shakespeare

     He knits his brow and shows an angry eye.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• tricot
• weave

Anagrams

• tink