Knack
Noun
Plural: knacks
Pronunciation: næk
Etymology: of uncertain origin. It is doubted whether knack (= sharp noise) is the same word. Walter Skeat wrote that “the word seems to have been [… originated] from the knacking or snapping of the fingers made by jugglers.”
First definition: (archaic acceptation) something craftily devised or contrived for obtaining a result. Hence, a dexterous method of doing something
Synonyms: trick, artifice, device, expedient
[…] the gloves were produced, and my initiatory lesson in the pugilistic art commenced by Coleman's first placing me in an exceedingly uncomfortable attitude, and then very considerately knocking me out of it again, thereby depositing me with much skill and science flat upon the hearth-rug. This manouvre he repeated with great success during some half hour or so, at the end of which time I began to discover the knack with which it was done, and proceeded to demonstrate the proficiency I was making, by a well-directed blow […].
Frank Smedley (Frank Fairlegh)
Second definition: peculiar faculty of doing something adroitly, as if it had been acquired from a juggler; aptness at doing something, comparable to jugglery in being rare
It may be approximately translated by aptitud, in Spanish; attitudine, in Italian; aptitude, in French.
Antonyms: ineptitude, awkwardness; disability.
Synonyms: dexterity, facility, skill, faculty, aptness
***With the preposition of, followed either by a noun or a gerund, designative of what is easily perfomed:
You have that knack of observation and that readiness with your pen which are needed.
Charles Lever (Paul Gosslett's Confessions in Love)
Her conversation was […] entertaining —her manners particularly easy: she had the happy knack of making everybody at once at home.
W. H. Maxwell (Brian O’Linn)
She had the knack, partly natural, partly the result of keen observing powers, of detecting at once the mental value, […] of those with whom she came in contact.
George Melville (Holmby House)
Since he came to town, he has, by his convivial powers, his good stories, good songs, and knack of mimicry, made himself so _famous_, that he has more invitations to dinner than he can accept.
Maria Edgeworth (Tales and Novels)
Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the family in general, soon procured herself a book.
Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility)
[This boy] had a knack of counterfeiting other people's signatures.
Elizabeth Braddon (Henry Dunbar)
He had a knack of saying as much in one page as most people did in five.
Gilbert Parker (The Trespasser)
The rooms were never untidy then. She had a knack of making everything look its best.
Rosa Carey (Only the governess)
You have a knack of description, I know.
Laura E. Richards (Margaret Montfort)
[…] that ingenious knack of forgery, for which he was expelled [from] the Dublin-University […]
Samuel Richardson (Clarissa)
***With the preposition at, followed either by a noun or a gerund, designative of what is easily perfomed:
Mr. O'Shea had a very happy knack at billiards.
Charles Lever (One of Them)
I bought a large sheet of paper, and having a knack at drawing, sat down, with the greatest gravity, before the pump, and sketched it for several hours.
William Thackeray (The Fitz-Boodle Papers)
***With the preposition for, followed either by a noun or a gerund, designative of what one has aptitude for:
I have a knack for languages.
Arthur Marchmont (By Wit of Woman)
The man who has a knack for the simplest electrical operations has […] opportunities […], if he will only develop this knack to its fullest possibilities.
Popular Science, Sep. 1918
Because of the constant need for appearing happier than I really was, I developed a knack for saying things in an amusing, sometimes an epigrammatic, [manner].
Clifford Beers (A Mind That Found Itself)
[…] Pa (I tried saying Father, but he wouldn't let me!) said the things tasted good, and I had a knack for flavouring.
Laura E. Richards (Margaret Montfort)
Third definition: peculiar habit or custom
Postdefinition: it is of very rare use, and maybe resulted from neglecting to semanticize the preceding one
He was not considered as a good officer, but a very troublesome one. He had a knack of twisting and moving his fingers about as he walked the deck.
Frederick Marryat (Poor Jack)
The modestest women, Jack, must think […]. I wonder whether they ever blush at those things by themselves, at which they have so charming a knack of blushing in company.
Samuel Richardson (Clarissa)
I have got such a knack of writing, that when I am by myself, I cannot sit without a pen in my hand.
Samuel Richardson (Pamela)
Fourth definition: small artefact dexterously contrived; knick-knack. Hence, toy, trinket, trifle
Postdefinition: it is of very rare use, and maybe archaic
Prints, pictures, all the glittering and endless succession of knacks and gewgaws, and ostentatiously displayed wares of tradesmen, which make a week-day saunter through the less busy parts of the metropolis so delightful--are shut out.
Charles Lamb (The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb)
[…] many folding purses, and other knacks, of leather, curiously wrought in coloured silks.
Robert Kerr (…Collection of Voyages and Travels)
