Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see knocking-shop n.

(US black) soliciting loans.

1943

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 9 Oct. 20: I’m [...] dying to meet some folk who’ll be with it on the knock play.

to track down, apprehend and arrest.

2000

Observer Mag. 14 May 19: Bill had ‘called the knock’ on many heavy-duty nasties, including a number of Turkish heroin traffickers.

1. to arrange a meeting with someone of the opposite sex.

1896		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 30 May 4/4: They Say [...] Who is the bloke down West that trys [sic] to do a knock with Miss B.
1901		Brighton Southern Cross (Vic.) 16 Feb. 2/6: Well, I’m going to polish up my boots and leggins, have a shave and [...] see if I can’t do a knock with somebody’s sister and get an invite out to a Christmas dinner.
1933		Teleg. (Brisbane) 1 Apr. 6/1: ‘Doing a knock’ with girls, by which expression is meant the insipid courting that is the prelude to calf love.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 41: Do a knock (line) with: to take an amorous interest in a member of the opposite sex.

2. to have sexual intercourse; to kiss and cuddle.

1933

N. Lindsay Saturdee 167: Y’oughter seen me, the way I up and done a knock as easy as sittin’ here. By jings I was the one. Here’s me, sittin’ up with me arm round her [...] and here’s me sayin’ ‘How’s it up for a kiss? [Ibid.] 217: He’s done a knock with her.

to receive punishment .

1879		Sporting Times 15 Mar. 1/5: They must beware of running off with Lydia’s knocker, or they will get ‘the knock’ from [...] the beak.
1911		H. Champion ‘I’m Proud of My Old Bald Head’ [monologue] I never get the knock — I’m a jolly old cock.

1. to knock down, lit. and fig.

1892		Kipling ‘Snarleyow’ in Barrack-Room Ballads (1893) 176: When a tricky, trundlin’ roundshot give the knock to Snarleyow.
1896		Hunter & LeBrunn [perf. George Robey] ‘A B ab’ 🎵 Two thieves said they'd give him the knock, said they, 'We'll do him for his clock.' / [...] / and how d'ye think they did the job, / They gave him one in the A B, ab - D O, do - M E N - ab-do-men.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 July 3/4: John Norton is the fittest candidate [...] the man most likely to administer the knock to Waine the wire-puller.

2. to disconcert, to irritate.

1899		Newcastle Courant 18 Nov. 5/2: It gives me the fair knock, palaverin’ with a woman.
1899		H. Champion ‘On Top’ 🎵 But we couldn’t get in when we got to the door, / And it fair gave me the ‘knock’.

(Aus.) to steal.

1959

D. Niland Big Smoke 202: That’s when I see this fly-blown old fowlhouse going the knock on my money.

see on the knocker under knocker n.¹

(US) to reject, to refuse.

1915

G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 203: She put in the knock when we offered her fifty-fifty to let us take that Spedden guy.

(Aus. und.) to exert pressure.

2006

B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] It was time to put the knock in to get the boys back to Parramatta.

to disparage, to criticize.

1930		M. West Babe Gordon (1934) 121: Charlie puts the knocks in against me with the Bearcat.
1961		L. Schecter Roger Maris 70: [T]he players were a glum bunch as Stengel put the knock on Hadley in the clubhouse after the game.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 99: George never put the knock on anyone.
1970		L. Schecter Polo Grounds 28: He also found time [...] to put a little knock in on Ralph Houk of the Yankees.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 155: Don’t put the knock on the gay freak squad.

1. to suffer financial losses, often in gambling.

1884		Sporting Times 15 Nov. 1/3: The following new books are now in the press [...] ‘The Knock, and How to Take It’.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 22 Jan. 7: If you did take the knock, and had neglected to provide yourself with the harmless return ticket, you were indeed an outcast.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 5 May 6/2: Another youth [...] expressed a dtermination to take holy orders at once; he is more likely to take the knock.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 265: George’s got the knock at racin’, he has.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 30 Oct. 1/1: A well-known punter of Perth took the ignominious knock last Monday [and] having owed a large sum to a local bookie he settled with a stumer.
1916		Wipers Times 6 Mar. (2006) 27/2: A celebrated firm of commission agents took the knock.
1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 90: Ever since repeal the gangs have been takin’ the knock one after the other.
1968		J. Alard He Who Shoots Last 58: ‘Crime don’t pay [...] Neither does dat bookie [...] I heard Treacle Teeth saying he took the knock on Crafty Wilson [i.e. a racehorse]’.
1974		P. Larkin ‘Livings’ in High Windows 13: Who makes ends meet, who’s taking the knock, / Government tariffs, wages, price of stock.

2. to suffer an unpleasant surprise.

1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Victimless Villain’ Sporting Times 3 Mar. 1/4: He’d struck a wrong scent, and had taken the knock; / And he felt, to his nerves ’twas a terrible shock, / The well-known finger-nails of his ancient Dutch clock.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘’Ave a ’Eart!’ in Rose of Spadgers 73: There ain’t no call fer you to go an’ chuck / A man about when ’e ’as took the knock.

3. of a bookmaker, to be defrauded.

1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 40: Three of the cheeriest johnnies that ever took the knock across the rails of a members’ enclosure.
1917		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The Amateur Gardener’ in Three Elephant Power 65: When the bookmaker ‘took the knock’ [...] it was his pleasing custom to move without giving notice.

4. (Aus.) to suffer a rejection.

1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 22 Feb. 2/4: He ‘took the knock’ to a good old tune when [...] she really loved another.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 28 Oct. 1/2: The game ’ad got, I thort, the knock, / And millin’ ’ad gone outer date.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 Aug. 4/8: Westralia’s name is mud, / Since Forrest Took the Knock.

5. of a bookmaker or bettor, to refuse or escape paying a due debt.

1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Mar. 2nd sect. 10/6: A certain English ‘captain’ who took the knock on one or two of our well-known bookmakers, and finally cleared back to Engband.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 TAKING THE KNOCK--To avoid payment.
1936		Newcastle Sun (NSW) 27 May 7/4: S.P. Glossary [...] Taking the knock — Refusing to honour betting obligations, welching.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 77: What’s certain is we can’t pay, but we can’t take the knock because this bloke’s a copper.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 31: Holly Hock (Take The Knock) Refuse to pay a debt.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 75: ‘Taking the knock’ was so common among early bookmakers both in Sydney and Melbourne that many of them had their bags specially made with several name flaps.

6. (orig. US) to accept the blame.

1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 111: An inducement to ‘take the knock’ (accept the blame) in the case of fine or imprisonment.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 219/1: Take the knock. 1. To plead guilty to a crime; to accept full guilt in order to exonerate others. [...] 2. To surrender and accept an arrest without resisting or attempting to flee. 3. To accept a loss or a reverse and retire without protest or complaint.
1978		S. Murray Legionnaire 294: Somebody had to take the knock to prevent total loss and to enable a rationalization to be made of the incident .

7. to be overcome by drink or drugs.

2001

K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 20: For a big fella, I don’t half take the knock easy when it comes to the demon drink.