knobbing

English

Verb

knobbing

1. present participle and gerund of knob

Noun

knobbing (plural knobbings)

1. A pattern of knobs or lumps.
   • 1950, Clinical Nutrition, page 454:

     Consequently, the knobbing is most marked at the costochondral junctions of the ribs, the lower end of the femur , both ends of the fibula and tibia , and the upper end of the humerus .

   • 1981, Lewis A. Barness, Manual of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis, page 111:

     These swellings or blunt knobbings form the rachitic rosary.

   • 2005, T.E. Greene, Worlds Spinning Round: Part 1: Discoveries, page 453:

     Also, the degree of knobbing was too great for the size of the shell.

2. The amount by which a bowl is wider in the middle than at the top and bottom.
   • 1954, The Indian Textile Journal - Volume 65, page 68:

     The degree of knobbing varies according to the conditions of working and varies between 2 mm . and 8 mm . in circumference .

   • 1981, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, page 25:

     This bowl has the same knobbing as the bowls of Group I.

3. (UK, vulgar, slang) A session of penetrative sexual intercourse or the act of sexual penetration.
   • 2013, Miles Gibson, Kingdom Swann: The Story of a Photographer, page 8:

     A knobbing is over before you know it and no harm done to the family but the shame of a dirty photograph can follow a husband into his grave .

   • 2014, John Grindrod, Shouting at the Telly:

     Even when she was knobbing her fiancé's dad, she seemed to be more depressed than evil (which isn't surprising, as most of the knobbing took place in the gents' toilets in the Queen Vic).

   • 2014, Will Stebbings, Further Off the Mark, page 1:

     Mark inwardly cringed at the term, especially as their 'knobbing' hadn't been too brilliant, anyway .

4. (mining) The process of rough dressing stone; the act of cutting off projecting points from quarried stone.
5. The practice of cutting off the sharp tips of the horns of cattle, leaving rounded knobs.
   • 1888, T. Walley, “A Different View of the Dehorning Question”, in Annual Report - Volume 14, page 207:

     This assertion is only partially true, and the facility with which "knobbing" can be practiced depends upon the kind of tools used and the skill of the operator , and even allowing that "knobbing" did take up more time , it 1 would be a poor argument in defense of cruelty .

   • 1889, The Law Journal Reports: New Series - Volumes 58-60, page 153:

     Is this not abundant proof that dishorning is not necessary for the benefit of the animal, or to render it fit for all the legitimate purposes of its owner, and that tipping or knobbing has been found to be, and is, practically sufficient?

   • 1892, Ontario. Commission on the Dehorning of Cattle, Report, page 119:

     Could those that are a little dangerous be rendered harmless by knobbing?