Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. usu. of machinery, to collapse, to break down, to malfunction; thus conked (out) adj.

1914		Hull Dly Mail 17 July 5/3: A motor-cyclist arrived [...] and said, ‘The cavalry have conked out on the hill, sir’.
1914		Liverpool Echo 29 May 6/5: The weestmoreland Mortor-cycle Club held a series of trials [...] with very stiff gradients [...] B. Jeffreys, on an Indian, ‘conked out’ at the bend, his engine failing.
1917		‘Every Little While’ in C.H. Ward-Jackson Airman’s Song Book (1945) 55: Every little while my engine’s conking, / Every little while I catch on fire.
1918		J.M. Grider War Birds (1926) 88: The motor conked all right, but he made a nice landing in the field.
1921		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 25 July 6/5: Miss Phillips [...] the only lady rider taking part [...] conked out while negotiating the climb.
1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 161: Near Croydon she [i.e. a car] ‘conked out.’.
1930		(con. 1917) ‘W.W. Windstaff’ ‘A Flier’s War’ in Longstreet Canvas Falcons (1970) 273: The engine conked.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 6: The mystery had conked. I saw all.
1937		Jennings & Madge May the Twelfth: Mass-Observation Day-Surveys 2:96: Piccadilly. Crowd dense in many parts. ‘Can’t get out of ’ere.’ ‘You will.’ ‘Someone’s conked out.’.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 119: Greengage went on with one bloke. Bloke’s feet conked out.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1946		G. Gibson Enemy Coast Ahead (1955) 125: The darned thing conked out with about six miles to go on the way home.
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 111: The speedometer needle dropped back to eight miles per hour. ‘She won’t take it,’ said Lofty. ‘She’s conking.’.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 87: Kirk eased the rented Ford through the traffic [...] Kirk wondered. What happens to me when I conk out.
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: I think the battery’s giving up. Conking out.
1960		Mad mag. Oct. 10: Old Cooney conked at first and Burrows also sacked.
1968		T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 40: Kesey [...] jams it [i.e. a potato] over the guy’s exhaust pipe, which causes the motor to conk out.
1973		P. Driscoll Wilby Conspiracy (1991) 63: ‘Car lighter conked out,’ he said.
1975		C. Dexter Last Bus to Woodstock 165: Has the car konked out again?
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 264: The Karmann Ghia conked-out, right in the middle of the road.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 10: He would [...] have the bonnet up as though it [i.e. a van] had just conked out.
2011		D.D. Brazill ‘Lady and the Gimp’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] I’ll stay here a bit longer. See if the jukebox conks out, like.

2. (also conk off) to lose consciousness.

1924		Kipling ‘The Janeites’ Debits and Credits (1926) 167: The man was vi’lently sick an’ conked out.
c.1930		N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 320: I had conked out.
1946		K.S. Prichard Roaring Nineties 186: Teddy was tied-up so tightly he would’ve konked out, if a chap [...] hadn’t made ’em loosen the ropes.
a.1949		N. Algren Little Lester’ in Entrapment (2009) 99: Wait till he feels [...] his leg gettin’ bound to the voltage clamp. He’ll konk out.
1949		(con. 1943–5) A. Murphy To Hell and Back (1950) 198: I’m sorry I conked out .
1958		Southern & Hoffenberg Candy (1970) 153: You may recall I conked on it, only to come up an hour later with an ass full of needles.
1960		Mad mag. Jan. 47: And my chick on her ‘Castro,’ and me on the floor, / Had just conked out for a forty-wink snore.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 145: Ya looks like ya gonna conk out. Ya better see da quack.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 429: I put the Ole Gal away and soon conked off to sleep.
1975		A. Bleasdale Scully 35: ‘I’m not dead, Mrs Scully,’ he said, ‘I’ve only fainted,’ and then he conked out again.
1984		Flame: a Life on the Game 145: I heard a siren in the distance and I conked out again. I woke up a week later in hospital.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 195: I’m a bit more hammered than I thought and I end up conking out.

3. to give up.

1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 63: The cheap-jack fellow’s voice conked out altogether, so startled was he by this intrusion.
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 39: I reckon you’ll conk out about lunchtime.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 113: I took one look and conked out.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 210: Don’t conk out on me now, hotshot!
1999		Guardian G2 21 July 9: The pianist, who has not been supplied with a page-turner, conks out in utter frustration.

4. to die; thus conked, dead.

1932		‘Ex-Légionnaire 1384 Hell Hounds of France 13: [Y]ou’ve had enough wine to last any ordinary man a lifetime.’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Yes. Even if you konk out tonight’.
1933		Aberdeen Jrnl 9 Nov. 5/6: A man [...] caught him round the neck and hit him on the head with something hard [...] on the way to the police station the accused asked if it was likely that Leslie would ‘conk out’.
1940		A. Christie Sad Cypress (1954) 44: So she’s conked out – eh?
1955		H. Ellson ‘Killer’ in Best of Manhunt (2019) [ebook] ‘The guy’s condition was listed as fair up until one p.m. today. Then he suddenly conked out’.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 49: He’s dead [...] Conked out just as I got in the door.
1959		A. Burgess Beds in the East (1972) 605: ‘He said he’d been told that it was up-river that he’d conk out sometime or other, and I got the idea that he wasn’t all that keen on carrying on, he wouldn’t mind snuffing it all that much.’.
1965		T. Capote In Cold Blood 154: Because I caught pneumonia I almost conked.
1966		F. Elli Riot (1967) 20: If Malaski konks out we’re facin’ a murder rap.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 50: Would I not conk out in the street at Aldgate East (untimely end).
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 194: I hope I ain’t going to conk out from a heart attack.
1997		H.R.F. Keating Soft Detective 3: Just some poor geezer conking out.

5. to fall asleep.

1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 90: How many times have you seen me conk out from too much booze?
1960		Mad mag. June 49: Like soon I got stinking that I conked out on the floor.
1963		A.E. Morgan Six-Eleven (1966) 187: Do you mind if I conk out on your shoulder? I’m really bushed.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 130: It was dawn and I wanted to conk out.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘Strained Relations’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] I conked out on one of them beds.
1990		J. Healy Streets Above Us (1991) 130: Annabelle, head drooped forward on to her chest, has conked out at last.
2000		Indep. Mag. 11 Mar. 36: They both conk out for at least 10 hours at night.

6. to knock someone out.

1943		W. Guthrie Bound for Glory (1969) 364: You don’t hafta swing that pump aroun’s so much [...] You don’t want to konk none of yer own soldiers out, do you?
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 262: You want to conk me out and diddle with me while I’m helpless, you big degenerate?
1958		Mad mag. May–June 20: If they spot you, Buster, they’ll conk you out.

7. (US) vtr. to cause to malfunction.

2012

T. Robinson ‘Legendary [...] Ralphie O’Malley’ in Dirty Words [ebook] ‘‘I'm even willing to bet it'll conk out that panic alarm’’.