engine knock

noun

engine knock

noun

a rattling, pinging, or tapping sound caused by improper combustion, where the air-fuel mixture ignites spontaneously in the cylinders before the spark plug fires, or in multiple spots simultaneously

Once leaded fuel solved the problem of engine knock, cars quickly displaced horses and motorised transportation took over the world.2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.