knock out
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
knock out (third-person singular simple present knocks out, present participle knocking out, simple past and past participle knocked out)
- To strike or render unconscious
- (transitive) To strike or bump (someone or something) out.
- I accidentally knocked out the glass in my picture frame.
- (transitive, idiomatic) To render unconscious, as by a blow to the head.
- The boxer knocked out his opponent in the third round.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
- (transitive, informal, idiomatic) To put to sleep.
- The allergy pill knocked him out for a good three hours.
- (intransitive, informal, idiomatic) To fall asleep, especially suddenly.
- 2014, D. G. Driver, Cry of the Sea, page 61:
- That's a put-you-straight-to-sleep book if there ever was one, and I knocked right out after two paragraphs.
- (transitive, informal, idiomatic) To exhaust.
- Running errands all day really knocked him out.
- (transitive, informal, idiomatic) To impress, surpass or overwhelm (someone).
- (transitive, slang) To defeat or kill (someone).
- (transitive, idiomatic) To cause a mechanism to become non-functional by damaging or destroying it.
- The antitank gun knocked out the enemy tank.
- (transitive) To eliminate from a contest or similar.
- 1980, InfoWorld, volume 2, number 20:
- As they were approaching bankruptcy from being knocked out of the calculator market, they began development on the first commercially available microcomputer, the Altair.
- 2011 December 15, Marc Higginson, “Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport:
- Tottenham were knocked out of the Europa League, despite a comfortable victory over Shamrock Rovers in Dublin.
- (transitive) To strike or bump (someone or something) out.
- (transitive) To communicate (a message) by knocking.
- The prisoner knocked out a message on the wall for the prisoner in the adjoining cell.
- (transitive, informal) To complete, especially in haste; knock off.
- They knocked out the entire project in one night.
- To lose the scent of hounds in fox-hunting.
- (obsolete, Oxford University slang) To leave college after hours—after half-past ten at night when the doors have been locked.
- 1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1883, page 503:
- "Hullo!" he said, getting up; "time for me to knock out, or old Copas will be in bed. […] "
- (transitive, Australia) To obtain or earn (something, often money or food).
- (transitive, slang, UK) To sell.
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Translations
to strike or bump something out
to render someone unconscious, as by a blow to the head
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to put to sleep — see also put to sleep
to fall asleep, especially suddenly — see also fall asleep
to exhaust — see exhaust
to complete, especially in haste — see also knock off
to cause a mechanism to become non-functional by damaging or destroying it
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to communicate (a message) by knocking
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to lose the scent of hounds in fox-hunting
See also
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