knothole

American  

[not-hohl] / ˈnɒtˌhoʊl /

noun

1. a hole in a board or plank formed by the falling out of a knot or a portion of a knot.

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knothole British  

/ ˈnɒtˌhəʊl /

noun

1. a hole in a piece of wood where a knot has been

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Etymology

Origin of knothole

First recorded in 1720–30; knot ¹ + hole

Explanation

A knothole is a naturally-occurring open space in a wooden board. You wouldn't want to use boards full of knotholes to build a boat, but they're fine for a backyard tree house. Many types of wood form round, raised imperfections called knots, which mark the spot where a branch used to be before it died and fell off the tree. Many paneled rooms are lined with "knotty pine," a light-colored wood marked with many of these knots. When a knot falls out of a cut length of wood, it leaves a knothole behind.

Example Sentences

All of it from the narrow knothole that is our point of view.

From Washington Post • Jan. 27, 2022

“I could watch through a kind of knothole — just me alone, in the dark, seeing the next 20 years of my life,” she writes.

From New York Times • Sep. 11, 2017

In “Mockingbird,” Boo leaves little gifts for Scout and her brother, Jem, in the knothole of a similar live oak.

From Salon • Sep. 27, 2015

Schemmel added, “If we got a piece of wood with a knothole in it, we’d cut the good pieces out and throw them away and use the ones with the knotholes.”

From Washington Times • May 31, 2015

We used to have another big sassafras tree, which stood next to this one and had a knothole where bluebirds nested.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns