in anatomy, the articulation of the thigh and leg bones. See Anatomy, no 59.

a ship, a crooked piece of timber, having two branches or arms, and generally used to connect the beams of a ship with her sides or timbers.

The branches of the knees form an angle of greater or smaller extent, according to the mutual situation of the pieces which they are designed to unite. One branch is securely bolted to one of the deck-beams, whilst the other is in the same manner attached to a corresponding timber in the ship's side, as represented by E in the plate of Midship Frame.

Besides the great utility of knees in connecting the beams and timbers into one compact frame, they contribute greatly to the strength and solidity of the ship, in the different parts of her frame to which they are bolted; and thereby enable her with greater firmness to resist the effects of a turbulent sea.

In fixing of these pieces, it is occasionally necessary to give an oblique direction to the vertical or side branch, in order to avoid the range of an adjacent gunport, or because the knee may be so shaped as to require this disposition; it being sometimes difficult to procure so great a variety of knees as may be necessary in the construction of a number of ships of war.

In France, the scarcity of these pieces has obliged their shipwrights frequently to form their knees of iron.