Browse all

knit up

B2 neutral separable both
In simple words

To finish making something by knitting, or for a cut or sore to heal up and close.

Literal meaning: To finish or repair by working yarn upward with needles.

Meanings

1 B2 neutral

To complete or finish a piece of knitting.

"She spent the afternoon knitting up the last few rows of the sweater."

Grammar: separable
2 B2 neutral

Of a wound or injury: to close and heal naturally.

"The small cut on his hand knit up cleanly without needing stitches."

3 C1 idiomatic formal

Figuratively, to restore or repair something that is frayed or disordered (especially in literary use).

"Sleep, he hoped, would knit up the exhaustion of a brutal week."

"Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care."

— William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2
Grammar: separable
Usage notes

Used literally in craft contexts (to finish knitting something) and medically (for tissue to close and heal). Literary use also exists — Shakespeare famously used it in Macbeth to refer to sleep 'knitting up' the sleeve of care. Less commonly used today.

Commonly used with

wound sleeve scarf jumper injury tissue care

Forms

Base
knit up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
knits up
he/she/it
Past simple
knited up
yesterday
Past participle
knited up
have + pp
-ing form
kniting up
continuous

Understand "knit up" better

Try:

Real video examples

Video examples are being collected. Check back soon.

Synonyms

finish knitting heal over close up mend repair

Want to master this phrasal verb?

Practice "knit up" on Looplines