knoll
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
knolls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
knolled,
past participle, past
-
knolling
present participle
-
to ring or toll a bell for; announce by tolling.
-
to ring or toll (a bell).
verb (used without object)
-
knolls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
knolled,
past participle, past
-
knolling
present participle
-
to sound, as a bell; ring.
-
to sound a knell.
noun
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
knollsimple
-
knollssimple
-
have knolledperfect
-
has knolledperfect
-
am knollingprogressive
-
are knollingprogressive
-
is knollingprogressive
-
have been knollingperfect progressive
-
has been knollingperfect progressive
Past
-
knolledsimple
-
had knolledperfect
-
was knollingprogressive
-
were knollingprogressive
-
had been knollingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of knoll1
before 900; Middle English cnol, Old English cnoll; cognate with Norwegian knoll hillock; akin to Dutch knol turnip, Icelandic knollur, German Knollen, Danish knold tuber
Origin of knoll2
1350–1400; Middle English (noun and v.); variant of knell
Explanation
A knoll is a small hill or mound of earth, which makes a shady knoll a perfect spot for a summer picnic. The word knoll is associated with the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who was shot in Dallas just as his motorcade passed a grassy knoll. At first people thought that was where the shots had come from, but it was later determined that the assassin had fired from a nearby building instead. The "grassy knoll” became symbolic of a theory that others had participated in the assassination, and the term has become shorthand for any conspiracy theory.
Vocabulary lists containing knoll
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
During the afternoon, we sprawled out on a grassy knoll by the beach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Finally, a driver came to the rescue, jumping out of his car and racing onto the knoll, baiting the turkey to give chase.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2023
With treelike structures, a green knoll and overhead chimes incorporating colorful carved birds, the 3,500-square-foot space exposes young minds to art’s most fundamental ingredients: materials.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
The multicolored toilet had been left in a grassy knoll near an AMC Theatre at the mall, GPD Sgt.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 26, 2023
Our cabin stood on a high knoll about a hundred yards above the spring.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
Homeless people live in or around the park, many sleeping on the grassy knolls by the water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2025
Iowa at the time, Mr. Hill said, would have been a “parkland,” with patches of trees mixed in with grassy knolls.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 1, 2023
Three zebras have been frocklicking through the lush, grassy knolls of Prince George’s County, Maryland, since the end of August.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2021
But there’s only so much whipping hair and water splashing, grassy knolls and dreamy overhead shots I can take.
From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2020
Called the Norte Chico, the region is studded with isolated knolls, twenty to fifty feet high and as much as two hundred feet long.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Spreads in their 160-page book show some outfits knolled from hat to scarf to shoes to handbag, alongside sketches from the Mattel archives and drawings by the film’s costume designers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2024
The fatal knell, then, is knolled, and down among the dead men sink the poor " Witlings "-for ever, and for ever, and for ever!
From The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 1 by Burney, Fanny
In the direction of the Mexican quarter, the bell of the cathedral knolled at intervals.
From Blix by Norris, Frank
“If ever been where bells have knolled to church”; if you have ever been within sound of Bow bells; if you have ever been happy and haughty enough to call yourself a Cockney.
From Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
"If ever you have looked on better days, If ever been where bells have knolled to church."
From The Setons by Douglas, O.
The knolling of the heavy bell grows softer.
From David Lockwin—The People's Idol by McGovern, John
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news Hath but a losing office; and his tongue Sounds ever after as a sullen bell, Remembered knolling a departed friend.
From Familiar Quotations by Bartlett, John
Seventy-three bells in chromatic diapason—with their tinkling, ringing, tolling, knolling peal!
From Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, Volume 2 by Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Five years has a melancholy sound to me now, for it is like a passing-bell, knolling away time.
From Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott, Volume 2 by Ornsby, Robert
The first bringer of unwelcome news Hath but a losing office; and his tongue Sounds ever after as a sullen bell, Remember'd knolling a departing friend.
From Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
