knap

¹ American  

[nap] / næp /

noun

British Dialect.

1. a crest or summit of a small hill.

---

knap ² American  

[nap] / næp /

verb (used with or without object)

Chiefly British Dialect.

knapped, knapping

1. to strike smartly; rap.

2. to break off abruptly.

3. to chip or become chipped, as a flint or stone.

4. to bite suddenly or quickly.

---

knap ¹ British  

/ næp /

noun

1. dialect the crest of a hill

---

knap ² British  

/ næp /

verb

1. dialect (tr) to hit, hammer, or chip

---

Other Word Forms

• knapper noun

Etymology

Origin of knap¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English cnæpp top, summit; cognate with Old Norse knappr knob

Origin of knap²

First recorded in 1425–75; Late Middle English; cognate with Dutch knapen “to crack”; imitative of the sound

Example Sentences

It was easy to knap, or to flake off, pieces into utilitarian shapes and didn’t need to be tempered or treated with heat as some tool stones do.

From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2023

Our Paleolithic ancestors learned to knap delicate blades from round stone cobbles, hunt large game and cook their food.

From Scientific American • Dec. 13, 2022

The course was jointly led by Ojibwe elders, who taught him how to knap flint, tan hides and build wigwams.

From New York Times • Sep. 13, 2022

Cul-de-Sac was shot in a 13th century fortress perched on a precipitous knap that rises out of Holy Island, a dot in the North Sea off the coast of Northumberland.

From Time Magazine Archive

‘Twenty between us. Not nearly enough. Do you know how to knap flint?’

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver