or knock-me-down, subs. (old).—Strong ale: STINGO (q.v.). Also = gin.
1515. De Generibus Ebriosorum et Ebrietate Vitanda [J. E. HODGKIN in Notes & Queries, 3 S. vii. 163]. In [this] treatise … occurs a chapter on the various kinds of beer then in use in Germany…. The catalogue which follows shows that even the names of fancy drinks are not new under the sun; and that the ‘Eye-openers’ and ‘Cocktails’ of the Yankee bars had their prototypes in the mediæval tap-rooms. I select a few of the most presentable: Cow’s-tail, Calves-neck, Buffalo, Slip-slop, Stamp-in-the-ashes, KNOCK-’EM-DOWN, Crowing-cock, Wild-oats, Red-head, Raise-head, Swell-nose, and Gnat’s-mustard.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v.
1698. M. SORBIÈRE, Journey to London in the Year 1698, p. 35 [quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S. xii. 167]. He answer’d me that he had a thousand such sort of liquors, as Humtie Dumtie, Three Threads, Four Threads, old Pharaoh, KNOCKDOWN …
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. KNOCK.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. KNOCK ME DOWN.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
1885. Notes and Queries, 6th S. xii. 232. A very strong ale or beer.
Adj. (old).—Rowdy.
1760. FOOTE, The Minor, i. No KNOCK-ME-DOWN doings in my house … no rioters.
