water on the knee
- noun
- Specialized
:
agua en la rodilla
- Swelling and stiffness are common symptoms when someone has water on the knee.
Examples
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The doctor explained that my water on the knee was due to an injury during soccer practice.
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He had to have his water on the knee drained several times over the summer.
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He has water on the knee from playing football.
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My doctor said I have water on the knee.
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Swelling and stiffness are common symptoms when someone has water on the knee.
-
The doctor explained that my water on the knee was due to an injury during soccer practice.
-
He had to have his water on the knee drained several times over the summer.
Synonyms
3
3.7
A raised, often painful area on the body after injury or infection
A joint that becomes swollen, red, and painful because it has too much fluid inside
Swelling that happens when too much fluid builds up in parts of the body
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally composes 'water' (fluid) + 'on' (location) + 'knee' (body part), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer that it refers to fluid at the knee — i.e. swelling caused by joint fluid. This is a descriptive, non-idiomatic medical phrasing and is cross-linguistically ordinary, so its meaning is transparently derivable from the parts.
Etymology
The phrase water on the knee may come from the simple image of a swollen knee that looks and feels like there is water on the knee. So it means 'swelling' caused by extra fluid inside the knee.