knap

1. (transitive)Examples: "He hath made warres to ceaſſe in all the worlde: he hath broken the bowe, he hath knapped the ſpeare in ſonder, ⁊ brẽt [brent] the charettes in the fyre."; "O God of peace vvhich makeſt an end of vvarre in al the vvorld, and breakeſt the bovve, and knappeſt the ſpeares aſunder, and burneſt the chariots vvith fire; protect vs from vvarre and ſlaughter; ſcatter the nations that delight in vvarre."; "VVhy I tye about thy vvriſt, / Julia, this my ſilken tvvist, / […] / 'Tis but ſilke that bindeth thee; / Knap the thread, and thou art free; / But 'tis othervviſe vvith me: / I am bound, and faſt bound ſo, / That from thee I cannot go; / If I co'd, I vvo'd not so."transitive

2. (transitive)Examples: "An average workman will knap 3,000 flints in a day of 12 hours, but a good one will make 4,000 at a pinch."; "After every five or six shots, check the flint and tighten the jaws, if the flint has shifted. After twenty shots, flip the flint and dry fire the gun. This should knap the edge [of the flint]."; "Not all chert and non-chert materials are amenable to knapping. […] Because a knapper removes flakes by loading force into a small area of the target core, materials that contain many inclusions or are coarse-grained are difficult to knap – the inclusions deflect energy producing irregular results."Synonyms: chipespeciallyspecificallytransitive

3. (transitive)Examples: "Take one Veſſel of Siluer, and another of VVood, and fill each of them full of VVater, and then knap the Tongs together, as before, about an handfull from the Bottome, and you ſhall finde the Sound much more Reſounding from the Veſſel of Siluer, than from that of VVood: […] ſuch a Communication paſſeth farre better, thorovv VVater, than Aire."; ""That will be sixpence," he said without looking up. She knapped her lips together and turned on her heel without another word."Synonyms: knacktransitive

4. (transitive)Examples: "VVith his rod […] he knapt of the uppermoſt heads and tops of the poppies."; "Its [i.e., the foment is] prevalent in fixt Scorbutic Pains, for as much as it ſuſtains the Tone of the parts, layeth the vveary Spirits to reſt, knappeth off the ſharp points of the Salts, and forceth the acrid Ichor to evaporate either by inſenſible Effluvia or Svveat."transitive

5. (transitive)Examples: "[T]he evil spirit of the year sixteen hundred and forty-twa is at wark again as merrily as ever, and ilka [every] auld wife in the chimley-neuck will be for knapping doctrine wi' doctors o' divinity and the godly fathers o' the church."; "And there's Leddy Glendochart that is a real credit to the family, and has travelled, and can knap English with the best—far better than you."figurativelytransitive

6. (intransitive)Examples: "In ſtringinge of your bovv […] you muſt mark the fit length of youre bovve. […] Yf it [the string] be longe, the bendynge muſt nedes be in the ſmal of the ſtring, vvhich beynge ſore tvvined muſte nedes knap in ſunder to yͤ diſtruction of manye good bovves."intransitive