beak vs knuckle

beak

verb
  • Strike with the beak. 

  • To play truant. 

  • Seize with the beak. 

noun
  • Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Libythea, notable for the beak-like elongation on their heads. 

  • A schoolmaster (originally, at Eton). 

  • The human nose, especially one that is large and pointed. 

  • That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee. 

  • A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc. 

  • A similar structure forming the jaws of an octopus, turtle, etc. 

  • A justice of the peace; a magistrate. 

  • The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve. 

  • The prolongation of certain univalve shells containing the canal. 

  • The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera. 

  • A toe clip. 

  • A beam, shod or armed at the end with a metal head or point, and projecting from the prow of an ancient galley, used as a ram to pierce the vessel of an enemy; a beakhead. 

  • cocaine. 

  • Any process somewhat like the beak of a bird, terminating the fruit or other parts of a plant. 

  • Anything projecting or ending in a point like a beak, such as a promontory of land. 

  • A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off. 

knuckle

verb
  • To strike or punch. 

  • To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles. 

  • To yield. 

  • To land on the knuckle of a curve of a slope, after a jump off a ramp that precedes the slope. 

  • To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect. 

  • To bend the fingers. 

noun
  • The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste. 

  • A cut of meat. 

  • The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table. 

  • A mechanical joint. 

  • The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being. 

  • Any of the joints between the phalanges of the fingers. 

  • A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; a knuckle duster. 

  • A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom. 

How often have the words beak and knuckle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )