# 'k**b' [knob; BE]



## twinklestar

> Ms Burley was broadcasting live from Aberdeen when heckled and called one campaigner a 'k**b' on air



This is from a report of the Daily News. I am curious what "k**b" is. I know it is imprecation.

Can you spell the full word?

Thank you!


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## Andygc

Do you mean "from the Daily Mail"? It's "knob", defined in the OED as 





> The penis. _slang_.


Used as a term of abuse in the same way as "He's a right prick". Nowhere near as offensive as the equivalent use of slang words for female genitalia.


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## Cagey

Without Andygc's explanation, I wouldn't have known what it was either. 
We don't use the same insult in AE.


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## SwissPete

I had never heard it either.
Never too old to learn...


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## twinklestar

Thank you very much for your help and replies.

Sorry, it was the Daily Mail. My typo.


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## Thomas Tompion

Andygc said:


> Do you mean "from the Daily Mail"? It's "knob", defined in the OED as Used as a term of abuse in the same way as "He's a right prick". Nowhere near as offensive as the equivalent use of slang words for female genitalia.


I'm not clear that I agree with the last remark here.


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## Andygc

Thomas Tompion said:


> I'm not clear that I agree with the last remark here.


TT, I never use 'knob', but I have been known to describe somebody as a 'prick'. I've also heard 'knob' used in mixed company as "He's a bit of a knob". I find the common female alternative a much cruder form and I'd be very surprised to hear a woman say it. Having said that, I suppose that 'twat' has been fairly freely used, but I haven't heard it for a while.


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## Thomas Tompion

Andygc said:


> TT, I never use 'knob', but I have been known to describe somebody as a 'prick'. I've also heard 'knob' used in mixed company as "He's a bit of a knob". I find the common female alternative a much cruder form and I'd be very surprised to hear a woman say it. Having said that, I suppose that 'twat' has been fairly freely used, but I haven't heard it for a while.


Hi Andy.

I suspect that usage differs widely here.  I had a senior colleague who once told us that we were wrong, in our irritation, to describe another, particularly difficult, colleague as a cunt, on the grounds that the description was inaccurate, the man was a shit.

We took the point to be that a shit is knowingly disagreeable to the point of malice; a cunt, in contrast, is unwittingly selfish and thoughtless and irritating.

We spent a little while dividing our colleagues into these two invidious categories.

I'm not clear quite where a knob would rank in this scale.  For me, and it's not a word in my active vocabulary, it implies bumbling stupidity rather than active malice.

A point I've always found interesting is that these words derived from genitalia are not always gender-specific when used attributively: a man can be a cunt.  I have a male friend who once called a female parking warden 'a silly bugger'.  I felt this was stretching language too far, so did the female parking warden.

I doubt if anyone's use of these words goes far beyond their fairly narrow social and geographical spheres.


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## natkretep

Just to check. It's _knob_ as an insult that is unknown in AmE. _Knob _as the penis is known in AmE, isn't it? At least this thread suggests that:

knob


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## bennymix

I agree with Nat.    Americans know what a 'knob' is, though they are more thinking of the 'knob' part of the male organ.
It appears that it's the British (and maybe other) folks who use the word to insult.


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## owlman5

> _Knob _as the penis is known in AmE, isn't it?


This American has certainly heard the word used with roughly that meaning.  Though I don't hear it often, I generally understand it to refer to the glans rather than the entire penis.


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## ewie

Thomas Tompion said:


> I suspect that usage differs widely here.


 I use _knob_ about 27 times a day: it's a mild to moderate term of abuse I wouldn't hesitate to use at in front of my mother (78).  I don't consider it a 'swearword' at all.

By contrast, I don't believe I've ever in my life used the term _prick_ ~ wild horses couldn't drag it out of my brain, just because it isn't there to start with.  (The word _prick_, I mean, not my brain.)  I find it ~ heaven knows why ~ curiously obscene, far more so than _knob, knob'ead, dick, dick'ead, plonker, _etc.


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## sound shift

I think usage differs between newspapers as well as between individuals. The 'Daily Mail' is a conservative newspaper. I reckon some of the less conservative papers would have spelled the word _knob _out in full, instead of hiding behind asterisks.


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## Beninjam

According to James May, Jeremy Clarkson is a k**b.

It took me a while to work out what he meant. 
Dare I say the usage is restricted to the n*bs?


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## Parla

> _Knob _as the penis is known in AmE, isn't it?


Not to me, before this thread, and I've been around for a while (all the other slurs mentioned _are_ familiar). Perhaps it's more common in some parts of the country than in others.


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## Loob

Yes, Jeremy Clarkson is a knob.

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= Jeremy Clarkson is an idiot.


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## Wordsmyth

Beninjam said:


> _[...] _Dare I say the usage is restricted to the n*bs?


 I guess you're referring to posh toffs there, Ben. It might be useful to Twinklestar to know that "nob" can have that meaning (possibly derived from "noble" or "nobility" according to some sources, though others disagree) — as distinct from the meaning of "knob" discussed here.

In speech, of course, there's no audible difference, so if someone were described as a "(k)nob" only the context would give the meaning. In the case of Clarkson there wouldn't be much doubt! 

Ws


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## Saxonophile

I know "knob" in the sense Tom Felton used it when asked if he would follow Dan Radcliffe and do a nude scene on stage. To quote: "I would get naked. If getting my k**b out came with some artistic merit and the role required it, I'd do it." I was not aware it was an insult as well. Always young enough to learn.


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## Thomas Tompion

Saxonophile said:


> I know "knob" in the sense Tom Felton used it when asked if he would follow Dan Radcliffe and do a nude scene on stage. To quote: "I would get naked. If getting my k**b out came with some artistic merit and the role required it, I'd do it." I was not aware it was an insult as well. Always young enough to learn.


There's hardly a four-letter word for some intimate part which doesn't double up as an insult, Saxonophile.

I won't say I can't think of one, because that would lead to a string of abuse.


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## Copperknickers

ewie said:


> I use _knob_ about 27 times a day: it's a mild to moderate term of abuse I wouldn't hesitate to use at in front of my mother (78).  I don't consider it a 'swearword' at all.
> 
> By contrast, I don't believe I've ever in my life used the term _prick_ ~ wild horses couldn't drag it out of my brain, just because it isn't there to start with.  (The word _prick_, I mean, not my brain.)  I find it ~ heaven knows why ~ curiously obscene, far more so than _knob, knob'ead, dick, dick'ead, plonker, _etc.



In my experience, 'knob' is very characteristic of the North of England, and usually used when someone wants to insult one of their friends playfully. 'Prick' is more of a Southern thing. And in Scotland we don't really use either as we have a whole world of penis-related slang unknown to the outside world, including but not limited to 'dobber', 'boabie', 'walloper', 'tadge', 'bunnet', and 'laddie'.


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## DonnyB

It's certainly not one I use a lot, and I think I tend to see it newspapers, asterisked or otherwise, more than I hear it in use locally.

I think I'd endorse ewie's view (post #12) that it's a mild one compared to the wide range of available alternatives.


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## ewie

Copperknickers said:


> bunnet


( I always thought a _bunnet_ was a hat, as in _He went out without his bunnet_)


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## Pedro y La Torre

Copperknickers said:


> In my experience, 'knob' is very characteristic of the North of England, and usually used when someone wants to insult one of their friends playfully. 'Prick' is more of a Southern thing. And in Scotland we don't really use either as we have a whole world of penis-related slang unknown to the outside world, including but not limited to 'dobber', 'boabie', 'walloper', 'tadge', 'bunnet', and 'laddie'.



Knob and prick are very widely used in Ireland, with the latter probably being _slightly_ more widespread than the former. I wouldn't think of either word as particularly English, in contrast to a word like "bellend". 

A "walloper" sounds rather alarming.


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## sound shift

Copperknickers said:


> In my experience, 'knob' is very characteristic of the North of England, and usually used when someone wants to insult one of their friends playfully. 'Prick' is more of a Southern thing.


I'm just north of the middle of England and I don't think I've heard "knob" around here for years - except in "copperknob", in which "knob" of course means "head".


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## Thomas Tompion

ewie said:


> ( I always thought a _bunnet_ was a hat, as in _He went out without his bunnet_)


Don't go out without your bunnet, Mr E.


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## dojibear

This is not a normal term in AE. 

In the thread that post #9 links to, the context makes the meaning clear: any word could be used there. We would know it meant "penis" if he said "sofa", "cummerbund", "kangaroo" etc.


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## Copperknickers

sound shift said:


> I'm just north of the middle of England and I don't think I've heard "knob" around here for years - except in "copperknob", in which "knob" of course means "head".



I don't think many people would class 'Derby' as part of the North, to be fair. It's Midlands, no?


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## Encolpius

Good afternoon ladies & gentlemen, is knob a simple penis or a hidden penis in form of a bulge? Just because the word reminds me more of a bulge. So if you go to a nudist beach you see some blokes with k*bs, too?


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## heypresto

Encolpius said:


> is knob a simple penis


I'm not sure what a _simple_ penis is, but a knob is a penis, and not a bulge.

I may be wrong, but I don't think it's as common a term nowadays as it was when I was younger.


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## Uncle Jack

Encolpius said:


> Good afternoon ladies & gentlemen, is knob a simple penis or a hidden penis in form of a bulge? Just because the word reminds me more of a bulge. So if you go to a nudist beach you see some blokes with k*bs, too?


It is a penis.

"Knob" does have other meanings as well, from door knobs to knobs of butter. Dorset Knobs are a sort of cross between a small, hard bread roll and a savoury biscuit.


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## Roxxxannne

Uncle Jack said:


> It is a penis.  ... Dorset Knobs are a sort of cross between a small, hard bread roll and a savoury biscuit.


Those sound very delightful.   So I guess calling a man a Dorset k**b would be a compliment of sorts?


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## Hermione Golightly

I'd think he was a posh person (nob) from Dorset, if I heard that.


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## Uncle Jack

Roxxxannne said:


> So I guess calling a man a Dorset k**b would be a compliment of sorts?


It might be a little more playful in tone than just calling him a knob, but I suggest you don't call him that to his face.


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## kentix

I have never heard knob used in everyday American English except when referring to something that is attached to a door or a cabinet or a radio, etc.


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## Roxxxannne

Uncle Jack said:


> It might be a little more playful in tone than just calling him a knob, but I suggest you don't call him that to his face.


I'll keep that in mind.
 Small, savoury, risen, and hard is not entirely complimentary, I suppose.


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## bennymix

kentix said:


> I have never heard knob used in everyday American English except when referring to something that is attached to a door or a cabinet or a radio, etc.



I haven't heard it* either in the US or Canada except in British or Aussie talk.

*ADDED: 'It' being 'knob' as penis.


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## kentix

Just to be perfectly, pedantically accurate, it can also be used in AE to describe a hill or other geographic feature or other natural protrusion like on a tree or something like that.


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## bennymix

kentix said:


> Just to be perfectly, pedantically accurate, it can also be used in AE to describe a hill or other geographic feature or other natural protrusion like on a tree or something like that.



Including sometimes the actual head.

Ghosts

Mariah Carey is to Christmas what Smashing Pumpkins frontman *Billy Corgan* is to Halloween. I mean, it’s right there in the name of his band! Billy’s into spooky shit. He used to pal around with Marilyn Manson, his shiny knob of a head {shown in picture} looks like an actual skeleton head


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## owlman5

The only use of _knob _as _penis _that I have heard with any frequency in the U.S. is _to polish someone's knob = to perform fellatio on someone._


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## Mnemon

And the only use of _knob _as PENIS I'm cognizant of is,


> *knob job
> English
> Noun*
> knob job (plural knob jobs)
> (Britain, slang) An act of fellatio.


knob job - Wiktionary


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## owlman5

Shandol said:


> And the only use of _knob _as PENIS I'm cognizant of is,
> 
> knob job - Wiktionary


I have heard this one too.


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## kentix

I haven't heard that variation.


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## Uncle Jack

kentix said:


> I haven't heard that variation.


Me neither. I suppose it would be reasonably clear in the right context, "knob" being in such common use in Britain.


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## london calling

Uncle Jack said:


> Me neither. I suppose it would be reasonably clear in the right context, "knob" being in such common use in Britain.


Yes, it's used in much the same way as 'dickhead' in my brand of BE (London).


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## heypresto

And lest we forget, 'knobhead'.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

owlman5 said:


> The only use of _knob _as _penis _that I have heard with any frequency in the U.S. is _to polish someone's knob = to perform fellatio on someone._



Yep, also as "to give someone [/someone's knob] a polish".


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## Keith Bradford

Beninjam said:


> ...Dare I say the usage is restricted to the n*bs?


I don't think so.  Heard by me, when a novice teacher in 1969, from a young teenage girl (working class, Leicestershire UK).  "Go on, sir, show us your knob."

(I declined the invitation, and so avoided disciplinary action.)


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## Chasint

Keith Bradford said:


> I don't think so.  Heard by me, when a novice teacher in 1969, from a young teenage girl (working class, Leicestershire UK).  "Go on, sir, show us your knob."
> 
> (I declined the invitation, and so avoided disciplinary action.)






> *nob * _(nob),_ n. [Chiefly Brit. Slang.]
> a person of wealth or social importance.
> nob - WordReference.com Dictionary of English





> *knob* _/nɑb/_  n. [countable]
> 2. a rounded lump sticking out on the surface or at the end of something.
> knob - WordReference.com Dictionary of English



The latter explains why the slang term does not refer to the entire penis but instead the end of the penis. (Unless of course one has a doorknob-shaped penis)



> *knob*
> the tip (glans) of the penis
> What does knob mean? knob Definition. Meaning of knob. OnlineSlangDictionary.com



Incidentally, a knobhead is someone whose head looks like a knob, just as a butthead is someone whose head looks like a butt.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

And here I thought it was short for "He's a nobody."


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## RM1(SS)

owlman5 said:


> The only use of _knob _as _penis _that I have heard with any frequency in the U.S. is _to polish someone's knob = to perform fellatio on someone._


Never heard that one, but I've heard _give someone a knobber_.


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## Pedro y La Torre

That sounds particularly painful.


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