knitting needle
- noun
- In her cozy living room, my grandmother always had her knitting needles ready for making blankets.
- knitting needles and yarn
- a pair of knitting needles
- wooden knitting needles
Examples
-
With her knitting needles, she had made Margaret an almost-new sweater.
Fiction book (1991) -
The ticking of the alarm clock merged with the clicking of the knitting needles.
Fiction book (1996) -
I went to the fabric store, and I got some yarn and knitting needles.
-
Mrs. Claus sat in her rocking chair again and pulled out her knitting needles.
Fiction book (1998) -
Eliza heard the grimness in his voice and let her knitting needles fall silent.
Fiction book (1994) -
Her fingers flew back and forth, the knitting needles clicking softly as she worked on the shawl for Melissa's trousseau.
Fiction book (1990) -
At the craft fair, I bought a pair of sharp knitting needles to start my next project.
-
She skillfully moved the yarn between her knitting needles to create a beautiful scarf.
Synonyms
A small sharp metal tool used to sew or knit
How Pointed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'knitting' (the craft) + 'needle' (a pointed implement): a needle used for knitting. This noun–noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistically familiar pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the correct meaning.
Etymology
Knitting needle is named for the tool used to 'knit': a thin, pointed stick that moves yarn to make cloth. The image of a needle passing loops of yarn explains why the words refer to the pointed tools used for hand knitting.