knoll
/noʊl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.90 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A rounded, underwater hill with a prominence of less than 1,000 metres, which does not breach the water's surface.
noun
A knell.
Example Sentences
- "grassy knoll"
- "On knoll or hillock rears his crest, / Lonely and huge, the giant oak."
- "In the northern hemisphere, June 21 has the most daylight hours. Pack a picnic—a chilled bottle of Sancerre, cheese, olives, and a nice baguette—and hit the grassy knoll."
- "If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church."
- "For a departed being's soul / The death hymn peals, and the hollow bells knoll: [...]"
- "[A]ll that night I heard / The heavy clocks knolling the drowsy hours."
Etymology
From Middle English knol, knolle, from Old English cnoll (“summit”), from Proto-Germanic *knudan-, *knudla-, *knulla- (“lump”), possibly related to cnotta. Related to Old Norse knollr (found only in names of places), Dutch knol (“tuber”), Swedish knöl (“tuber”), Danish knold (“hillock, clod, tuber”) and German Knolle (“bulb”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: knol, cnoll, *knudan-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /noʊl/
- British English: /nəʊl/