[f. KNOCK v. + -ER1.]
1. One who or that which knocks; esp. one who knocks at a door in order to gain admittance; also = knocker down (see 5).
1388. Wyclif, Pref. Ep. Jerome, viii. To the askere me ȝyueth, and to the knockere me openeth.
c. 1425. Found. St. Bartholomew’s, 5. The asker … schall resceyue, the seker shall fynde, and the rynger or knokker shall entre.
1552. Huloet, Knocker, percussor, pulsator.
1652. Sparke, Scintilla Altaris (1663), 103. Least with those untimely knockers at the Bride-Chamber door, we stand without an hearing, and be repulsed without admission!
1821. Byron, Juan, III. xxxiv. Rocks bewitch’d that open to the knockers.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 April, 11/2. Cardiff sent up two boxers…. The more terrible of this twain eventually succumbed to a talented Irishman, who knocked out the would be knocker.
b. A spirit or goblin imagined to dwell in mines, and to indicate the presence of ore by knocking.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., L ij b. Miners say that the Knocker is some Being that Inhabits in the … Hollows of the Earth.
1885. Chamb. Jrnl., II. 371/2. In the Cardigan mines, the knockers are still heard, indicating where a rich lode may be expected.
1898. Watts-Dunton, Aylwin, III. (1899), 24. She had, she said, not only heard but seen these Knockers. They were thick-set dwarfs, as broad as they were long.
c. slang. A person of ‘striking’ appearance, or who moves others to admiration. (Cf. KNOCK v. 2 c, and STUNNER.)
1612. Field, Woman is a Weather-cocke, I. C ij. You should be a Knocker then by the Mothers side.
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, II. ii. They’re pretty children both, but here’s a wench Will be a knocker.
1664. Cotton, Scarron., 88. That old Knocker good Anchises.
d. A knock-down blow. rare.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 96. The backstroke will be sure to give him a knocker.
1842. Newcastle Song Bk., 148 (E. D. D.). He lifted up his great long airm, Me soul he gave him sec a knocker.
2. An appendage, usually of iron or brass, fastened to a door, and hinged so that it may be made to strike against a metal plate, to attract the attention of those within. (The most usual sense; cf. KNOCK v. 1.)
1598. Florio, Picchiatoio, a hammer to knocke at a doore with, a striker, a knocker.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 77, ¶ 2. One could hardly find a Knocker at a Door in a whole Street after a Midnight Expedition of these Beaux Esprits.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, ii. La Motte,… advanced to the gate and lifted a massy knocker.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, xviii. Tito found the heavy iron knocker on the door thickly bound round with wool.
1898. J. T. Fowler, Durham Cath., 63. The famous bronze knocker on the great north door.
Comb. 1844. J. T. Hewlett, Parsons & W., vi. Knocker-wrenching and sign-removing were in vogue in my day.
† b. colloq. or slang. A kind of bob or pendant to a wig. Obs.
1818. La Belle Assemblée, XVII. No. 106. 27. The physicians with their great wigs had disappeared, and had given place to those who wore a wig with a knocker.
1837. New Monthly Mag., XLIX. 550. Pig-tails and ‘knockers’ superseded the ponderous ‘clubs.’
c. Phr. Up to the knocker: in good condition; in the height of fashion; ‘up to the mark.’ slang.
1844. Selby, London by Night, I. ii. Jack. How do you feel? Ned. Not quite up to the knocker.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 24 Dec., 1/3. We was dressed up to the knocker.
† 3. A castanet: cf. KNACKER1 2. Obs.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xi. (1655), 37. Capering and dancing with their castannettas, or knockers on their fingers.
4. ‘An attachment in a flour-bolt to jar the frame and shake the flour from the meshes of the bolting-cloth’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875).
5. With adverbs, as knocker-down, also = KNOCK-DOWN B. 1; knocker-off = KNOCK-OFF A.; knocker-up, a person who goes round the streets in the early morning to awaken people.
1611. Cotgr., Assommeur, a knocker, feller, or beater, downe.
1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, I. i. A taker-up, Rather indeed a knocker-down.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 315/1. The Axe, which is the right form of the Butchers Knocker Down.
1697. Praise Yorksh. Ale (Craven Gloss.), We’ve ale also that is called knocker-down.
1861. E. Waugh, Lake Country, 223 (E. D. D.). That curious Lancashire character the ‘knocker-up.’
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Knocker-off. (Knitting.) A wheel with projections to raise the loop over the top of the needle and discharge it therefrom.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Oct., 3/2. The stock in trade of the ‘knocker-up’ consists of a long pole … with pieces of wire at the end. This pole is raised to the bedroom, and the wires are rattled against the window pane. Knockers-up charge 2d. a week for this service.
