knit

Etymology

From Middle English knytten, from Old English cnyttan (“to fasten, tie, bind, knit; add, append”), from Proto-West Germanic *knuttijan, from Proto-Germanic *knutjaną, *knuttijaną (“to make knots, knit”). Cognate with Low German knütten and Old Norse knýta (whence Danish knytte, Norwegian Nynorsk knyta). More at knot.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine.
   to knit a stocking
   The first generation knitted to order; the second still knits for its own use; the next leaves knitting to industrial manufacturers.
2. (figurative, transitive) To join closely and firmly together.
   The fight for survival knitted the men closely together.
   Nature cannot knit the bones while the parts are under a discharge. 1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds, London: Richard Royston
3. (intransitive) To become closely and firmly joined; become compacted.
4. (intransitive) To grow together.
   All those seedlings knitted into a kaleidoscopic border.
5. (transitive) To combine from various elements.
   The witness knitted together his testimony from contradictory pieces of hearsay.
6. (intransitive, of bones) To heal following a fracture.
   I’ll go skiing again after my bones knit.
7. (transitive) To form into a knot, or into knots; to tie together, as cord; to fasten by tying.
8. (transitive) To draw together; to contract into wrinkles.

noun

1. A knitted garment.
   There are grey Grecian tops and a light, sheer, silver cardigan. Stylish dark grey tailored trousers, silver thongs and shiny jet-black stilettos. Black sheer blouses with squared bib fronts, and expensive-looking black and dark grey woollen knits. 2012, Melanie Calvert, Freycinet, page 105
2. A session of knitting.
   It's always time for a bit of a knit. 2014, Elvira Woodruff, To Knit or Not to Knit