knockback n.
1. a rejection, a refusal.
![]() | Evesham Jrnl 21 May 7/1: He objected to the powers of the guardians being relegated to the officers. It was a knock-back . | |
![]() | Digger Dialects 31: knock-back — A refusal. | |
![]() | (con. WWI) Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: knock-back. A refusal. | |
![]() | Battlers 143: The busker, always ready to save money, and realising from several ‘knock-backs’ that he had little hope of lodging in town, immediately pre-empted the vacant sleeping-place. | |
![]() | Coll. Stories (1965) 145: There was nothing doing. And I said to myself well, a knock-back from one of yous isn’t going to make me lose any sleep. | ‘That Summer’ in|
![]() | Jimmy Brockett 30: Jimmy Brockett didn’t get many knockbacks when he set his mind on a girl. | |
![]() | Pagan Game (1969) 164: Never had a knock-back in his life, that Tank Tarrant. | |
![]() | Villain’s Tale 27: It was pointless making any moves [...] until he had enough of a firm to go out and do the blag. [...] When he got a couple of knockbacks he even considered reducing the number he would need, but finally decided four, including himself, was the absolute minimum. | |
![]() | Traveller’s Tool 95: In my book no sheilah deserves to be called a lezzo unless she gives you the brush-off or the knock-back. | |
![]() | Chopper From The Inside 99: I offered $20,000 — and got a knock back. | |
![]() | Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] Mrs Mellow never give any geezer the knock back. | |
![]() | Westsiders 289: This has been a big knock-back for his confidence. | |
![]() | Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Thinking about a lassie is the fastest road to a knockback. You never give them the space in your head. |
2. (UK prison) the rejection of one’s application for parole.
![]() | Lowspeak. | |
![]() | (con. 1990s) A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 467: No lifer is ever granted first parole, and the minimum ‘knockback’, the period you must wait before applying again, is two years. |
In phrases
(Aus.) to suffer a disappointment.
![]() | Sport (Adelaide) 7 June 12/2: Jim P. [...] Thinks he’s on a clue. He would get a knock back if he knew the girls had him by the leg. |
to be murdered.
![]() | Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] On account of a fucking MP got the knockback they reckoned they wanted to explain it to the papers. |