The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Node \Node\ (n[=o]d), n. [L. nodus; perh. akin to E. knot. Cf.
   Noose, Nowed.]
   1. A knot, a knob; a protuberance; a swelling.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Specifically:
      (a) (Astron.) One of the two points where the orbit of a
          planet, or comet, intersects the ecliptic, or the
          orbit of a satellite intersects the plane of the orbit
          of its primary.
      (b) (Bot.) The joint of a stem, or the part where a leaf
          or several leaves are inserted.
      (c) (Dialing) A hole in the gnomon of a dial, through
          which passes the ray of light which marks the hour of
          the day, the parallels of the sun's declination, his
          place in the ecliptic, etc.
      (d) (Geom.) The point at which a curve crosses itself,
          being a double point of the curve. See Crunode, and
          Acnode.
      (e) (Mech.) The point at which the lines of a funicular
          machine meet from different angular directions; --
          called also knot. --W. R. Johnson.
      (f) (Poet.) The knot, intrigue, or plot of a piece.
      (g) (Med.) A hard concretion or incrustation which forms
          upon bones attacked with rheumatism, gout, or
          syphilis; sometimes also, a swelling in the
          neighborhood of a joint. --Dunglison.
      (h) (Mus) One of the fixed points of a sonorous string,
          when it vibrates by aliquot parts, and produces the
          harmonic tones; nodal line or point.
      (i) (Zool.) A swelling.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. (Math., Computers) A special point in a graph or diagram
      which is attached to other points by links. It is often
      labeled and represented graphically as a box or circle. A
      node may represent any object which is related to other
      objects in a conceptual structure that can be represented
      as a graph, the relations being represented as links
      between the nodes.
      [PJC]

   4. (Anat.) A small mass of tissue differing from other tissue
      in its immediate vicinity; as, a lymph node.
      [PJC]

   Ascending node (Astron.), the node at which the body is
      passing northerly, marked with the symbol [astascending],
      called the Dragon's head. Called also northern node.

   Descending node, the node at which the body is moving
      southwardly, marked thus [astdescending], called Dragon's
      tail.

   Line of nodes, a straight line joining the two nodes of an
      orbit.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Knot \Knot\ (n[o^]t), n. [OE. knot, knotte, AS. cnotta; akin to
   D. knot, OHG. chnodo, chnoto, G. knoten, Icel. kn[=u]tr, Sw.
   knut, Dan. knude, and perh. to L. nodus. Cf. Knout,
   Knit.]
   1.
      (a) A fastening together of the parts or ends of one or
          more threads, cords, ropes, etc., by any one of
          various ways of tying or entangling.
      (b) A lump or loop formed in a thread, cord, rope. etc.,
          as at the end, by tying or interweaving it upon
          itself.
      (c) An ornamental tie, as of a ribbon.
          [1913 Webster]

   Note: The names of knots vary according to the manner of
         their making, or the use for which they are intended;
         as, dowknot, reef knot, stopper knot, diamond knot,
         etc.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. A bond of union; a connection; a tie. "With nuptial knot."
      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed. --Bp.
                                                  Hall.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Something not easily solved; an intricacy; a difficulty; a
      perplexity; a problem.
      [1913 Webster]

            Knots worthy of solution.             --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

            A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of
            business, and contrary affairs.       --South.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A figure the lines of which are interlaced or intricately
      interwoven, as in embroidery, gardening, etc. "Garden
      knots." --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

            Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art
            In beds and curious knots, but nature boon
            Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A cluster of persons or things; a collection; a group; a
      hand; a clique; as, a knot of politicians. "Knots of
      talk." --Tennyson.
      [1913 Webster]

            His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Palms in cluster, knots of Paradise.  --Tennyson.
      [1913 Webster]

            As they sat together in small, separate knots, they
            discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of
            belief.                               --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A portion of a branch of a tree that forms a mass of woody
      fiber running at an angle with the grain of the main stock
      and making a hard place in the timber. A loose knot is
      generally the remains of a dead branch of a tree covered
      by later woody growth.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. A knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.
      [1913 Webster]

            With lips serenely placid, felt the knot
            Climb in her throat.                  --Tennyson.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. A protuberant joint in a plant.
      [1913 Webster]

   9. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist
      of a matter. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            I shoulde to the knotte condescend,
            And maken of her walking soon an end. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   10. (Mech.) See Node.
       [1913 Webster]

   11. (Naut.)
       (a) A division of the log line, serving to measure the
           rate of the vessel's motion. Each knot on the line
           bears the same proportion to a mile that thirty
           seconds do to an hour. The number of knots which run
           off from the reel in half a minute, therefore, shows
           the number of miles the vessel sails in an hour.
           Hence:
       (b) A nautical mile, or 6080.27 feet; as, when a ship
           goes nautical eight miles an hour, her speed is said
           to be eight knots.
           [1913 Webster]

   12. A kind of epaulet. See Shoulder knot.
       [1913 Webster]

   13. (Zool.) A sandpiper (Tringa canutus), found in the
       northern parts of all the continents, in summer. It is
       grayish or ashy above, with the rump and upper tail
       coverts white, barred with dusky. The lower parts are
       pale brown, with the flanks and under tail coverts white.
       When fat it is prized by epicures. Called also dunne.
       [1913 Webster]

   Note: The name is said to be derived from King Canute, this
         bird being a favorite article of food with him.
         [1913 Webster]

               The knot that called was Canutus' bird of old,
               Of that great king of Danes his name that still
               doth hold,
               His appetite to please that far and near was
               sought.                            --Drayton.
         [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Knot \Knot\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Knotted; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Knotting.]
   1. To tie in or with, or form into, a knot or knots; to form
      a knot on, as a rope; to entangle. "Knotted curls."
      --Drayton.
      [1913 Webster]

            As tight as I could knot the noose.   --Tennyson.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To unite closely; to knit together. --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To entangle or perplex; to puzzle. [Obs. or R.]
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Knot \Knot\, v. i.
   1. To form knots or joints, as in a cord, a plant, etc.; to
      become entangled.
      [1913 Webster]

            Cut hay when it begins to knot.       --Mortimer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To knit knots for fringe or trimming.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To copulate; -- said of toads. [R.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

knot
    n 1: a tight cluster of people or things; "a small knot of women
         listened to his sermon"; "the bird had a knot of feathers
         forming a crest"
    2: any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope
       (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object
    3: a hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a
       branch emerged; "the saw buckled when it hit a knot"
    4: something twisted and tight and swollen; "their muscles stood
       out in knots"; "the old man's fists were two great gnarls";
       "his stomach was in knots" [syn: knot, gnarl]
    5: a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters;
       historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of
       arc in latitude [syn: nautical mile, mile, mi, naut
       mi, knot, international nautical mile, air mile]
    6: soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or
       created by design [syn: slub, knot, burl]
    7: a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the
       southern hemisphere [syn: knot, greyback, grayback,
       Calidris canutus]
    v 1: make into knots; make knots out of; "She knotted her
         fingers"
    2: tie or fasten into a knot; "knot the shoelaces"
    3: tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story" [syn: ravel,
       tangle, knot] [ant: ravel, ravel out, unknot,
       unpick, unravel, unscramble, untangle]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

460 Moby Thesaurus words for "knot":
   Blackwall hitch, Chinese puzzle, Flemish knot, French shroud knot,
   German knot, Gordian knot, Matthew Walker knot,
   Rube Goldberg contraption, Windsor knot, accouple, accumulate,
   adhesive, affix, affixation, agglutinate, aggregation, air speed,
   amass, amount to, anamorphism, anamorphosis, anchor knot,
   annexation, articulate, assemblage, assemble, associate, asymmetry,
   attach, attachment, baffling problem, balance, ball, ball up,
   balloon, band, batch, becket knot, bend, bilge, bind, binding,
   bladder, blain, bleb, blister, blob, block, body, boll, bolus,
   bond, boss, bow, bowknot, bowline, bracket, braid, brain twister,
   break even, bridge, bridge over, bubble, buckle, bulb, bulbil,
   bulblet, bulge, bulla, bump, bun, bunch, burl, button, cahot, cake,
   can of worms, celerity, cement, chain, chignon, chine, clabber,
   clap together, clasping, clinch, clot, clump, cluster, coagulate,
   cocker, cockle, coil, collect, collection, combine, come to,
   come up to, company, complex, complicate, comprise, concatenate,
   concrete, concretion, condyle, confound, confuse, congeal,
   conglobulate, conglomerate, conglomeration, congregation, conjoin,
   conjugate, connect, contort, contortion, convex, copse, copulate,
   correspond, corrugate, couple, cover, crease, crimp, crimple,
   crinkle, crook, crookedness, crop, crossword puzzle, crowd,
   crumple, crux, cue, curd, curdle, detorsion, deviation,
   diamond knot, dilemma, dispatch, disproportion, distort,
   distortion, ditto, double hitch, dowel, draw, ear, ellipsoid,
   embrace, embrangle, encompass, enigma, enigmatic question,
   entangle, even, even off, expedition, fasten, fastener, fastening,
   fastness, fix, flange, flap, flat knot, flight, flit, floorer,
   flurry, foul up, furrow, gall, gang, gather, gathering, gel,
   gelatinate, gelatinize, geoid, girding, globe, globelet, globoid,
   globule, glomerulus, glue, gnarl, gob, gobbet, granny knot,
   ground speed, group, grouping, groupment, grove, half crown,
   half hitch, handle, hassock, haste, hawser bend, hawser fastening,
   heaving-line bend, hill, hooking, hump, hunch, hurry, imbalance,
   implicate, include, incrassate, inside clinch, inspissate,
   instantaneousness, involve, irregularity, jell, jellify, jelly,
   jigsaw puzzle, jog, joggle, join, jungle, keep pace with, knit,
   knob, knots, knotty point, knur, knurl, labyrinth, lanyard knot,
   lash, lashing, lay together, league, ligament, ligation, ligature,
   lightning speed, link, lip, loop, lopper, lopsidedness, lot,
   louse up, lump, lump together, manrope knot, marling hitch, marry,
   marshal, mass, match, match up with, maze, meander, measure up to,
   merge, mesh, mesh knot, mess, mess up, miles per hour,
   mind-boggler, mix up, mobilize, mole, morass, mountain, muck up,
   muddle, mystery, netting knot, nevus, nexus, node, nodus, nonplus,
   nub, nubbin, nubble, nut to crack, oblate spheroid, open hand knot,
   orb, orbit, orblet, outside clinch, oxymoron, pair, papilloma,
   paradox, parallel, peg, pellet, perplex, perplexed question,
   perplexity, piece together, pigtail, plait, pons asinorum, poser,
   precipitation, problem, prolate spheroid, prolonge knot,
   promptitude, promptness, pucker, purse, put together, puzzle,
   puzzlement, puzzler, quandary, question, question mark, queue,
   quickness, quirk, ramify, rapidity, rattail, ravel, reach,
   reef knot, reeving-line bend, rib, ridge, rimple, ring, ripple,
   rival, roll into one, rolling hitches, rondure, rope-yarn knot,
   round pace, round seizing, rpm, ruck, ruckle, rumple, run abreast,
   run to, running knot, rush, screw, screw up, secure, set,
   sheepshank, shirr, shock, shock wave, shoulder, shroud knot,
   single knot, sixty-four dollar question, skein, slew, slide knot,
   slipknot, snafu, snake pit, snappiness, snarl, snarl up, solder,
   solid, solid body, sonic barrier, sonic boom, sound barrier, span,
   speed, speed of sound, speediness, sphere, spheroid, spherule,
   spine, splice, spring, square knot, stack up with, stick together,
   sticker, sticking, stook, stud, stumper, style, swift rate,
   swiftness, tab, tail, take in, tangle, tangled skein, tape, teaser,
   tether, thick, thicken, thicket, throng, tie, tieing, timber knot,
   topknot, torsion, tortuosity, touch, tough proposition, tubercle,
   tubercule, tuft, turn, turn awry, tussock, twist, unify, unite,
   unsymmetry, velocity, verruca, vesicle, vexed question, vinculum,
   wale, wall knot, warp, wart, web, webwork, weld, welt,
   wheels within wheels, why, wilderness, wimple, wisp, wrench, wrest,
   wring, wrinkle, writhe, yoke, zipping