What is the meaning of knot?

noun

• A tight cluster of people or things.
  • usage: "a small knot of women listened to his sermon"; "the bird had a knot of feathers forming a crest"
• Any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object.
• A hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a branch emerged.
  • usage: "the saw buckled when it hit a knot"
• Something twisted and tight and swollen.
  • usage: "their muscles stood out in knots"; "the old man's fists were two great gnarls"; "his stomach was in knots"
  • synonyms: gnarl
• A unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1, 852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude.
  • synonyms: nautical mile, mile, mi, naut mi, international nautical mile, air mile
• Soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or created by design.
  • synonyms: slub, burl
• A sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere.
  • synonyms: greyback, grayback, Calidris canutus

verb

• Make into knots; make knots out of.
  • usage: "She knotted her fingers"
• Tie or fasten into a knot.
  • usage: "knot the shoelaces"
• Tangle or complicate.
  • usage: "a ravelled story"
  • synonyms: ravel, tangle