knock
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /nɒk/
ipa: /nɑk/
rhymes: -ɒk
homophone: nock
Forms: form: knocks
form: knocking
form: knocked
form: knocked
Etymology: From Middle English knokken, from Old English cnocian, ġecnocian, 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”)).
Senses: examples: text: Knock on the door and find out if they’re home.
text: 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.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 3:
glosses: To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.
examples: text: Master, knock the door hard.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door.
examples: text: Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
text: 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.
ref: 1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Thing's the Play”, in Strictly Business:
text: A Judge must be respected, / A Judge you mustn't knock / Or else you'll be detected / And shoved into the dock.
ref: 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 148:
text: “And what do you care when some folks start knocking you? It’s a sign you getting some place.”
ref: 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books, published 2014, page 386:
text: The pious have sometimes knocked the day [Thanksgiving] for its laughter, its late sleeping, its overeating.
ref: 1980 November 27, “Inclusive”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
text: If you try to knock me, you'll get mocked / I'll stir-fry you in my wok
ref: 1998, “Intergalactic”, performed by Beastie Boys:
glosses: To criticize verbally; to denigrate; to undervalue.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: To kick a ball towards another player; to pass.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport:
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To hit a ball into play.
glosses: To impress forcibly or strongly; to astonish; to move to admiration or applause.
examples: text: I knocked against the table and bruised my leg.
text: I accidentally knocked my drink off the bar.
text: "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."
ref: 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:
glosses: To bump or impact.
synonyms: word: knock off
word: Formal terms
word: bed
word: coit
word: coitize
word: dight
word: enjoy
word: feague
word: go in unto
word: go to bed with
word: have
word: know
word: lie by
word: lie with
word: love
word: mount
word: occupy
word: penetrate
word: season
word: seduce
word: sleep with
word: take
word: Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with"
word: Informal and slang terms
word: ball
word: bang
word: bauf
word: beep
word: be with
word: bone
word: boff
word: boink
word: bonk
word: boom-boom
word: dick
word: diddle
word: dig out
word: do
word: doink
word: drill
word: eff
word: expletive deleted
word: feck
word: fill
word: frack
word: frak
word: frick
word: frig
word: fuck
word: get into someone's pants
word: get over on
word: get up in
word: give someone one
word: give someone the time
word: go with
word: have one's way with
word: have one's wicked way with
word: hit
word: hump
word: jape
word: jump
word: jump someone's bones
word: knob
word: knock
word: knock off
word: know someone in the biblical sense
word: lay
word: love up
word: make
word: nail
word: plough
word: plug
word: poke
word: pork
word: pound
word: prig
word: pump
word: ream
word: rock
word: roger
word: root
word: run through
word: rut
word: sard
word: schlong
word: screw
word: see to
word: service
word: shaft
word: shag
word: shelve
word: slay
word: slip it to
word: smash
word: smush
word: stallionize
word: swive
word: tap
word: tup
word: wap
glosses: To have sex with.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 134:
glosses: To prosecute under the law; to arrest, imprison, etc.
topics: card-games
games
qualifier: rummy
glosses: To end play by declaring one's hand to have under a certain amount of deadwood.
Derived terms: come knocking
don't knock it till you've tried it
don't knock yourself out
doorknock
knock about
knock a buzzard off a gut wagon
knock a buzzard off a shit wagon
knock a dog off a gut wagon
knock-and-announce
knock and run
knock around
knock a skunk off a gut wagon
knock at the door
knock at the door of
knock back
knock boots
knock dead
knock down
knockdown
knock down a notch
knock down a peg
knock down ginger
knock down to size
knocked up
knock-'em-downs
knocker
knockers
knocker up
knock for a loop
knock in
knockingly
knocking shop
knock into
knock into a cocked hat
knock into shape
knock it off
knock it out of the ballpark
knock it out of the park
knock knock joke
knock-me-down
knock off
knockoff
knock off someone's block
knock on
knock one out
knock one out of the ball park
knock one out of the ballpark
knock one out of the park
knock oneself out
knock on heaven's door
knock on the door of
knock on the head
knock on wood
knock out
knockout
knock out of the box
knock over
knock round
knock sideways
knock somebody's socks off
knock someone's socks off
knock someone down with a feather
knock someone flat
knock someone for six
knock someone into the middle of next week
knock someone off their perch
knock someone over with a feather
knock someone's block off
knock someone's head off
knock someone's lights out
knock some sense into
knock the ball out of the park
knock the corners off
knock the daylight out of
knock the daylights out of
knock the living daylights out of
knock the persimmon
knock the stuffing out of
knock the wind out of someone's sails
knock together
knock under
knock up
knock wood
knocky
port knocking
unknocked
unknocking