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knee-deep. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
knee-deep, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
knee-deep in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English kne-depe; equivalent to knee + deep.
Adjective
knee-deep (not comparable)
- Reaching up to the knees.
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Romance and Reality. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, page 277:High above stood the ash-tree, its boughs covered with the toy-like bunches called "locks and keys;" and beyond spread the meadows, knee-deep with the verdant grass.
- Submerged to the knees.
1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 241:This gave me a hint, and I went knee-deep, and sometimes neck-deep, in the Red Weed. The density of the weed gave me a reassuring sense of hiding.
- (figuratively, by extension) Deeply involved in something, or preoccupied with something.
- Synonyms: elbow-deep, up to one's elbows, in the thick of it
2007, Katherine D. Jones, Dangerous Dilemmas, Brooklyn, N.Y.: Noire Passion, Parker Publishing, LLC, →ISBN, page 113:By the time Tracey arrived, Kayla was working on her second cup of café mocha and knee-deep in paperwork.
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