knock

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knock

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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”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɑk/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɒk
• Homophone: nock

knock (countable and uncountable, plural knocks)

1. An abrupt rapping sound, as from an impact of a hard object against wood.
   • 1976, Ashford & Simpson, “It Came To Me”, in Come As You Are:

     It came to me, like a knock on the door / Erasing all that had gone before / Broken wings can be mended / But this love of ours, we've got to defend it

2. A sharp impact.

   He took a knock on the head.

3. (figuratively, informal) A criticism.
   • 2012 November 15, Tom Lamont, The Daily Telegraph‎:

     Since forming in 2007 Mumford & Sons have hard-toured their way to a vast market for throaty folk that's strong on banjo and bass drum. They have released two enormous albums. But, wow, do they take some knocks back home.

4. (figuratively, informal) A blow or setback.
   • 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

     "Come on!" cried Mr. Beaver, who was almost dancing with delight. "Come and see! This is a nasty knock for the Witch! It looks as if her power was already crumbling."

5. (automotive, uncountable) Preignition, a type of abnormal combustion occurring in spark ignition engines caused by self-ignition; also, the characteristic knocking sound associated with it.
6. (cricket, slang) A batsman's innings.

   He had a good knock and scored well.

7. (baseball) A ball hit into play, especially one that becomes a hit.

   He played a slow but sure knock of 35.

8. (cycling, uncountable) Synonym of hunger knock.

knock (third-person singular simple present knocks, present participle knocking, simple past and past participle knocked)

1. (intransitive) To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.

   Knock on the door and find out if they’re home.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: , London: Nath Ponder , →OCLC, page 3:

     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.

2. (transitive, dated) To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door.
   • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Master, knock the door hard.

3. (transitive, colloquial, originally US) To criticize verbally; to denigrate; to undervalue.

   Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

   • 1910, O. Henry , “The Thing's the Play”, in Strictly Business‎:

     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.

   • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 148:

     A Judge must be respected, / A Judge you mustn't knock / Or else you'll be detected / And shoved into the dock.

   • 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books, published 2014, page 386:

     “And what do you care when some folks start knocking you? It’s a sign you getting some place.”

   • 1980 November 27, “Inclusive”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The pious have sometimes knocked the day for its laughter, its late sleeping, its overeating.

4. (transitive, soccer) To kick a ball towards another player; to pass.
5. (transitive, baseball) To hit a ball into play.
   • 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport‎:

     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.

6. (transitive, British, slang, dated) To impress forcibly or strongly; to astonish; to move to admiration or applause.
7. (ambitransitive, dated) To bump or impact.

   I knocked against the table and bruised my leg.

   I accidentally knocked my drink off the bar.

   • 1900 May 17, L Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo M Hill Co., →OCLC:

     "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."

8. (transitive, slang) To have sex with.

   Synonyms: knock off; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

9. (transitive, slang) To prosecute under the law; to arrest, imprison, etc.
   • 2006, Noire , Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 134:

     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.

10. (intransitive, card games, rummy) To end play by declaring one's hand to have under a certain amount of deadwood.

• “knock v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• (1785) “Knock”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London: S. Hooper, , →OCLC: “to knock a woman, to have carnal knowledge of her”

knock

1. alternative form of knaugh

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) “THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD.”, in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of lreland (Sixth Series)‎, volume 17, number 2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 136