knocker-upper
nounEtymology By a regular pattern for (informal) nouns seen also in similar forms, such as fixer-upper and cleaner-upper; the sire sense involves an extra degree of wordplay, as an alternative surface analysis of knock (h)er up + -er is playfully apparent (who knocked 'er up?).
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Alternative Alternative form of knocker-up (person who knocks to awaken in the morning).
- In 1876, a knocker-upper on rounds in Bradford spotted a 2 a.m. house fire and saved a sleeping family.2026 March 13, Ellsworth Toohey, “The long history of waking people up before alarm clocks”, in BoingBoing, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2026:
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In coopering .
A tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole