knock
verbEtymology From Middle English knokken, from Old English cnocian, ġecnocian, ġecnucian, cnucian (“to knock, pound on, beat”), from Proto-West Germanic *knokōn, from Proto-Germanic *knukōną (“to knock”), a suffixed form of *knu-, *knew- (“to pound on, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew-, *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up, concentrate”). The English word is cognate with Middle High German knochen (“to hit”), Old English cnuian, cnuwian (“to pound, knock”), Old Norse knoka (compare Danish knuge (“to squeeze”), Swedish knocka (“to hug”)). More at knuckle.
10 senses
- 1To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.
- 2To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door.
- 3To criticize verbally; to denigrate; to undervalue.
- 4To kick a ball towards another player; to pass.
- 5To hit a ball into play.
- 6To impress forcibly or strongly; to astonish; to move to…
- 7To bump or impact.
- 8To have sex with.
- 9To prosecute under the law; to arrest, imprison, etc.
- 10To end play by declaring one's hand to have under a…
1
To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.
- Knock on the door and find out if they’re home.
- Then ſaid Evangeliſt, Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto: ſo ſhalt thou ſee the Gate; at which, when thou knockeſt, it ſhall be told thee what thou ſhalt do.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 3:
2
Dated To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door.
- Master, knock the door hard.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
3
Colloquial To criticize verbally; to denigrate; to undervalue.
- Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
- And my friend, the reporter, could see nothing funny in this! Sent out on an assignment to write up a roaring, hilarious, brilliant joshing story of—but I will not knock a brother—let us go on with the story.1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Thing’s the Play”, in Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:
4 more examples
- A Judge must be respected, / A Judge you mustn't knock / Or else you'll be detected / And shoved into the dock.1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 148:
- “And what do you care when some folks start knocking you? It’s a sign you getting some place.”1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books, published 2014, page 386:
- The pious have sometimes knocked the day [Thanksgiving] for its laughter, its late sleeping, its overeating.1980 November 27, “Inclusive”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- If you try to knock me, you'll get mocked / I'll stir-fry you in my wok1998, “Intergalactic”, performed by Beastie Boys:
4
Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Soccer, Sports To kick a ball towards another player; to pass.
5
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To hit a ball into play.
- Despite enjoying more than their fair share of possession the visitors did not look like creating anything, with their lack of a killer ball painfully obvious as they harmlessly knocked the ball around outside the home side's box without ever looking like they would hurt them.2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport:
7
Ambitransitive, Dated To bump or impact.
- I knocked against the table and bruised my leg.
- I accidentally knocked my drink off the bar.
1 more example
- "The Silver Shoes," said the Good Witch, "have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
8
Slang To have sex with.
9
Slang To prosecute under the law; to arrest, imprison, etc.
- The cops had busted us for selling hot designer bags up on Utica Avenue for some cat who figured we was too young to get knocked if we got caught, but two fat white po-pos said fuck how young we was, and threw us in a cell for damn near three days until they could contact Noojie to come get us out.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 134:
10
Card games, Games To end play by declaring one's hand to have under a certain amount of deadwood.
- Derived terms
89 terms
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