knotter

English edit

Etymology edit

From knot +‎ -er.

Noun edit

knotter (plural knotters)

A person who makes knots.
- 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 5:
  This was Jai, the expert lace-knotter […]
- 2015 January 18, Alanna Gallagher, “What lies beneath: Ireland’s carpet cottage industry”, in The Irish Times:
  The community-run Killybegs International Carpet Making and Fishing Centre is housed in the old Donegal Carpets premises and still has some of the looms. By using a tiny group of hand knotters who worked with the original company, they can still make the high-end rugs and carpets to order.
A machine or device that makes knots.
- 1919, The Fabric of Civilization: A Short Survey of the Cotton Industry in the United States, Guaranty Trust Company of New York (author not credited), Chapter 8, pp. 54-55,^[1]
  One of the most important inventions, one that was received with acclaim by the American manufacturer, and one which actually reduced his labor cost on spooling no less than ten per cent. at one clip, is a tiny little thing that is held in the palm of the hand. This is the Barber knotter. When a thread breaks, the attendant places the two ends together in the machine and by the mere pressure of her thumb ties the knot much better than she could do it without the knotter.
- 2015, K. C. Colby, “Local farmers showcase old harvesting equipment ahead of Steam Show,” CTV News Barrie, 21 July, 2015,^[2]
  The binder cuts the wheat down and bundles it into a sheaf. The sheafs are then stooked into a field to dry. A metal plate on the binder would have originally been made of wood, but the fact that this machine could automatically tie string was at one time state-of-the-art. ¶ “That knotter was a marvel of its time. I mean this is a huge technology jump to be able to have a piece of mechanical machinery that actually tied a knot.”
(pulp and paper) A screen used to remove “knots” or impurities from wood pulp in the process of making paper.
- 1863, Richard Herring, chapter 2, in Paper and Paper Making, Ancient and Modern‎^[3], 3rd edition, page 87:
  […] the pulp is strained by means of a sieve or “knotter” as it is called, which is usually formed of brass, having fine slits cut in it to allow the comminuted pulp to pass through, while it retains all lumps and knots […]
- 1963, Ontario Water Resources Commission, Water Resources Survey, District of Sudbury, Part 2, A Survey of Industrial Water Use and Waste Disposal, p. 119,^[4]
  Following cooking, the cooked mixture is vented to a blow tank and from here pumped to a knotter for the removal of knots.
(nautical, in compounds) A vessel capable of reaching a specified speed in knots.
- 1905, Hansard, “Navy Estimates,” 13 March, 1905,^[5]
  His hon. and gallant friend raised the question as to the two classes of destroyers, one for ocean work and the other for work in narrow waters. It was not true to say that the new twenty-five-and-a-half “knotters” had proved inferior to the old thirty “knotters.” In anything like dirty weather the twenty-five-and-a-half “knotters” had shown their superiority. As he had stated to the Committee, they had failed to produce a better design which would combine greater speed with greater stability at a limited cost.
- 1920, Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton, chapter 3, in The Days Before Yesterday‎^[6], London: Hodder & Stoughton, page 62:
  Their engines being “simple,” they consumed a perfectly ruinous amount of coal, sixty-four tons for the round trip; considerably more than the coal consumption of the present twenty-four knotters.
(nautical, in compounds) A wind blowing at a specified velocity in knots.
- 1847, Joseph Holt Ingraham, The Surf Skiff; or, The Heroine of Kennebec‎^[7], New York: R. M. De Witt, published 1867, page 55:
  “See how the canvass unfurls itself like great white wings, and spreads its volumes upon the air. The wind is a strong eight-knotter, and will give her a firm headway for Tom’s purpose.”