Dictionary

knitch en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /nɪt͡ʃ/
• nĭch

Etymology

From Middle English knicche (“bundle (of brush, weeds), bunch, sheaf”), from Old English ġecnyċċ (“bond”), deverbative of ġecnyċċan, cnyċċan (“to tie, bind together, connect”), from Proto-Germanic *knukkijaną; akin to Lithuanian gniáužti (“to close one’s hand”).

Meanings

1. (archaic, dialectal) A small bundle.
   • Hee brought-in likevvise the ancient cuſtome againe, that in vvhat moneth hee had not the Knitches of rods vvith Axes borne before him, a publique Officer called Accensvs ſhould huiſher him before, and the Serjeants or Lictours follovv after behinde. 1606, Caius [i.e., Gaius] Suetonius Tranquillus, “The Historie of Caius Iulius Cesar Dictator”, in Philêmon Holland, transl., The Historie of Twelve Cæsars Emperours of Rome. […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes and George Snowdon] for Matthew Lownes, →OCLC, section 20, page 8:
   • a knitch of wheat

Forms