Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to amaze, to shock, to ‘knock sideways’.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(US) to knock senseless.

1889		‘Mark Twain’ Connecticut Yankee 432: The blow came crashing down and knocked him all to rags.
1932		Western Morn. News 9 Mar. 6/5: A doggerel ran: Polperro bulldogs, Lanreath brags, Purty little Plynters ’ll knock ’em all to rags.

(Aus.) to berate.

1906

E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 165: ‘He has a good, frugal, little wife.’ ‘Who knocks cats out iv him iv he spits in the fender.’.

1. to knock unconscious, to wipe out.

1863		Army Police Record in Annals of the Army of the Cumberland 606: We will knock those cities cold as a wedge.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 304: dead, adj. Unconscious, senseless. ‘He was knocked dead for a few minutes.’.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 41: If th’ policeman is square and it looks like an arrest, th’ gang cuts in with their black-jacks and knocks th’ copper and th’ challenger cold.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘No Business’ in Taking the Count 155: I suppose I should stay in there and be knocked dead!
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 135: His knees buckle under him, and the great big stiff slides under the lower rope to the floor, cold as a shark’s eye. [Ibid.] 39: I knock him so cold his name could of been Battling Zero instead of Frankie Johnson, which it was.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 82: What the hell can I do, anyway? I can’t knock him cold.
1929		(con. WWI) H. Odum Wings on My Feet 127: One of funniest sights [...] wus little black boy ’bout five feet high knockin’ big black boy over six feet tall cold as monkey-wrench.
1935		E. Hemingway letter 4 June in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 414: Would it interest you to know that I knocked cold after cutting up badly one Joe Knapp.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 26: You low-down offal! Why, for two pins I’d knock you so cold, you’d fink you was the North Pole.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 42: As far as I can figure out, I was knocked cold, lay there on the ground a few minutes, then came around.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 66: I was always angling for schemes — like this middleweight who’s knocking ’em dead in the gym.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 103: When they were sure nobody could see, Patterson knocked him cold with his blackjack.

2. (also kill dead) to astound, to amaze.

1859		H. Kingsley Recollections of G. Hamlyn (1891) 63: Mary struck the old lady dumb – ‘knocked her cold,’ our American cousins would say – by announcing that she considered Lady Emily to be a fool.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 91: Here’s somethin’ that’ll knock you cold.
1909		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 52: I’ll knock em dead with this layout.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Carmen’ in Gullible’s Travels 22: ‘I’ll stick all right,’ says Bill. ‘They’s a Jane in your party that’s knocked me dead.’.
1917		Wodehouse ‘Extricating Young Gussie’ in Man with Two Left Feet 33: She was knocking them cold at the Tivoli in a double act called ‘Fun in a Tea-Shop’.
1921		S.H. Adams Success 242: She killed ’em dead in London in romantic comedy.
1925		G.S. Schuyler Yellow Peril in Hatch & Hamalian Lost Plays of Harlem Renaissance (1996) 51: If that darky just brings that fur coat, I’ll knock ’em dead. Put on airs with me, will they? I’ll make all the dickties look like ragbags.
1928		M. West Pleasure Man (1997) II i: Good luck – knock them cold.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 195: You’ll knock ’em dead, kid.
1932		J. Dixon Free To Love 182: Some drama! It knocked him cold.
1933		C.G. Booth ‘Stag Party’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2006) 93: A legend under one of [the photos] said Mabel Leclair. She Knocked ’Em Cold on Broadway.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 89: Next season we’ll be knocking them dead.
1944		C. Himes ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 38: Knockin’ the natives cold in my forty-inch frock and my cream colored drapes.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 61: I had more or less expected it to knock him cold.
1951		Green & Laurie Show Biz from Vaude to Video 8: ‘Great American Artists’ were knocking them dead in London in those pre-1913 days.
1953		J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 69: You’re considered [...] a guy who knocks ’em cold.
1956		‘Hal Ellson’ ‘Cool Cat’ in Tell Them Nothing (1956) 96: I’m knocked dead on that, cause it’s a lie.
1960		Mad mag. Mar. 7: You’ll knock ’em dead.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 269: Knock em dead, Honey.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 10: In the 1960s I was knocking ’em dead.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 273: He dreamed of Thursday night at the rink, when he’d show up in his new skating silks and knock em dead.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Culture 24 Oct. 4: The Terminator knocks ’em dead.
2000		Indep. Rev. 10 Feb. 12: The quirky, knock ’em dead showstopper.

3. to complete or dispose of something easily or quickly.

1898		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 24 Dec. 1/5: We reeled it off [...] fit to kill, by b’m by that Buffer, he came an’ just knocked me cold.
1927		(con. 1917–18) J.M. Saunders Wings (1928) 71: ‘Going to knock it cold, eh?’ he saluted Johnny.

see under cuckoo adj.

to astound, to astonish, to shock profoundly, to overturn.

[1870		Liverpool Mercury 20 Jan. 3/7: The engines [...] were knocked endways and made a complete wreck].
1876		Pet-stock, Pigeon, and Poultry Bulletin 7 106/1: Should this resolution be generally adopted, if it does not knock endways the price of exhibition birds, we are no prophet.
1880		J.M. Bailey Danbury Boom! 113: Then the afflicted finger would descend until it displaced the thread with itself, and this would immediately knock endways all the hilarity.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Aug. 13/1: At a meeting of the Collins-street (Melb.) Baptist Church Temperance Society, the Rev. Bunning knocked the liquor-traffic endways in one try.
1894		Freeman’s Jrnl 28 Sept. 6/1: The Japanese will knock China endways.
1906		Gadfly (Adelaide) 21 Feb. 10/1: People who like to be knocked endwise with amazement should go along to Rickards’ Tivoli Theatre.
1912		Van Loan ‘Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 27: If I leave Dud in there they’ll just about knock him endways.
1915		H.E. Rollins ‘A West Texas Word List’ in DN IV:iii 228: sky-wise and crooked, adv. phr. Dumbfounded, extremely startling. ‘It knocked me sky-wise and crooked.’.
1923		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 8 Feb. 4/4: His Majesty’s gags will come like a bolt from the blue and knock them endways.
1930		K.S. Prichard Haxby’s Circus 58: Dan threw out his hands choked and abashed. ‘This has knocked me endways, Doctor.’.
1941		Dundee Courier 11 Jan. 6/2: You’ve been through something to-day that would knock a man ednways.
1950		Dundee Courier 17 Feb. 5/7: He and all the other farmers were knocked endways by the repeal.
2001		G. MacCreagh White Waters and Black 9: Sufficient to knock endways anything in all the Americas, no matter where one hits it.

see knock out v. (2f)

to destroy.

1967		Times 11 Sept. 24: It knocked our profits for a burton.
2012		J. Dew Ride in the Neon Sun [ebook] Tis whole Parisian effect was knocked for a burton when I spotted their footwear.

1. to astound, to astonish, to devastate; also throw for a loop under loop n.²

1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 43: [T]hem shines is standin’ around on the pave [...] tellin’ everybody who'll listen to ’em how they knocked ’em in a fit.
1920		T. Thursday ‘Score Another One for Barnum’ in Argosy All-Story 11 Sept. 🌐 He [...] owned a face that would have knocked a movie leading man for a two-bagger or a triple to center.
1923		(con. 1917–18) T. Boyd Through the Wheat 122: We knocked ’em for a gool, a cock-eyed gool.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 177: I’ll say this cocktail sure does knock you for a loop.
1927		(con. 1914–18) L. Nason Three Lights from a Match 166: They’ll knock you for a loop. [Ibid.] 305: The dump was in that trench that the barrage knocked for a goal.
1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 16: One more peep outa you and I’ll knock you for a goal—get that?
1927		K. Nicholson Barker I ii: He’d knock me for a ghoul.
1928		R. Fisher Walls Of Jericho 31: Hit a guy crossin’ the speedway – knocked him f’ a gool, the dumbbell.
1929		H.C. Witwer Yes Man’s Land 17: That Fay’s knocked me for a trip and I’m goin’ to put her across—and maybe me, too!
1930		J.T. Farrell ‘Curbstone Philosophy’ in Short Stories (1937) 218: We piles in and we knocks de eight-ball for a goal and gives him de royal clouts.
1934		J.M. Cain Postman Always Rings Twice (1985) 19: Swell. That’ll knock them for a loop.
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 15: A pair of pink quilted satin mules that woulda knocked a bachelor for the home run.
1949		I. Shulman Cry Tough! 109: Joyce [...] you’ve knocked Mitch for a loop.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 23: That—even from Trammel—had knocked me for a loop.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 110: It knocked his faith in woman for a loop.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 165: Man, that wine sure knocks me for a dingdong.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 149: Knocked for a loop Astonished.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 2: I bet you will be knocked for a Loop [...] to hear from a H.S. class-mate after all these many years.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 54: I had received a bombshell [...] that frankly knocked me for a loop during much of my adolescence.
2001		CoalRegion.com 🌐 Boilo – Traditional Yuletide drink of the Coal Region [...] Boilo is traditionally made during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday. It’s great on those cold winter nights. Beware, this can knock you for a loop! Cheers!

2. (US) to beat up, to knock out.

1955

B. Appel Tough Guy [ebook] Luzzi’d been knocked for a loop in the hallway of his own house; Brennan was in a hospital, his face smashed in.

1. to hit or knock someone senseless.

1918		in Elmer W. Sherwood Diary 159: If you had guts enough to take them stripes off I’d knock you for a row of Latrines.
1919		A. Baer Two and Three 20 Jan. [synd. col.] The Bullsheviki knocked the Czar for a row of adobe huts.
1920		R. Lardner Big Town 178: He could knock you for a row of flat tires. [Ibid.] 190: And another Romance was knocked for a row of sour apple trees.
1920		A. Baer Putting ’Em Over 1 Sept. [synd. col.] After having knocked the Reds for a row of tent pegs [etc].
1922		E. Hemingway letter 20 Mar. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 865: Some day I will get careless and he will knock me for a row of latrines.
1922		T. Thursday ‘Art for Artie’ in Argosy All-Story 30 Dec. 🌐 In the lecture no one got knocked for a row of stars.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 193: The customers shriek for me to knock him for a row of silos. [Ibid.] 354: Jessica [...] knocked Lil Arthur for a row of Mongolian whipped cream containers.
1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 55: K.O. Macbeth knocks the champion of Scotland for a row of ash cans and thus the fortune teller’s dope looks to be the goods. [Ibid.] 73: I figure I’ll knock this guy for a row of Portuguese flower pots without no trouble. [Ibid.] 96: Dan Glars has knocked Wall Street for a row of shanties and has $2.50 for every egg in a shad roe.
1929		Edgar Wheelan Don. K. Haughty [comic strip] Let’s knock this goofy guy for a row of ashcans.
1929		S.J. Perelman Dawn Ginsbergh’s Revenge 21: G’wan, I’ll knock you for a row of red-headed Riffians!
1941		Dly Record (Glasgow) 10 Dec. 5/4: They’ll knock the Japs for a row of ornamental ash-cans.
1949		J. Archibald ‘State Penmanship’ Popular Detective Jan. 🌐 Willie Klump uncoiled and then leaped at Hake and knocked him for a row of cancelled checks.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 31: Give them a cloudy day next Saturday and they could bowl Grammar for a row of ashcans.

2. (also knock for a row) to impress or amaze.

1930		K. Brush Young Man of Manhattan 128: You certainly knocked him for a row of tall red totem poles.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 283: I’ll be knocking you guys for a row with tongue-twisters and the things I know.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 123: knock for a row of shitcans Guaranteed to impress.

see under hell n.

1. (Aus.) to kill, to stun.

1888		S. Aus. Register 13 Nov. 6/4: Nonsense — you've been under our fire for a good hour. You've sunk, knocked rotten; it's all over with you.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 31: knocked rotten, killed or stunned.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 120: The development of an extensive vocabulary of fighting terms [...] knock rotten, roll into, vacuum.

2. (Aus. prison) to depress.

1984

B. Ellem Doing Time 49: Or there might be photos of your family and they’ll be showing them to other officers, other prisoners. That knocks you rotten.

1. to attack aggressively.

[1836		Littell’s Sat. Mag. 1-2 56/1: Who was equal to myself in clearing a fair-green, or knocking saucepans out of a market!].
1844		D. Corcoran (ed.) Pickings from the [...] N.O. Picayune 42: Her own Rory, who’d knock saucepans out of any spalpeen that ’ud say black is the white of her eye.
1851		W. Kelly Excursion ot California 255: There’s never a pair of pistol-shinned Yankees [that] I wouldn1t knock saucepans out of.
1855		Bell’s Life in Sydney 24 Feb. 3/1: Had a man of such stalwart proportions really committed so violent an assault as that described by the brothers, he would infallibly have ‘knocked saucepans’ ont of them.
1862		R.McGhee How We Got to Pekin 350: If you don’t bring lots of ‘suiah’, that is plenty of water [...] I’ll just knock saucepans out of you, that’s all.
1871		Shamrock 7 Jan. 210/1: ‘I’ll knock saucepans out of her,’ exclaimed the fishwoman, throwing down her basket.
1886		Washington Standard (Olympia, WA) 30 June 6/2: ‘The thievin’ vagabond! where is he? till I knock saucepans out of him’.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (2006) 100: You ought to have sense enough not to knock smoke out of fresh horses before we begin.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 201: Sir Ferdinand Morringer’s come up now [...] He’ll begin to knock saucepans out of all the boys between here and Weddin Mountain.
1893		Pall Mall Gaz. I 102: She said she’d knock saucepans out of her for thryin' to do her that bad turn.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 14 Apr. 3/6: This enactment was to regenerate Society generally and knock saucepans out of Creation.
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Oct. 15/1: Just come outside, my gentleman, / And then, by all that’s blue, / I’ll show these fellows how I can / Knock saucepans out of you!
1966		F. Cusack Aus. Christmas 204: A tall lunatic in a white hat says if I don’t ‘go it once more, he’ll knock saucepans out of me’.

2. to overcome completely.

1951

D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 50: I’d knocked saucepans out of a few kids. [Ibid.] 51: I wouldn’t have swopped places with a duke when I knocked smoke out of him.

see under bell n.¹

see knock endways

(Aus.) to beat thoroughly.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Aug. 31/2: ‘I’d give an ’onest fiver ter see Bill turn round an’ knock slops out o’ that old dog,’ he said.

to astound, to stun with a blow.

1891		Graphic 10 Oct. 15/2: I can knock old Stanley bandy, oh!
1898		W.T. Goodge ‘Daley’s Dorg Wattle’ in Bulletin 16 July 3: But I know a dorg that simply knocked ’em bandy.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Nov. 32/1: How his int’rest in nat’ral hist’ry kep’ up in spite o’ the stink o’ them specimens useter knock me bandy.
1908		E.S. Sorenson Quinton’s Rouseabout and other Stories 88: Joe was reg’lar knocked bandy. Most men would ’ave shied clear off her after the dam racket; but Noel wasn’t built that way. He was dead nuts on Joe, an’ didn’t mind goin’ through a little fire an’ water for ’er.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 200: If I hear you slinging off at her again, I’ll knock you bandy, honest to goodness I will!
2008		C. Kray Me and My Brothers 2: Hearing the dreaded word ‘cancer’ knocked me bandy.

see under block n.¹

see knock someone’s dick in the dirt under dick n.¹

see under eye n.

see under hat n.

see under sick adj.¹

see under silly adj.

see under stiff adj.

1. to punish violently.

2000

Kildare Nationalist 13 Oct. 🌐 Her sharp wit, her readiness to knock the corners off any of us who might have ideas above our station, her delightful good humour and youthful outlook all belied the fact that retirement was imminent.

2. to civilize someone.

1963		S. Woodward Paper Tiger (2007) 51: He was one of a group of redoubtable old boys who attempted to knock the corners off the Amherst youth of that era.
2000		T. Gitlin Inside Prime Time 326: It isn’t only with higher culture that cable is planning to ‘knock the corners off’ the network audience.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 123: knock/trim the corners off Refine crude aspects of someone’s character or behaviour [...] Early C20.
2007		C. Toldy Desert Skies 133: He needs a father to knock the corners off him and whip him into shape.

see under crap n.¹

see under dick n.¹

see under ears n.

(US) to deal a heavy blow to, to beat up, to defeat.

1834		W.A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. I 21: And as sure as you saw the fire at the muzzle of his gun, so sure he knocked the creter’s hind sights out.
1848		G.F. Ruxton Life in the Far West (1849) 4: Old St Vrain could knock the hind-sight off him though, when it came to shootin’.
1853		F.A. Durivage Life Scenes 43: It goes agin my grit for Hardscrabble to cave in to Dogtown, when we could knock the hindsights off ’em, if we only had a mind to.
1871		E. Eggleston Hoosier School-Master (1892) 121: Ef it’s rendered right, it’ll knock the hind sights off of any rheumatiz you ever see.
1892		cited in AS (1928) 346: The American producer, whether on the farm or in the shop, can knock the hindsights off the producer anywhere else on the face of the earth.
1903		F. Benton Cowboy Life on The Sidetrack 46: I reckon she could just knock the hind sights off anybody when it came to singing.
1950		in PADS [DARE].
c.1960		Wilson Collection n.p.: ‘Knock his hindsights out’ ... Heavy blow on the head [DARE].

see under jive n.¹

see under daylights n.

see under piss n.

see under shit n.

1. (also kick the socks off) to defeat comprehensively; note ad hoc var. at cit. 1987.

1859		Ohio Cultivator 15 May 159/2: Ellen may knock the socks off with her yeast bread; but for the taste of some, she would have to put them on again.
1864		Harper’s Mag. Feb. 427/1: The good-natured people spoke with admiration of his flights of eloquence, and predicted that when he took his seat in the House he would ‘knock the socks’ from some who had more reputation than he .
1874		J.H. Carter ‘Jim Kane’ in Log of Commodore Rollingpin 187: I reckon that quadruped [...] Would knock the socks off anything you’ve seen.
1883		G.W. Peck Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 159: I went [...] and got an Irish boy by the name of Duffy, who can knock the socks off any boy in the ward.
1886		Hartlepool Mail 16 Dec. 4/2: I have something in here that will knock the socks off anything in this country [...] he carried a little tin box, labelled ‘Excelsior Corn and Bunion Eradicator’.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 3 Aug. 6/4: As long as they don’t [...] get him down and kick the socks off him.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 16 Aug. 7/4: Some of the amateurs who think they can knock the socks off the whole creation should have a quiet peg at Mr. George Walker.
1896		P.L. Dunbar ‘A Banjo Song’ in Lyrics of Lowly Life 44: An’ I feel dat I could sorter / Knock de socks clean off o’ sin / Ez I hyeah my po’ ol’ granny / Wif huh tremblin’ voice jine in.
1905		J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 85: knock the socks off, v. phr. To punish comprehensively.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘Easy Picking’ in Taking the Count 304: We got a kid here that can knock the socks off any lightweight.
1927		C. Woofter ‘Dialect Words and Phrases from West-Central West Virginia’ in AS II:8 359: Mr. Peters got the socks knocked off’n him in the last election.
1939		L.M. Limpus Honest Cop 95: ‘Al [Smith] is bound to go along with Tammany. He’ll lick the socks off Hylan in a primary fight’.
1987		(con. 1930s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 213: He’d sing the trousers off any a’ them.
1991		Atlanta Constitution (GA) 23 May D11/2: Ms Sarandon steams the socks off minor-league catcher Kevin Costner.
1999		Guardian G2 30 June 3: A salary to knock the socks off other public servant pay packages.
1999		P. Temple Black Tide (2012) [ebook] Jack, you’re my mixed partner for Portsea. Knock their socks off.

2. to cause serious problems for, to defeat fig.; to have an intense effect upon.

1937		US Congress testimony on HR 6385 27 Apr. n.p.: mr. boerne: Just one of them [i.e. a marijuana cigarette] will knock the socks off of you. mr. anslinger: One of them can do it.
1982		A. Maupin Further Tales of the City (1984) 36: That stuff [i.e. a variety of strong marijuana] knocks your socks off.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 367: That shit [i.e. crack] will knock your socks off in a minute.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] You dress up real nice. Knock their fucking socks off type stuff. Drop dead gorgeous.

3. (also blow someone out of their socks, blow the socks off, steam the socks off) to astound, to amaze.

1934		Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld) 1 Mar. 10/4: I could see the fat was in the fire. He blew the socks off me and wanted to fight me.
1969		Current Sl. IV:1 4: Blow . . . socks, v. to be shocked.
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 155: Just to blow him out of his socks she gave him the Royal Harem treatment.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 16: I had prefaced my joke by saying ‘General Patton told it to me,’ but that hadn’t knocked his socks off.
1983		R. Price Breaks 33: I declared ‘Lawyer!’ and blew the old biddy out of her socks.
1992		S.L. Hills Tragic Magic 137: If they were to go home and examine their own lifestyles [...] the similarities would knock their socks off.
1999		K. Vonnegut Bagombo Snuff Box 3: Short stories can have greatness [...] Several knocked my socks off when I was still in high school.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Rev. 30 Jan. 7: There is a role out there for me which is going to blow everybody’s socks off.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 86: Trust me on this, Red. You’ll knock her socks off.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 210: that’ll steam your socks off That will surprise.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] It would blow her socks off too if she ever found out about the old Gina.

see under stuffing n.¹

see under tar n.³

(US) to beat up severely.

1885		Free Press (St Paul, NE) 7 Aug. 5/1: [T]he north side is trying to knock the whey out of the south side on the diamond.
1891		Madison Dly Leader (SD) 13 Aug. 3/4: [K]nock the whey out of of the ‘college-bred journalist’ who requires seven typewriters.
1910		Osage Eagle 12 May 4/1: [They] should knock the supreme whey out of [...] that ‘cock-eyed’ election law.
1920		S.F. Bulletin 20 May 8/5: The more human [...] amusement of of atching two men knock they whey out of each other.
1930		Muncie Eve, Press 6 June 14/4: Sharkey will knock the whey out of der Maxie [i.e. Max Schmeling].
1940		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 9 Jan. B-16/3: [T]rying to smash atoms and knock the whey out of the myths men live by.
1950		Scrantonian Trib. 5 Feb. 11/1: I’ll knock the whey out of anyone who dares to say thou ain’t [i.e. a noble soul].
1964		S. Woodward Paper Tiger 42: [T]he Amherst [football] team immediately [...] started once again to knock the whey out of the Williamses.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 71: He looked like somebody knocked the whey out of him.

see under wool n.¹

1. to suffer a setback, a disappointment or defeat.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 458/1: since ca. 1930.

2. to be killed.

1951

(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 74: He can stay up here until he gets knocked or finds a bit of guts.

(US black) to leave, to walk.

1944

D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 47: I wouldst rather knock a drill, not lay up here, all quiet and still.

(US black) to have a drink.

1944

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 16 Sept. 12A: Let’s cop a stop here and knock a drop.

see do a line (with) under line n.¹

see under nod n.¹

see knock (off) a piece under piece n.

see under scarf n.

(US black) to lie down.

1948

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 10 Apr. 15: [Those who] knock a spread on the long seat when the [subway train] condictor is up front.

(orig. US black) to wait.

1953

L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 1: Now your girl friend calls you up, and you have to bathe and eat before you are ready for a show date. ‘Knock a statue act chick, I’ve got to make like a fish and knock a scarf and then we can cruise on over to the righteous flick.’.

(US black) to (take a) walk.

1944

D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 27: From attic to basement, we all knocked a stroll, / To the parlor.

(US black) to escape, run away.

1941

F. Swados House of Fury (1959) 73: They always wanted to knock a trot. They musta sneaked out durin’ the dancin’.

(W.I.) to idle, to do nothing.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(US black) to die.

1953

L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 9: I’m not hep to the why ‘fur’, but for me you are a wig tightner, for you I would knock fowl soup.

(US black) to have sexual intercourse.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 knocked it out the box Definition: 1. to physically enter the vagina with a penis 2. for a man to describe that he had intercourse with a woman Example: That brotha knocked it out the box last night!

of a woman, to copulate enthusiastically.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 124: knocks like a ten-ton lorry Sexually aggressive woman.

see under back n.¹

to have sexual intercourse.

1985

T.R. Houser Central Sl. 33: knocking the bottom out of it Sexual intercourse.

see knockout drops n.

a wander, an aimless progress.

1894

H. Lawson ‘Meeting Old Mates’ in Roderick (1972) 165: Driftingly aimlessly round town with an eye out for some chance acquaintance to have a knock round with.

a foolish weak person.

1864

Derby Day 69: What! to be larruped? Not if I know. You must think me a jolly knocksoftly.

see under bub n.¹

to encounter, to meet.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 224: I never saw so many broke men [...] as I knocked against in California.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 589: Of course, I grant you, to concede a point, you do knock across a simple soul once in a blue moon.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

1. (orig. Aus.) to idle; to wander, to travel around rather than settle down.

1843		Port Phillip Gaz. 30 Sept. 2/2: There are men who [...] will not plod along in a quiet routine, but must knock along at a railway pace.
1874		court report in Ware (1909) 163/2: There is an Australian phrase, isn’t there, with reference to an idle fellow : they say he goes ‘knocking along’. – I am not aware that it is an Australian phrase. We get our bad language from England. The Lord Chief Justice: ‘Knocking along’ is not an English phrase. It is ‘knocking about’.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 327: knock (a)long, v. To move on leisurely, move along. ‘Well, I better be knockin’ ’long tow’ds home.’.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 425: Knock Along. Move on.

2. to manage, to subsist.

1849		A. Harris Emigrant Family II 123: Shall we knock along till the dray comes?
1850		Melbourne Dly News 25 Sept. 2/2: [I]t will be 12 months before this company gets afloat, and then there’s the Town Council will have to agree to it before the streets is lit and that will sure to take 12 months more, so let’s knock along and get all we can in the dark.
1862		Empire (Sydney) 23 July 2/5: If she thinks you can knock along in Sydney until your uncle sees the error of his ways [...] then I say, squat! settle! don’t budge an inch!
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 15 Jan. 7/1: Hoping you are knocking along all right.—Yours Truly, The Swallow.

see cuff Jonas under cuff v.¹

see cut (oneself) a slice under slice n.

(US drugs) to withdraw from narcotics use.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1953		Anslinger & Tompkins Traffic In Narcotics 311: knock at the door. To abstain from drugs, to be taking a cure.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).

see under booty n.²

(US prison) to knock down, to beat up.

1971–2

C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 209: ‘Let’s knock dust!’ v. – ‘Let’s fight!’.

see knock out v. (2f)

(US black) to get a pay cheque every sixth day (or the sixth day of every week?).

1944

‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

(orig. and chiefly Aus.) a phr. used by a man who wishes to boast of the success of his sex life; usu. in answer to a question, e.g. getting any (lately)? under get v.; occas. in relation to non-sexual situations.

1952		T.A.G. Hungerford Ridge and River (1966) 127: Here try this — you’ll be knocking ’em back with a stick!
1971		Westerly 16: ‘Do you have any trouble getting . . . performers? Competitors, whatever you call them?’ ‘Christ, no. Knocking them back with a stick.’.
2009		posting 9 Mar. on ‘Help! I’ve Lost My Mojo!’ at SuperSpade.com 🌐 there was a time...oh yes, i was knocking them back with a stick...now,well now i could’nt even get a stick.

to signify one’s approval by hammering on the table or stamping on the floor.

1873		Sl. Dict. 210: Knock-it-down to show, in the ‘free and easy’ style, approval of a song or toast, by hammering with a pot or glass on the table.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to stop doing something, to finish a task; to bring something to an end.

1815		(con. 18C) Sir W. Scott Guy Mannering (1999) 189: I had got a pretty trade on foot within the last two trips; but that stupid houndsfoot schelm, Brown, has knocked it on the head.
1887		H. Frederic Seth’s Brother’s Wife 79: I was kine o’ wond’rin’ ef this here notion o’ Seth’s goin’ away wouldn’t knock it all in th’ head.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 134: If this chick of yours don’t like the fight business [...] maybe the girl is smart to knock it on the head.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 22: That idear knock on the ’ead.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 100: Oh, knock it on the head, Charl, a man’s gotta have some hobby or relaxation.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 71: My old man wouldn’t sign my application for a passport so that knocked that on the head.
1981		A. Payne ‘You Need Hands’ in Minder [TV script] 27: I could go and liberate a nice W Reg Bee Em but I’ve knocked all that on the head.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 147: ‘I can’t seem to (hoop, hoop) knock it [i.e. the flu] on the head’.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 106: It wouldn’t have been hard to drink every beer in the fridge [but] Norton decided to hit it on the head.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 91: Knock it [i.e. heroin use] oan the heid. Make that the first n last time.
2006		D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 341: He’s in Durham and I’m up here and . . . well, I knocked it [i.e. a relationship] on the head.
2010		K. Richards Life 259: At least until ’73, ’74 it [i.e. heroin] was all perfectly legal. After that, they knocked it on the head and it was methadone.
2016		V. McDermid Out of Bounds (2017) 420: ‘Let’s knock it on the head before we screw up’.

to surprise, to worry, to confound.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 31: knock one’s can (or end) in — To surprise completely; to disconcert; to confound.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: knock ones can in. To surprise, to completely disconcert, to confound.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 174: Olaf getting dropped really knocked his arse in, poor kid.

see under nuts n.²

see under pipes n.¹

see under wig n.²

to have an affair.

1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 36: [He] might suspect or even have definite proof that you were knocking-on with his wife.
1959		A. Sillitoe ‘The Fishing-Boat Picture’ Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 73: They’d been knocking on together for about a year.
2001		A. Sillitoe Birthday 48: What man wants to be kept in the dark when his wife’s knocking on with somebody else?

1. to assault, to beat up.

1899		Morpeth Herald 11 Nov. 3/6: He has just told me that you made a threat to him that you would ‘knock his end in’.
1904		Sunderland Daily Echo 30 June 3/4: They no longer look upon their opponents [...] as enemies, and go upon the green with a determination to ‘knock their end in’.
1932		Hull Daily Mail 1 Sept. 4/2: I should have been pleased to [...] try to knock his end in.

2. to disconcert.

1984

P. Barker Blow Your House Down 85: I’m gradually getting meself pulled together. I don’t know why it knocked me end in the way it did.

see under skin n.¹

(US black) to work hard.

1884

J. Harrison ‘Negro English’ in Anglia VII 278: To knock de splinters = to work hard.

see shake the dew off one’s/the lily under lily n.

(N.Z.) to toughen someone up, e.g. a new immigrant.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(US) to perform oral sex.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 63: Knock the Dust Off the Old Sombrero The act of oral sex.

see under end n.

(US black) to have sexual intercourse.

1942		Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1004: Me, I knocks de pad with them cack-broads up on Sugar Hill, and fills ’em full of melody.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 41: They riskin they whole Navy careers just to knock the pad with a woman fine as the one Sugar Lips had.