knock off
verbEtymology In the verb sense of stopping work, said to be from the practice aboard slave galleys to have a man beat time for the rowers by knocking on a block or drum; when he stopped, the rowers could rest.
10 senses
1
Ambitransitive, Slang To halt one's work or other activity.
- I think I'll knock off for the evening and go to bed.
- As a matter of fact, I'm only waiting for my mate to knock off for breakfast.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
1 more example
- Remember that this news was brought by the last steamer. That explains the stoppage of all communication, and the arrival of no more ships. We knocked off work a few days ago, and we're just waiting to see when things are to start afresh.c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 2:
2
Slang To kill.
- The mobsters hired the guy to knock off their enemies.
- "The point is, Michael has tried to get some research going into a method of knocking off triffids scientifically. That has to be found if we are going to get anywhere at all."1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 258:
4
To remove, as a discount or estimate.
- They agreed to knock off 20% of the price.
5
Slang To rob.
- They decided to knock off a liquor store downtown.
6
To make a copy of, as of a design.
- They send people to the shows in Milan for "ideas", which means knocking off the designs they guess would sell.
- Whipping up a healthy breakfast has never been easier. Neither has knocking off your fave Starbucks snack either, thanks to this TikTok-approved egg bite maker.2024 October 8, Lauren Gruber, Megan Uy, “We Found Sooo Many Viral TikTok Items on Sale for October Prime Day”, in Cosmopolitan:
7
To assign (an item) to a bidder at an auction, indicated by knocking on the counter.
- I took her down to Basin Street and to a movie, then took her to my room and knocked her off.1965, Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land:
9
Informal To accomplish hastily.
- I knocked off a couple of quick sketches before the design meeting.
10
To remove (something or someone) by hitting.
- He was knocked off his bike.
- It now appears that the locomotive did not blow up, as was commonly stated at the time, but that the aeroplane flew so low as to come into contact with the dome of the engine, knocking it off. It was the combination of the impact and the uprush of steam that so disturbed the equilibrium of the raider as to cause it to crash.1943 May and June, “Notes and News: Effective Locomotive "Ack-Ack" Fire”, in Railway Magazine, page 180:
- Derived terms
- knockoff, knock off someone's socks, knock someone off his perch, knock someone's block off
- Related terms
- bump off, knock down, knock it off, knock one's socks off, knock over