So on Saturday morning Wilson stood with his father, Bill, and mother, Mai, on a knoll overlooking tens of thousands of white gravestones in rows on a lush green background at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood.—Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, 11 Nov. 2023 But that changed on November 2, 2021, when hundreds of people from around the country gathered at the infamous grassy knoll in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.—Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, 23 Sep. 2023 The center’s collection includes large-scale pieces by artists like Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Calder, Andy Goldsworthy, Richard Serra, and Louise Bourgeois, plunked onto grassy knolls.—Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023 Located on 10 acres, there’s plenty of room to sprawl or leisurely explore the grassy knolls, mature trees and flowers before and after your lunch from The Farm Kitchen.—Georgann Yara, The Arizona Republic, 16 June 2023 By the 19th century, picnics had become more commonplace and moved to outdoor settings, from grassy knolls to graveyards.—Katherine Alex Beaven, Travel + Leisure, 7 July 2023 More than 100 spectators, watching from a hot, bare, brown knoll across a gully from the blast center, saw a large rusty-colored cloud of granite dust billow from the torn mountain.—Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 July 2023 The abode within the Reserve is situated on a 2,400-foot-tall knoll within a coastal mountain range—the highest point in closest proximity to the ocean in all of the country—and has views that stretch more than 60 miles.—Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 24 Feb. 2023 From the front desk, high on a knoll across the street from Good Harbor Beach, owner Laura Dow has a bird’s-eye view of the shoreline.—James Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 16 June 2023 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'knoll.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English knol, from Old English cnoll; akin to Old Norse knollr mountaintop
Verb
Middle English, probably alteration of knellen to knell
First Known Use
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
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