[A phrase used as a name.] A stick with a cocoa-nut or the like stuck on it to be aimed at.
1828. ‘J. Bee,’ Pict. Lond., 263. The charms of nine pins—whether this be of skittles, knock-em-down, bowl-and-tip, dutch-pins, or the more sturdy four-corners.
1847. R. Brown, in Mem., vii. (1866), 126. The fair and whirligigs and knockemdowns.
1870. Daily News, 4 June, 5/6. At the deserted knock-’em-down grounds the sticks stood in melancholy rows, protesting against the public contempt for cocoa nuts.
