black knot

noun

Plant Pathology.

1. a disease of plants, especially of plums and cherries, characterized by black knotlike overgrowths on the branches, twigs, etc., caused by a fungus, Dibotryon morbosa.

black knot

noun

1. a fungal disease of plums and cherries caused by Dibotryon morbosum , characterized by rough black knotlike swellings on the twigs and branches

Word History and Origins

Origin of black knot¹

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Example Sentences

I could see the stitched black knots underneath, holding his cut together.

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She daubed the ointment onto the wound, picked up his hand, and examined the spidery black knots as if they were a work of art—a painting, a sculpture.

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He would remember how rigorously her hair had been woven into a black knot against the nape of her neck.

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A dark, warty eruption on one branch is black knot fungus.

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Now he was spurring the horses to a fine lather, for he could see the grooms in a black knot by the White Horse cellars.

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