• (n.) The end of a ship`s keelson, to which the sternpost is bolted; -- called also stern knee.
Stern'son noun [ See Stern , noun , and confer Stemson .] (Nautical) The end of a ship's keelson, to which the sternpost is bolted; -- called also stern knee . 
a knee in a timber-framed vessel, reinforcing the angle between the keelson and the sternpost.