subs. (horse-dealers’).—1. A lame horse; an incurable SCREW (q.v.). [The horse-dealer in JONSON’S Bartholemew Fair (1614), is called KNOCKEM.]
1864. London Review, 18 June, p. 643. The KNOCK, afflicted with disease of the navicular joint, or shoulder lameness, neither of which make any outward show, is a great favourite for horse-coping purposes, as he is often a fine-looking animal.
2. See verb.
Verb. (venery).—1. To copulate. Hence, KNOCK, subs., (1) an act of coition, and (2) the penis (see KNACK); KNOCKING-SHOP (or -HOUSE) = a brothel; KNOCKING-JACKET = a bed-gown; and KNOCKER, (1) = the penis, and (2) a PERFORMER (q.v.), male or female. [For possible derivation see NOCK, subs., and quot. (FLORIO), 1598.] For synonyms, see GREENS and RIDE.
1560. Nice Wanton [DODSLEY, Old Plays (1874), ii], 170.
| Iniquity. Gold locks, | |
| She must have KNOCKS, | |
| Or else I do her wrong. |
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Cunnuta, a woman NOCKED.
1611. L. BARRY, Ram Alley, iii. 1.
| Comfort her tears, and say her daughter’s match’d | |
| With one that has a KNOCKER to his father. |
1612. FIELD, A Woman is a Weathercock, i. 2. You should be a KNOCKER, then, by the mother’s side.
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, iii. 48.
| Ladies, make room, behold I come, | |
| Have at your KNOCKING Jackets. |
1722. RAMSAY, Fables and Tales, ‘The Monk and the Miller’s Wife,’ in Wks. (1851), iii. 170. For nought delytes him mair than KNOCKING.
1823. P. EGAN, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1883. Referee, 6 May, p. 3, col. 3. ‘It’s Never too Late to Mend,’ with J. H. Clynds as Tom Robinson, is KNOCKING ’em at the Pavilion.
1892. CHEVALIER, ‘KNOCKED ’Em in the Old Kent Road’ [Title of Song].
TO KNOCK ACOCK, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To ‘floor’; TO FLABBERGAST (q.v.); TO DOUBLE UP. See COCKED HAT.
TO KNOCK ABOUT (or ROUND), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To wander here and there; to lounge. Also ‘to see life’; ‘to go the PACE’ (q.v.).
1851. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, ii. 87. I’ve been KNOCKING ABOUT on the streets.
1855. IRVING, Life of Washington, i. 423. A long course of solicitation, haunting public offices, and KNOCKING ABOUT town, had taught him [General Gates], it was said, how to wheedle, and flatter, and accommodate himself to the humors of others.
1888. Harper’s Magazine, lxxvi. 349. I have been KNOCKING ABOUT Europe long enough to learn there are certain ways of doing things.
1891. Sporting Life, 28 March. He was a truant of the first water, and after KNOCKING ROUND till sixteen years of age etc.
TO KNOCK ABOUT THE BUB, verb. phr. (common).—To pass round the drink. See BUB.
1781. G. PARKER, A View of Society, I. 212. They went away seemingly very well satisfied, leaving master and man KNOCKING ABOUT THE BUB.
TO KNOCK (or LET) DAYLIGHT INTO ONE. See DAYLIGHT.
TO KNOCK ALL OF A HEAP. See HEAP.
TO KNOCK AT THE COBBLER’S DOOR. See COBBLER’S KNOCK.
TO KNOCK DOWN, verb. phr. (American).—1. To appropriate; to embezzle.
1882. J. D. MCCABE, New York by Sunlight and Gaslight, ix. s158. In former days the driver of a stage was furnished with a cash-box, which was securely fastened to the roof of the coach, at his left hand. All the money received passed through his hands, and he had frequent opportunities of ‘KNOCKING DOWN,’ or appropriating a modest sum to his own use.
2. (colloquial).—To call upon; to select.
1758–65. GOLDSMITH, Essays, i. While the president vainly KNOCKED DOWN Mr. Leathersides for a song.
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. 1. Now, gentlemen, silence for a song. The ’squire is going to KNOCK himself DOWN for a song.
1789. G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, 137. He was KNOCKED DOWN for the crap the last sessions—he went off at the fall of the leaf, at tuck’em fair.
1866. C. READE, Griffith Gaunt, x. They KNOCKED HIM DOWN for a song; and he sang a rather Anacreontic one very melodiously.
TO KNOCK DOWN FOR A SONG, etc., verb. phr. (colloquial).—To sell under intrinsic value.
TO KNOCK DOWN A CHEQUE (or PILE), verb. phr. (colonial).—To spend one’s savings lavishly; TO BLEW (q.v.).
1885. FINCH-HATTON, Advance Australia! xiv. A man with a cheque, or sum of money in his possession, hands it over to the publican, and calls for drinks for himself and his friends until the publican tells him he has drunk out his cheque.
TO KNOCK DOWN FARES, verb. phr. (American).—To pilfer fares: of conductors and guards. See KNOCK DOWN, sense 1.
TO KNOCK IT DOWN, verb. phr. (common).—To applaud by hammering or stamping.
TO KNOCK ONE DOWN TO, verb. phr. (American).—To introduce (to a person).
TO KNOCK IN, verb. phr. (Oxford University).—1. To return to college after GATE is closed.
1825. C. M. WESTMACOTT, The English Spy, I. 155. ‘Close the oak Jem,’ said Horace Eglantine, ‘and take care no one KNOCKS IN before we have knocked down the contents of your master’s musical mélange.’
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Brothers of Birchington’ (ed. 1862), p. 463.
| That same afternoon | |
| Father Dick, who, as soon | |
| Would ‘KNOCK IN’ or ‘cut chapel’ as jump o’er the moon, | |
| Was missing at vespers—at complines—all night! | |
| And his monks were, of course, in a deuce of a fright. |
1853. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, I. xi. At first, too, he was on such occasions greatly alarmed at finding the gates of Brazenface closed, obliging him thereby to ‘KNOCK-IN.’
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, p. 458 [ed. 1864]. There’s twelve striking. I must KNOCK IN. Good night. You’ll be round to breakfast at nine?
2. (gaming).—To take a hand at cards; TO CHIP IN (q.v.).
TO KNOCK INTO FITS (A COCKED HAT, THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK, etc.), verb. phr. (common).—To confound; TO FLOOR (q.v.); to punish severely. See COCKED HAT, BEAT and FITS.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 42. KNOCKS recit-ateeves INTO FITS.
TO KNOCK (or TAKE) IT OUT OF ONE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To exhaust; to empty; to punish severely.
1841. Punch, i. p. 265, col. 2. The uphill struggles … SOON KNOCK IT all OUT OF HIM.
TO KNOCK OFF, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To leave off work; to abandon. Fr. péter sur le mastic.
1662. FULLER, Worthies, x. [ed. Nichols, 1811]. In noting of their nativities, I have wholly observed the instructions of Pitæus, where I KNOCK OFF with his death, my light ending with his life on that subject.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. KNOCK OFF, to give over Trading; also to Abandon or Quit one’s Post or Pretensions.
1725. A New Canting Dictionary, s.v. KNOCK-OFF, to give over Thieving.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. KNOCK-OFF, to conclude.
1860. DICKENS, The Uncommercial Traveller, v. Jack had KNOCKED OFF work in the docks some hours.
1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 4 March. Iron ship builders and other employers will have to KNOCK OFF.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 10 Aug., p. 6, col. 1. Another half-pint when he KNOCKS OFF in the evening, and before he starts for home to his late tea.
1880. GREENWOOD, Genteel Slavery, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 30. With your leave or without, he must ‘KNOCK OFF’ at midday.
1884. W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, xvii. ‘Why, I heard that you had KNOCKED OFF the sea some years ago—come into an estate.’
2. (colloquial).—To dispatch with ease; to put out of hand.
1886. Westminster Review, cxxv. 292. He could KNOCK OFF a parody, a drinking song.
1891. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 6, col. 2. Here is a specimen of the ‘consumptive manner’ as KNOCKED OFF by Mr. Lang.
3. (colloquial).—To deduct; to ‘KNOCK so much OFF the price.’
4. (colloquial).—To die.
d. 1704. TOM BROWN, Works, iv. 183. Perverse People … that would not KNOCK OFF in any reasonable time, but liv’d long, on purpose to spite their Relations.
TO KNOCK ONE BANDY, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To astound; TO FLABBERGAST (q.v.).
TO KNOCK ON THE HEAD, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To frustrate; to spoil; to settle.
TO KNOCK OUT, verb. phr. (auctioneers’).—1. See KNOCK-OUT.
2. (racing).—To bet so persistently against a horse that from a short price he retires to an outside place: to drive out of the quotations.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 203. The concern would either remain for a time in shares or would be ‘KNOCKED OUT’ at once.
1883. Pall Mall Gazette, 16 April, p. 4, col. 1. Foxhall … was second favourite for some time, but he has now been KNOCKED OUT to comparatively long odds.
3. (common).—To make bankrupt: KNOCKED OUT = unable to meet engagements.
4. (pugilistic).—See subs. sense 4 and KNOCK OUT OF TIME.
1891. Daily Telegraph, 21 March. For the third time this year, they managed, after a drawn game, to KNOCK OUT the much fancied Sunderland team.
5. (Oxford University).—To leave college after hours: of out of college men only. See KNOCK IN and KNOCKING OUT.
1861. H. KINGSLEY, Ravenshoe, vii. Five out-college men had KNOCKED OUT at a quarter to three, refusing to give any name but the dean’s.
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, xlv. p. 503 [ed. 1864]. ‘Hullo!’ he said, getting up; ‘time for me to KNOCK OUT, or old Copas will be in bed.’
TO KNOCK OUT OF TIME, verb. phr. (pugilistic).—So to punish an opponent that he is not able to answer the call of ‘Time.’
1884. The Saturday Review, 16 Jan., p. 108, col. 1. A man of weak physique is apt to be KNOCKED OUT OF TIME by a more robust though less skilful adversary.
1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, col. 2. He had, in fact, almost played with Tom with the gloves, and once, at Jem Ward’s benefit, when both were a little bit pricked, had KNOCKED the Redditch man bang off his legs, and very nearly OUT OF TIME.
TO KNOCK THE SPOTS OFF (or OUT OF), verb. phr. (American).—To surpass; to confound; to thrash; to excel.
1887. F. FRANCIS, Jun., Saddle and Moccasin, viii. 152. She can KNOCK THE SPOTS OUT OF these boys at that game.
1888. Pall Mall Budget, 26 April, p. 5. An American gentleman has just sailed for Sydney TO KNOCK SPOTS OUT OF the rabbits.
TO KNOCK THE BOTTOM (STUFFING, WADDING, LINING, FILLING, or INSIDE) OUT OF, verb. phr. (common).—To confound; to surpass; TO FLOOR (q.v.); to thrash; to finish off.
1889. The Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 3, col. 1. ‘Hold hard—here he is. Good ev’ning, sir ’aven’t the pleasure of knowing you, but saw you KNOCK THE STUFFING OUT OF the ring to-day. Done well?’
1891. E. BELLAMY, Dr. Heidenhoff’s Process, p. 52. This cool ignoring of all that had happened that day in modifying their relations at one blow KNOCKED THE BOTTOM OUT of all his thinking for the past week.
TO KNOCK SMOKE OUT OF, verb. phr. (colonial).—To try; to vanquish utterly.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xi. You ought to have sense enough not to KNOCK SMOKE OUT OF fresh horses before we begin. Ibid. xxxix. A regiment or a man-of-war’s crew like him would KNOCK SMOKE OUT OF any other thousand men the world could put up.
TO KNOCK SAUCEPANS OUT OF, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To run amuck.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xxvi. ‘He’ll begin to KNOCK SAUCEPANS OUT OF all the boys between here and Weddin Mountain.
TO KNOCK OUT THE WEDGES, verb. phr. (American).—To desert; to leave in a difficulty.
TO KNOCK ROUND. See TO KNOCK ABOUT.
TO KNOCK UNDER, verb. phr. (old: now colloquial).—To yield; to give out; to confess defeat.
1668. DRYDEN, An Evening’s Love, v. KNOCK UNDER you Rogue, and confess me Conqueror.
1703. The Levellers, in Harleian Miscellany (ed. PARK), V. 447. Now, my dear, though I must acknowledge our sex to be extraordinary vicious, we will not KNOCK UNDER-BOARD to the men.
d. 1704. TOM BROWN, Works.
| He that flinches his Glass, and to drink is not able, | |
| Let him quarrel no more, but KNOCK UNDER the Table. |
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, i. 27.
| Who with Mortar and Cannon Mahon did take, | |
| And make the Pope KNOCK UNDER. |
c. 1730. RAMSAY, An Address of Thanks, in Wks. (1851), ii. 347.
| They will be forc’d to thumb your belt | |
| At last, and a’ KNOCK UNDER. |
1782. G. PARKER, Humorous Sketches, p. 164. When fame from ministers is flown, ’Tis time they should KNOCK UNDER.
1844. Puck, p. 82. Says mighty Dan to the Sassenach chain, I never will KNOCK UNDER.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, iii. 71. Several had tried it, but they had to KNOCK UNDER very soon.
1852. THACKERAY, Esmond, iii. 4. Colonel Esmond KNOCKED UNDER to his fate.
1866. The Argosy, No. 2, p. 191. So the Emperor of Austria has KNOCKED UNDER, and the Hungarian Diet has met for the first time for sixteen years. They have conquered by the force of passive resistance. It is the grandest thing since our Long Parliament.
1871. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. 223. The men are drove into being reg’lar devils by being constantly down upon by the blooming officers. Them as ’as any pluck in ’em turns savage, and them as ’asn’t they KNOCKS UNDER, as I did, and gets ill, and lots on ’em dies.
1872. Daily Telegraph, 29 Aug. Finally, he KNOCKED UNDER with an abjectness which made every true American blush from the tips of his hair to the soles of his boots.
TO KNOCK UP, verb. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—1. To gain a place in class: e.g., I KNOCKED UP and ‘I KNOCKED Jones UP.’ The Hertford equivalent is OX UP (q.v.).
2. (colloquial).—To achieve; to accomplish.
1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. With only 29 to win, White at his next attempt KNOCKED UP the necessary item.
3. (colloquial).—To put together hastily, as by nailing.
1852. DICKENS, Bleak House, xx. KNOCKING UP apologies for shelves.
4. (colloquial).—1. To exhaust or tire.
1771. SMOLLETT, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, L. 62. In passing the sands without a guide, his horse had KNOCKED UP; and he himself must have perished, if he had not been providentially relieved by a return post-chaise.
1814. AUSTEN, Mansfield Park, vii. If Fanny would be more regular in her exercise, she would not be KNOCKED UP so soon.
1843. DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit, xvii. p. 187. ‘I am quite KNOCKED UP. Dead beat, Mark.’
1867. All the Year Round, 13 July, 59. You had better go by train, and not run the risk of KNOCKING yourself UP again.
KNOCKED UP, phr. (American).—Pregnant.
TO GET THE KNOCK, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To drink; to get SCREWED (q.v.).
TO TAKE THE KNOCK, verb. phr. (turf).—To lose more to the bookmakers than one can pay; to be DEAD BROKE (q.v.).
1890. Globe, 21 April, p. 6, col. 1. Many a broken backer of horses who has TAKEN, what is known in the language of the turf, as THE KNOCK over the many fiascoes associated with this particular horse, etc.
TO BE KNOCKED OFF ONE’S PINS, verb. phr. (common).—To be FLABBERGASTED (q.v.).
1880. A. TROLLOPE, The Duke’s Children, ch. xlvii. He confessed to himself that he was completely ‘bowled over,’—‘KNOCKED OFF HIS PINS!’
THAT KNOCKS ME, phr. (common).—That confounds, or is too much for me.
TO BE KNOCKED INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK, verb. phr. (common).—To be astounded; to get badly beaten; ‘to be knocked into a COCKED HAT’ (q.v.).
1821. W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, ii. 4. Up comes these young sparks, and gave me such a maulagaran, that they KNOCK’D ME INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK—beside tipping me this here black eye—only see how red it is!
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, p. 334 [ed. 1857]. If Mr. Namby would have the goodness to put his hat on again, he would KNOCK IT INTO THE LATTER END OF NEXT WEEK.
1847. W. T. PORTER, ed., A Quarter Race in Kentucky, etc., p. 105. The next moment he was KNOCKED INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE NEXT THREE WEEKS!
1850. Southern and South-western Sketches, 31. Arch would fetch him er side wipe on the head, and KNOCK HIM INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.
