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Knurl

To provide with ridges, to assist the grasp, as in the edge of a flat knob, or coin; to mill.

Knurly

Full of knots; hard; tough; hence, capable of enduring or resisting much.

KO

To knock out; to deliver a blow that renders (the opponent) unconscious; -- used especially in boxing.

KO'd

rendered unconscious, usually by a blow.

Koala

A tailless furry marsupial (Phascolarctos cinereus), found in Australia. The female carries her young on the back of her neck. Called also Australian bear, koala bear, native bear, and native sloth. The koala lives almost all of its life in trees, moves sluggishly like a sloth, and eats eucalyptus leaves almost exclusively.

Koba Kob

Any one of several species of African antelopes of the genus Kobus, esp. the species Kobus sing-sing.

Kobellite

A blackish gray mineral, a sulphide of antimony, bismuth, and lead.

Kobold

A kind of domestic spirit in German mythology, corresponding to the Scottish brownie and the English Robin Goodfellow.

Kodachrome

A brand of photographic transparency bearing a positive color image.

Kodak

To photograph with a kodak; hence, to describe or characterize briefly and vividly.

Kodiak bear

A large brown bear (Ursus middendorffi syn. Ursus arctos middendorffi) of coastal Alaska and British Columbia related to the grizzly bear; called also Kodiak bear.

Koel

Any one of several species of cuckoos of the genus Eudynamys, found in India, the East Indies, and Australia. They deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds.

Koellia

The genus comprising the American mountain mint, synonymous with Pycnanthemum.

Koff

A two-masted Dutch vessel.

Koftgari

Ornamental work produced by inlaying steel with gold, -- a variety of damascening much used in the arts of India.

Kogia

The genus comprising the pygmy sperm whales.

Kohl

A mixture of soot and other ingredients, used by Egyptian and other Eastern women to darken the edges of the eyelids.

Kohl-rabi

A variety of cabbage, in which the edible part is a large, turnip-shaped swelling of the stem, above the surface of the ground.

Kohnur Kohinoor

A famous diamond, surrendered to the British crown on the annexation of the Punjab. According to Hindu legends, it was found in a Golconda mine, and has been the property of various Hindu and Persian rulers.

Koklass

Any pheasant of the genus Pucrasia. The birds of this genus inhabit India and China, and are distinguished by having a long central and two lateral crests on the head. Called also pucras.

Kolarian

An individual of one of the races of aboriginal inhabitants which survive in Hindustan. Of or pertaining to the Kolarians.

Kolinsky

Among furriers, any of several Asiatic minks; esp., Putorius sibiricus, the yellowish brown pelt of which is valued, esp. for the tail, used for making artists' brushes. Trade names for the fur are red sable and Tatar sable.

kolkhoz

A collective farm owned by the communist state, in the former USSR.

Kolkwitzia

A Chinese genus having only one species, the beauty bush.

Kolushan Koluschan

Designating, or pertaining to, a linguistic stock of North American Indians comprising the Tlinkit tribes of the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska and adjacent coast lands. Their language bears some affinity to Mexican tongues.

Komenic

Of or pertaining to, or designating, an acid derived from meconic acid.

komondor

A Hungarian breed of large powerful shaggy-coated white dog, used also as guard dog.

Komtok

An African freshwater fish (Protopterus annectens), belonging to the Dipnoi. It can breathe air by means of its lungs, and when waters dry up, it encases itself in a nest of hard mud, where it remains till the rainy season. It is used as food.

Kon

To know. See Can, and Con.

konini

An erect deciduous shrub or tree (Fuchsia excorticata), native to New Zealand, growing up to 10 feet, with maroon-flushed flowers.

Konseal

A form of capsule for inclosing a dose of medicine that is offensive, caustic, or the like.

Konze

A large African antelope (Alcelaphus Lichtensteini), allied to the hartbeest, but having shorter and flatter horns, and lacking a black patch on the face.

Koodoo

A large South African antelope (Strepsiceros kudu). The males have graceful spiral horns, sometimes four feet long. The general color is reddish or grayish brown, with eight or nine white bands on each side, and a pale dorsal stripe. The old males become dark bluish gray, due to the skin showing through the hair. The females are hornless. Called also nellut.

Koolokamba

A west African anthropoid ape (Troglodytes koolokamba, or Troglodytes Aubryi), allied to the chimpanzee and gorilla, and, in some respects, intermediate between them.

Kop

Hill; mountain.

kopeck

A small Russian coin, continued as a unit of currency within the Soviet Union. One hundred kopecks make a ruble. The ruble was worth about sixty cents (U. S.) in 1910; in 1991 a two-kopeck coin could be used for a local telephone call at a pay telephone. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1993, the exchange value of the ruble declined rapidly and by the end of 1994 the ruble was worth three hundredths of a cent, and by 1997 two hundredths of a cent. By 1993, the kopek had become of such small value that it was obsolete and no longer minted.

koppie kopje

A hillock; a small kop, especially a small hill rising up from the African veld.

kor

A Hebrew unit of capacity.

Koran

The Scriptures of the Muslims, containing the professed revelations to Mohammed; -- called also Alcoran.

Korea

An Asian peninsula off Manchuria.

Korean

Of or pertaining to Korea; as, Korean handicrafts; the Korean war.

Korinthos

A city in Greece, called Corinth in English; the modern city is near the site of the ancient city that was 2nd only to Athens in size and power in ancient Greece.

Korrigum

A West African antelope (Damalis Senegalensis), allied to the sassaby. It is reddish gray, with a black face, and a black stripe on the outside of the legs above the knees.

kos

an Indian unit of length having different values in different localities.

Kosher

To prepare in conformity with the requirements of the Jewish law, as meat.

Kosteletzya

A small genus of herbs of the Southeastern U. S. and tropical America and Africa.

Kotow

To perform the kotow. Now usually spelled kowtow.

Koulan

A wild horse (Equus onager or Asinus onager) inhabiting the plains of Central Asia; -- called also gour, khur, and onager.

Koumiss

An intoxicating fermented or distilled liquor originally made by the Tartars of central Asia from mare's or camel's milk. It can be obtained from any kind of milk, and is now largely made in Europe.

Kousso

An Abyssinian rosaceous tree (Brayera anthelmintica), the flowers of which are used as a vermifuge.

kowhai

A shrub or small tree (Sophora tetraptera) of New Zealand and Chile having pendulous racemes of tubular golden-yellow flowers; it yields a hard strong wood.

Kowtow

To perform the kowtow. Same as Kotow

Kr

The chemical symbol for the element krypton, one of the six noble gases.

Kra

A long-tailed ape (Macacus cynomolgus) of India and Sumatra. It is reddish olive, spotted with black, and has a black tail.

Kraal

A collection of huts within a stockade; a village; sometimes, a single hut.

Krait

A very venomous snake of India (Bungarus coeruleus), allied to the cobra. Its upper parts are bluish or brownish black, often with narrow white streaks; the belly is whitish.

Kraken

A fabulous Scandinavian sea monster, often represented as resembling an island, but sometimes as resembling an immense octopus.

Krakowiak

A lively Polish dance. See Cracovienne.

Krameria

A genus of spreading shrubs with many stems, from one species of which (Krameria triandra), found in Peru, rhatany root, used as a medicine, is obtained.

Krameric

Pertaining to, or derived from, Krameria (rhatany); as, krameric acid, usually called ratanhia-tannic acid.

Krang

The carcass of a whale after the blubber has been removed.

Kranging hook

A hook for holding the blubber while cutting it away.

Kremlin

The citadel of a town or city; especially, the citadel of Moscow, a large inclosure which contains imperial palaces, cathedrals, churches, an arsenal, etc.

Krems

A variety of white lead. See Krems lead, under Lead, n.

Kreutzer

A small copper coin formerly used in South Germany; also, a small Austrian copper coin.

Kriegsspiel

A game of war, played for practice, on maps.

Kris

A Malay dagger. See Creese.

Krishna

The most popular of the Hindu divinities, usually held to be the eighth incarnation of the god Vishnu.

Krone

A coin of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, of the value of about twenty-eight cents (in 1913). See Crown, n., 9.

Krooman

One of a negro tribe of Liberia and the adjacent coast, whose members are much employed on shipboard.

Krumhorn Krummhorn

A reed instrument of music of the cornet kind, now obsolete (see Cornet, 1, a.). A reed stop in the organ; -- sometimes called cremona.

Krupp gun

A breech-loading steel cannon manufactured at the works of Friedrich Krupp, at Essen in Prussia. Guns of over eight-inch bore are made up of several concentric cylinders; those of a smaller size are forged solid.

Krupp process

A process practiced by Friedrich Krupp, Essen, Germany, for washing pig iron, differing from the Bell process in using manganese as well as iron oxide, and performed in a Pernot furnace. Called also the Bell-Krupp process. A process for the manufacture of steel armor plates, invented or practiced by Krupp, the details of which are secret. It is understood to involve the addition of chromium as well as nickel to the metal, and to include a treatment like that of the Harvey process with unknown variations or additions. The product is mentioned by some authors, as improved Harvey, or Harvey-Krupp armor plate.

Kruppize

To treat by, or subject to, the Krupp process.

Krypton

An inert gaseous element of the argon (noble gas) group, of atomic number 36, occurring in air to the extent of about one volume in a million. It was discovered by Ramsay and Travers in 1898. Boiling point, -152.3/ C.; melting point, -156.6/ C.; symbol, Kr; atomic weight, 83.8.

Kshatruya Kshatriya

The military caste, the second of the four great Hindu castes; also, a member of that caste. See Caste.

Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Kuklux

The name adopted in the southern part of the United States by a secret political organization, active for several years after the close of the Civil War, and having for its aim the repression of the political power of the freed negroes; -- called also Kuklux Klan and the Klan. It exerienced a revival in the 1920's, in the north as well as the south, and persists as a weak organization into the 1990's. Its goals were primarily anti-negro and anti-Catholic, and its tactics included terrorist attacks on negroes for the purpose of intimidation with the goal of continuing segregation. The signature activity of the Klan was the burning of a cross, either at rallies of Klansmen, or on the property of African-Americans which they hoped to intimidate.

Kuda

The East Indian tapir. See Tapir.

Kudos

To praise; to extol; to glorify.

Kukang

The slow lemur. See Lemur.

Kulturkampf

Lit., culture war; -- a name, originating with Virchow (1821 - 1902), given to a struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and the German government, chiefly over the latter's efforts to control educational and ecclesiastical appointments in the interest of the political policy of centralization. The struggle began with the passage by the Prussian Diet in May, 1873, of the so-called May laws, or Falk laws, aiming at the regulation of the clergy. Opposition eventually compelled the government to change its policy, and from 1880 to 1887 laws virtually nullifying the May laws were enacted.

Kummel

A Russian and German liqueur, consisting of a sweetened spirit flavored with caraway seeds.

kumquat

any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Fortunella (formerly Citrus) of the rue family (Rutaceae) (especially Citrus Japonica) growing in China and Japan bearing small orange-colored edible fruits with thick sweet-flavored skin and sour pulp; also, any of the small acid, orange-colored citrus fruits of such plants, used mostly for preserves.

kurakkan

An East Indian cereal grass (Eleusine coracana) whose seed yield a somewhat bitter flour, a staple in the Orient.

kurchatovium

A transuranic element of atomic number 104, symbol Ku; also called rutherfordium, symbol Rf. It is produced in very small quantities by nuclear reactions. In November 1993 the nomenclature committe of the American Chemical Society approved the name rutherfordium for element 104. Russsian investigators who claim to have first discovered element 104, isotope 260 (half-life 0.3 seconds) in 1964 at Dubna proposed the name kurchatovium. However, investigators at Berkely in 1969 produced several isotopes of element 104 but were unable to produce isotope 260; they reported finding isotope 257, with a half-life of 4-5 seconds, isotope 259 with a half-life of 3-4 seconds, and isotope 258 with a shorter half-life.

kurchi kurchee

A tropical Asian tree (Holarrhena antidysenterica syn. Holarrhena pubescens) with hard white wood and bark formerly used as a remedy for dysentery and diarrhea.

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