Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of knob.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It was old, but we were optimistic: we had the wooden floors done, I stenciled my bedroom with pale pink roses, and painted an old dresser, and put pretty porcelain knobs on it.

    Creating Beauty Around Us 2007

  • Unscrewing all of the knobs from the kitchen cabinets and hiding them all over the kitchen is not going to make me more willing to show you what is in the cupboard under the sink.

    Archive 2006-04-01 2006

  • Unscrewing all of the knobs from the kitchen cabinets and hiding them all over the kitchen is not going to make me more willing to show you what is in the cupboard under the sink.

    Open Letters, All Unsent 2006

  • The cabinets used to have little white porcelain knobs and pulls on them, but we replaced them with brushed nickel to modernize the kitchen.

    Housekeeping 2006

  • The cabinets used to have little white porcelain knobs and pulls on them, but we replaced them with brushed nickel to modernize the kitchen.

    Archive 2006-08-01 2006

  • A few years ago, a request for monkfish, cod or skate cheeks (they are sometimes referred to as knobs) might have elicited a slightly odd look from your fishmonger, but thanks to an increased demand for them from the restaurant industry, they are slightly easier to get hold of these days.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2010

  • Orion's boyhood was spent in that wee little log hamlet of Jamestown up there among the "knobs" -- so called -- of East Tennessee.

    Chapters from My Autobiography Mark Twain 1872

  • What happens to it after it gets to the world and the people that turn the knobs is another deal completely.

    Mike Ragogna: Working In Tennessee And Beyond: A Conversation With Merle Haggard Mike Ragogna 2012

  • What happens to it after it gets to the world and the people that turn the knobs is another deal completely.

    Mike Ragogna: Working In Tennessee And Beyond: A Conversation With Merle Haggard Mike Ragogna 2012

  • At The Citadel, first-year students, called knobs, are closely supervised every waking minute.

    Failing at FAIRNESS Myra David Sadker 2003

Comments

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  • I've come here to repeat a question that jennarenn first raised, over at features:

    In the phrase "with knobs on", what, exactly, are the knobs?

    I really like the sound of the phrase, but before I start going around appending knobs to all the cool things in my life, I have to know what I'm dealing with here.

    September 26, 2008

  • I imagine them as circular rounded projections or protuberances, but that's probably just me.

    September 26, 2008

  • I imagine gnarled, dead trees ^_^

    I'm not sure why :)

    September 26, 2008

  • with (brass) knobs on: (British & Australian, humorous)

    If you describe something as a particular thing with knobs on, you mean it has similar qualities to that thing but they are more extreme. Disney World was like an ordinary amusement park with knobs on.

    Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms © Cambridge University Press 1998

    September 27, 2008

  • Aha! So it's like saying "with sugar on top," or "only far more elaborate than I can ever express literally."

    Knobs is a good word. Knobs.

    September 27, 2008

  • Knobs.

    Hey, you're right! Knobs.

    Knobs. Knobs are things you pull.

    September 27, 2008

  • Or...you know...not pull.

    *blushing*

    September 27, 2008

  • To me, if something comes with knobs on, it's not so much "more extreme", but slightly more exciting, multifunctional, and generally cooler.

    The knobs connote extra interactivity - did you know you can not only pull a knob, but twizzle it, push it and waggle it up and down?

    September 27, 2008

  • And let's not forget toggle and twist.

    Edit: Who has a list called "Things you can do with knobs"?

    September 27, 2008

  • I'm sure there's one aborning. ;-)

    September 27, 2008

  • "Official designation for freshman cadets at The Citadel. Called such because their shaved heads resemble shiny door knobs." (Urban dictionary).

    September 27, 2008

  • And then there's this.

    September 29, 2008

  • Oh. My.

    September 29, 2008

  • That's where reesetee gets all of his desk hardware.

    September 29, 2008

  • So true.

    September 29, 2008