Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Knee \Knee\ (n[=e]), n. [OE. kne, cneo, As. cne['o], cne['o]w; akin to OS. knio, kneo, OFries. kn[=i], G. & D. knie, OHG. chniu, chneo, Icel. kn[=e], Sw. kn["a], Dan. kn[ae], Goth. kniu, L. genu, Gr. go`ny, Skr. j[=a]nu, [root]23
Cf. Genuflection.] 1. In man, the joint in the middle part of the leg.
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(Anat.)
The joint, or region of the joint, between the thigh and leg.
In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in man.
(Mech. & Shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
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A bending of the knee, as in respect or courtesy.
Give them title, knee, and approbation.
--Shak.Knee breeches. See under Breeches.
Knee holly, Knee holm (Bot.), butcher's broom.
Knee joint. See in the Vocabulary.
Knee timber, timber with knees or angles in it.
Knee tribute, or Knee worship, tribute paid by kneeling; worship by genuflection. [Obs.] ``Knee tribute yet unpaid.''
--Milton.
Breeches \Breech"es\ (br[i^]ch"[e^]z), n. pl. [OE. brech, brek, AS. br[=e]k, pl. of br[=o]c breech, breeches; akin to Icel. br[=o]k breeches, ODan. brog, D. broek, G. bruch; cf. L. bracae, braccae, which is of Celtic origin. Cf. Brail.]
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A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.
His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue.
--Coleridge. -
Trousers; pantaloons. [Colloq.]
Breeches buoy, in the life-saving service, a pair of canvas breeches depending from an annular or beltlike life buoy which is usually of cork. This contrivance, inclosing the person to be rescued, is hung by short ropes from a block which runs upon the hawser stretched from the ship to the shore, and is drawn to land by hauling lines.
Breeches pipe, a forked pipe forming two branches united at one end.
Knee breeches, breeches coming to the knee, and buckled or fastened there; smallclothes.
To wear the breeches, to usurp the authority of the husband; -- said of a wife. [Colloq.]
WordNet
n. trousers ending above the knee [syn: breeches, knee pants, knickerbockers, knickers]
Usage examples of "knee breeches".
Mags shivered and groaned, then began to unknot the laces at the front of his knee breeches.
He was dressed in a dark-green dress coat, knee breeches of the color of cuisse de nymphe effrayee, as he called it, shoes, and silk stockings.
Beneath the transparent mesh he was naked save for the tight leather knee breeches that he'd worn beneath his robes for the Ritual of Rebirth.
Roger gestured at the Duke, stolid in white knee breeches and gold-braided coat.
And he was, from his gray jacket and knee breeches ending in leather top boots to his silver waistcoat and white silk shirt.
They wore the knee breeches, full-sleeved shirts, and leather aprons of prosperous artisans.
But the man who entered wore the dapper blue knee breeches and full‑.
But the man who entered wore the dapper blue knee breeches and fullskirted coat of a professional of the city.
Their knee breeches were bark-brown, their coats the fern-green of trooping wights.
He wore formal black knee breeches and a fashionably cut black coat in the way every man should—.
They were got up as fantastically as the women, though, in the usual hotch-potch of uniforms, with knee breeches, buckled shoes, and even a stovepipe hat thrown in.
It wasn't just Greff's hiking shoes, his woolen stockings, knees, and knee breeches that were hanging.
Jan couldn't see the lower part of his body, but she deduced the regulation knee breeches, white stockings, and buckled shoes.