- knee
- nounADJECTIVE▪ left, right▪ bony, knobbly, knobby (esp. AmE)▪ bare▪ bent▪ drawn-up▪
I rested my chin on my drawn-up knees.
▪ arthritic, bad, bum (AmE, informal), dodgy (BrE, informal), troublesome, weak▪ sore, stiff▪ injured, scraped, skinned (esp. AmE), twisted▪ artificial▪An artificial knee was later inserted.
VERB + KNEE▪ bend, flex▪ straighten▪ draw up, pull, pull up, tuck, tuck up▪I tucked my knees under my chin.
▪She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest.
▪ hug▪He hugged his knees to keep warm.
▪ drop down on, drop on, drop to, fall on, fall to, get down on, go down on, sink to▪He went down on his knees and begged for forgiveness.
▪ sit on▪She sat on her father's knee (= lap) while he read her a story.
▪ blow (AmE, informal), blow out (AmE, informal), hurt, injure, sprain, twist▪I injured my knee and had to have surgery.
▪ graze, scrape, skin▪ slap▪He slapped his knee as he rocked with laughter.
▪ pat▪He patted her knee reassuringly.
KNEE + VERB▪ buckle, give way, weaken▪Suddenly her knees buckled and she fell to the floor.
▪Rita felt her knees weakening.
▪ knock, shake, tremble, wobble▪ ache, hurtKNEE + NOUN▪ injury, problem, sprain, trouble▪ operation, replacement, surgery▪ brace▪He refuses to wear a knee brace.
▪ joint, ligament▪ socks▪ padPREPOSITION▪ above the knee▪ across your knees▪She had a blanket draped across her knees.
▪ at sb's knee▪The children had learned these stories at their mother's knee.
▪ below the knee▪His leg was missing below the knee.
▪ between your knees▪If you hear the crash-landing warning, put your head between your knees.
▪ in your knee▪He's snapped a ligament in his knee.
▪ on one knee▪I went down on one knee to plug in the vacuum cleaner.
▪ on your knee▪I balanced the pile of books on my knees.
▪He was on his knees, searching for the missing spring.
▪ to one knee▪He dropped to one knee.
▪ to your knees▪The blow knocked him to his knees.
PHRASES▪ bring sth to its knees (figurative)▪The fuel shortage brought the country to its knees within weeks.
▪ on your hands and knees▪I was on my hands and knees, looking for my key.
▪ on bended knee (figurative)▪She would ask for help, but would not beg for it on bended knee.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
