knock for a loop

verb

knock for a loop

verb

1

Idiomatic To astonish; to stagger or overwhelm; to confuse or disorient.

[Denham answered] "Gas bombs, Old Man! My own prescription. […] Gas bombs powerful enough to knock a row of elephants for a loop."1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 7:
[A] triple threat to the U.S. economy[…]has knocked stock prices for a loop.1967 November 17, “Wall Street: Big Casino”, in Time, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2014:

2 more examples

Poor Janice, she'll be knocked for a loop. She'll feel she's let her father down.1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest, →ISBN, page 394:
Karyn McNay as Ulla, the sexy Swedish actress/receptionist/cleaning woman, knocks the audience for a loop too.2008 September 7, Anita Gates, “Stage: Dinner and a Show, in One Spot, at One Price”, in The New York Times, retrieved 02 Aug 2014:

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