Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) to stop work; note cit. 1737 et al., to stop working; thus knocking-off time n., the end of the day’s or shift’s work.

1649		G. Daniel Trinarchodia Henry V ccxliii: The Sun (who quafft French blood, to Harrie’s health) knock’s of / And can noe more.
1683		R. Dixon Canidia II 23: Hired-Servants bargain wisely, / From six to six, knock off precisely.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Knock off, to give over Trading; also to Abandon or Quit one’s Post or Pretensions.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: To knock off, to give over Thieving.
1755		The Tricks of the Town Laid Open (4 edn) 41: I perceived they only made a Property of me, as they do of all Strangers, and so I knock’d off in Time.
1767		‘Andrew Barton’ Disappointment I i: As for McSnip, he intends to knock off business, go to England and purchase a title.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To knock off; to conclude: phrase borrowed from the blacksmith.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 165: Knock-off, if you please, we’ve had water enough.
1839		in J. Leyda Melville Log (1951) 92: At half-past one we resumed work; and finally knocked off at four o’clock.
1840		R.H. Dana Two Years before the Mast (1992) 168: We knocked off altogether, much to my joy.
1851		Melville Moby Dick (1907) 220: Do you want to sink the ship, by knocking off at a time like this? Turn to!
1851		Bell’s Life in Sydney 29 Mar. 2/7: [The] defendant some five weeks since had knocked off work and neglected to complete the contract.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 344: Of course I don’t wear these rags you see when I knock off work.
1868		H.L. Williams Black-Eyed Beauty 7: Clerks, and most of the other fellows that could slip out, knocked off work for that day.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 505: We found after we knocked off we had between sixty and seventy quid to cut up.
1884		All Sloper’s Half Holiday 8 May 4/3: I knock off at one, and I have an Hour to get my dinner.
1887		Lantern (N.O.) 5 Nov. 2: The entire mill is kept on operation long after knocking off [...] to make up for time lost during the day.
1893–6		H. Lawson ‘Mitchell’s Jobs’ in Roderick (1972) 146: I’m going to knock off work and try to make some money.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 28 Mar. 2/1: The modern workman doesn’t need his hammer to ‘knock off’ work.
1899		R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street 14: Wait for me at the cawnah to-night [...] when we knocks awf.
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 28 Nov. 1/2: [of card-playing] When they decided to knock off, M’Innes was a tidy sum richer.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 5 Jan. 212: When they knocked off for dinner they were both feeling somewhat depressed.
1912		H. Lawson ‘Grandfather’s Courtship’ in Roderick (1972) 861: It was Saturday and we knocked off at one o’clock.
1920		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Feb. 9/3: The miners of Broken Hill knocked off work [...] and are still on strike.
1924		D. Hammett ‘The Tenth Clew’ Continental Op (1975) 13: It’s after four. What say we knock off and get some sleep?
1925		S. O’Casey Juno and the Paycock Act III: Come on, Bill, it’s afther knockin’-off time already.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 48: ‘When do you knock off?’ ‘Six. You don’t catch me serving after hours. His nibs can do that.’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 23: Those girls worked hard – some of them didn’t even knock off for a single night.
1953		F. Brown Madball (2019) 8: ‘No biz, and I was getting set to knock off and drown my sorrows’.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 257: Make all solid and knock orf for a smoke.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 123: He started knocking off because he had no work.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 34: At noon, all the clerks knocked off for lunch.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 42: A manageress at her office was threatening to make them work late [...] if they didn’t get through their day’s quota by knocking-off time.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 50: I would knock off and go to a movie.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 176: Yesterday she knocked off early, I wonder why?
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 40: I’ll see you when we knock off.
1994		I. Welsh ‘A Smart Cunt’ Acid House 194: It’s knockin oaf time.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 172: I’m gonna run over [...] see if he’s knocked off for the night.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 63: I knock off early and hit the bar at the social club downstairs.
1999		P. Temple Black Tide (2012) [ebook] We’re knockin off that day, all sweaty, full of dust.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Reality 7 May 4: Staff [...] can get a quick hit without knocking off for a fag.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] You’re going to need someone to escort you [...] Alex should be knocking off.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] Want to knock off and go to the pub?
2018		G. Gilmore Class Act [ebook] W‘e’re happy to knock off for the day’.

(b) to die.

a.1704		T. Brown Letter in Works (1760) IV 183: Perverse people [...] that would not knock off in any reasonable time but liv’d long on purpose to spite their relations.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 22: Strong like a bull, yet just knocked off in the dark.
1933		in W.C. Fields By Himself (1974) 446: I hope to Christ the next cold I get knocks me off and then you will know what real hardship is.
1944		‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

(c) to consume, esp. a drink.

1781		Belle’s Stratagem 49: We must knock off a bottle or two to give our spirits a fill-up.
1794		Sporting Mag. Oct. V 5/2: After knocking off six bottles of Madeira, hand to fist, Lord Headlong [...] and myself, matched our nags from Windsor to London.
1805		in Port Folio 24 Aug. 261: I’m Brick-dust Ben, as queer a blade / As e’er knock’d off a glass, sir [HDAS].
1841		‘Don’t Be Addicted To Drinking’ Dublin Comic Songster 313: You’ll find it quite handy, / To knock off, (as soon as you get out of bed,) / A thumping good bumper of brandy.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor II 366/2: As his master generally had a glass of raw spirit handed to him, the boy usually had a sip when his employer had ‘knocked off his glass’.
1876		Butte (MT) Miner 8 June 1/3: I found out in time and ‘knocked off’ [...] more than half my usual amount of stimulants.
1927		C. Coe Me – Gangster 165: We might as well knock off the bottle.
1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 94: It’s sure swell to be able to be with you tonight and knock off a swell supper.
1945		‘Henry Green’ Loving (1978) 20: I’m relying on you mind to see Mrs Welch won’t come out of her kitchen to knock the whisky off.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 124: You better knock that steak off before the flies get it.
1969		A. Buzo Rooted I iii: I knocked off the punch from the turn last night.
1984		(con. 1964–73) W. Terry Bloods (1985) 29: I bought me a half gallon gin, and I knocked it off.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 141: [H]is own excellent ale which he served by the teacup so that if the wallopers decided to swarm, the patrons could appear to be knocking off cups of Auntie Nell’s Bushells.

(d) to conclude or complete speedily, to do quickly and perfunctorily, esp. in the context of writing.

1817		T.L. Peacock Melincourt III 68: He had [...] to dispose of [...] a christening, a marriage, and a funeral; but he would knock them off as fast as he could.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 337: Now and then a rush at a line which was knocked off in a hurry, with slashing dashes of the pen.
1855		T. Taylor Still Waters Run Deep II ii: Just glance your eye over it, while I knock off this calculation.
1865		Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1994) 732: [of dress-making] And now [...] having knocked off my rosy-cheeked friends, I’ll knock off my white-cheeked self. This referred to her making her own dress, which at last was done.
1886		Lantern (N.O.) 29 Sept. 2: When he knocked off a few stanzas of poetry.
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 182: Reading them, par by par,as he knocked them off.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 133: I can knock off a ten-shilling song in less than one hour.
1918		A. Brazil Patriotic Schoolgirl 42: ‘Oh, it wasn't difficult! I just knocked it [i.e. a song] off, you know’.
1929		J. Lait Broadway Melody 5: Sweet young things and sour old ones rush in and knock off songs.
1938		E. Hemingway letter 12 July in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 471: Maybe better do that and knock off this letter.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 16: I had a mellow slave, knocking off hen tracks on a rolltop piano.
1957		Kerouac letter 1 Oct. in Charters II (1999) 66: A guy called Leo Garen [...] will produce a play about Neal if I write it, offers me a weekend in Taft Hotel in room overlooking Broadway with free sandwiches and typewriter if I knock it off.
1965		G. Marx letter 1 Nov. Groucho Letters (1967) 120: She used to get five dollars a night for a thousand envelopes and she would knock them off by midnight.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 126: We don’t want every joker in the U.S. knocking off a best-seller whenever he feels like it.
1999		Indep. 28 June 20: Effortlessly knocking off a limerick about the royal wedding.
2005		Observer Mag. 27 Nov. 10: I had had 14 brothers and sisters. My father would keep coming home late from the boozer and knocking another off.

(e) to abandon, to cease from; trans. to discontinue.

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 107: The dinners and larkings were completely knocked off.
1838		‘Paul Pry’ Oddities of London Life I 90: Master sent up a job of vork, vich vos vanted immejently, and so all hands on the board vos knocked off their reg’lars to be put on it.
1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 337: White-Jacket there is my particular friend, and I would take it as a particular favour if you would knock off blasting him.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 166: KNOCK OFF, to give over or abandon.
1866		Bradford Obs. 6 Dec. 6/6: There used to be skilly for breakfast once [...] but it was knocked off because o’ the tramps throwing it about.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 289: Knock off yer sobbin’, and tell the coves that ye is in love with me.
1884		J.F. Mitchell ‘You Should Never Never Marry’ 🎵 You’ve got to knock off smoking and your daily pint of beer.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 130: ‘Knock off talking like a man in a cave,’ urged the club.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Mar. 4/5: Knocking off sherry and bitters for a month.
1906		New Boys’ World 29 Dec. 98: As soon as our backs were turned you’d knock off smoking and shout for help.
1915		W. Sickert Burlington Mag. July 169: He will knock off his coffee. He will travel second class to buy you.
1918		A. Brazil Patriotic Schoolgirl 213: ‘It’ll mean knocking off buns, I suppose,’ sighed Sylvia.
1930		E. Waugh Vile Bodies 10: How about knocking off for a bit?
1942		J. MacLaren-Ross ‘Y List’ Memoirs of the Forties (1984) 248: The doctor came round [...] The first thing she did was to knock off the tablets.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 116: Straighten up that line [...] and knock off the singing.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 130: The Bludger told him to knock off [swallowing cutlery], if he did it again he’d die.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 176: You gotta knock off this horseshit now.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 167: So why don’t you knock off the act . . . and come back to the yard?
1988		N. Eastwood Gardener Got Her n.p.: Then he slid his lotion-slick hands down under her and cupped her ripe young tits. ‘Hey, Mike, knock that off.’ Lucy giggled.
2000		T. Udo Vatican Bloodbath 127: Let’s knock off the pleasantries shall we?
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘[N]o drug-slinging smoke is going to murder a white New York City gold shield, so why don’t we knock off the shit’.

(f) (US) to free from work, to stop someone working.

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 165: Halt those fellows [...] who you see are doing little good [...] Knock them off at once.
1912		J. London Smoke Bellew Pt 9 🌐 We’ll knock off all but about a dozen. They’ll have to lend a hand.

(g) (US) to abstain or give up a habit.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 5/4: If you knock off alcohol, opium and tobacco […] you will find life ever so much pleasanter.
1900		Sporting Times 21 Apr. 1/4: ‘It’s all very well t’say knock off an’ sober up,’ he said bitterly, as they assisted him to rise from the pavement, ‘but Oh that headache when I try to!’.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 106: If she had knocked off starchy foods [...] she might have been quite tolerable.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 81: He would have liked to have had a cigarette, but the geezer at the gym had made him knock off smoking.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 14: He’s knocked off smoking.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 20: He has three children now, two girls and a boy. Joe says, ‘If there was any other kind he’d ’ave them too, but there ain’t so ’e’s knocked orf.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 17: The beazel had made him knock off cocktails.
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 149: If you have trouble sleeping, knock off taking them late at night.

(h) (N.Z.) vtr., to dismiss from a job.

1928		E. Pound letter 21 Nov. in Paige (1971) 221: It is the pikers who get knocked off and who get uneasy when a good job is done.
1986		T. Philbin Under Cover 268: That cop [...] who got knocked off the force for posing in the nude. Knocked off, and then let back on.

(a) (orig. US) to hang; to kill, to murder; thus knock-off man n., a hired killer.

1828		G. Smeeton Doings in London 157: The present Jack Ketch is Ould Tom Cheshire [...] Tom was asked how many of his fellow-creatures he had relieved of their worldly cares? ‘Vy, I’ve knocked off somewhere about five hundred and fifty.’.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 44: Sometimes, indeed, we knock off a leading barrister or so, and express the anguish of the junior counsel at a loss so destructive to their interests.
1838		‘Alfred Crowquill’ Seymour’s Humourous Sketches (1866) 7: Drawing his trigger, he accidentally knocked off the bird,.
1869		Grantham Jrnl 27 Nov. 5/2: I am informed that Scalford has become noted for the art of horse killing [...] if this is correct [...] I might want one knocking off some time.
1874		M. Clarke Term of His Natural Life (1897) 47: It [i.e. fever] may knock off a few dozen prisoners or so.
1918		Jackson Dly News (MS) 1 Apr. 7/1: Crook Chatter [...] ‘I’d like to know who turned “copper” [...] I’d just as soon “knock him off” as lift a boulder’ .
1920		T.H. Kelly What Outfit, Buddy? 181: Guess they had regular funerals [...] for the guys that got knocked off.
1928		A.C. Inman 25 Oct. diary in Aaron (1985) 386: I know all the big knock-off men here an’ in New York. Just you say the word.
1931		(con. 1900s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 112: Every bad man, white and Negro, thinks he’s a hero, and is out to knock off a cop.
1938		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 26 Feb. 3/3: Somebody knocked off a punk named Tickner, a prelim. pug who ran a beer house for ‘Hoppy’ Gardner.
1949		G. Marx letter 11 Feb. Groucho Letters (1967) 155: The California motorist will, on the average, knock off three pedestrians a month.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 97: I had sneaked up on him and tried to knock him off. I’d murdered before and last night had tried again.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 93: Speer knocked off Pietro Telluccini in dago-town this afternoon.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 116: Those two couldn’t be dumb enough to tie themselves to the name of a man they planned to knock off.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 152: ‘I’m surprised at Ray [...] Involving himself with a slag and then knocking her off like this’.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 150: Fat Dog was blackmailing Ralston and had been knocked off for his perfidy.
1984		P. Corris ‘Stockyards at Jerilderie’ in Heroin Annie [e-book] This is all pretty coldblooded stuff—knocking the woman off, pinching the paintings.
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] There was $50,000 coming his way when he found Wyatt and knocked him off.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 11: Those lowlifes selling that shit. Makes me wish I had a machine gun so I could knock ’um off.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 272: I’m surprised you didn’t knock off any schoolkids.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] Career criminal [...] uRmoured to have knocked off anyone who got in his way.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] If someone really wanted to knock me off they could have done it any time.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] ‘You didn’t knock him off did you?’.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 263: ‘The TRG were supposed to knock you off at the scene’.

(b) to defeat, to overcome, to destroy.

1937		Joe Archibald ‘Crash on Delivery’ in Flying Aces Nov. 🌐 Garrity’s outfit had knocked off three Drachen hot air weenies.
1939		W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 24 June [synd. col.] Hitchcock has been knocking the British off [at polo] since he was 19.
1944		H. Hunt East of Farewell 101: Just as long as we keep coming and going and knocking off a few subs on the way.
1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 27 Nov. [synd. col.] Almost 50,000 saw the Cleveland Browns knock off the New York Yankees Sunday.
1972		I. Moffitt U-Jack Society 117: Bourke’s main aim [...] is to sell as many cars as he can—and ‘knock off’ GMH as Australia’s leading car manufacturer.
1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 49: His favorite stories conveyed a common theme: how the natives had knocked off haole teams in big games despite being prohibitive underdogs.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 145: [It] had just been knocked off in a three-horse Saturday saunter by a nag he should’ve donkey-licked with one fetlock in the air.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 115: ‘A bloke called Donny Maitland is putting together a rank-and-file ticket.’ [...] ‘You think he can knock off Sharpe and McGrath?’ [Ibid.] 116: Somebody is plotting to knock me off.
2012		S. Blass Pirate for Life 8: We were on the verge of knocking off the Reds and advancing to our second straight World Series appearance.

(c) (orig. US, also knock it off) to seduce, to have sexual intercourse (often commercial, adulterous or purely hedonistic); also attrib.

1934		B. Appel Brain Guy 13: A coupla plainclothes rats knock the dame off.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 132: He could knock her off whenever he wanted to.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 122: Steve and Marge had been knocking it off, lying under a big tree.
1965		J. Orton Loot Act I: You’ve had her? Knocked it off? Really?
1972		Hall & Adelman Gentleman of Leisure 19: Actually the first time I knocked off a woman, I went and told my father.
1974		‘Ricki Francis’ Kings X Hooker 81: ‘Because we are not true homosexuals ... might have been if it hadn’t been for that first cheap whore we knocked off together’.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 20: I wouldn’t knock one of them off if I was using your dick.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 31: Maybe we ought to try it out first, you know maybe knock it off a bit see how it goes, eh?
2000		Guardian Guide 8–14 Jan. 13: Mike Baldwin’s son [...] went into the new millenium with a bang – celebrating by knocking off his dad’s fiancee, Linda.

(d) (Aus.) to gain, to capture.

1996

J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 69: And then he showed that he was truly top-hole by knocking off the Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate and the Mackinnon Stakes.

(a) (also k.o.) to steal, to burglarize; also as knock it off, to break into a premises.

1917		in Athenaeum 8 Aug. 729: ‘Someone knocked it off’ for ‘Someone pinched [...] it.’ [HDAS].
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 9: To-night [...] we’ll knock off Martin’s home.
1930		(con. 1910s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 117: Breaking open a door is known as ‘knocking it off’. [Ibid.] 149: We ‘knocked off’ what took our fancy and fluttered away to another job.
1932		Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 20/8: The stealer of motor cars is professionally known as a ‘Knocker-off’.
1933		‘George Orwell’ Down and Out in Complete Works I (1986) 152: Somebody could knock dat bottle off, eh?
1945		‘Henry Green’ Loving (1978) 119: Knock the ring off you mean?
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 155: A guy who knocks me off for my valuables.
1950		S.J. Baker in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/5: Other English incorporations [in Australian slang] include: [...] ‘knock off,’ to steal or rob.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 163: The next morning we knocked off that bank for nine grand.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 28: She worked at a biscuit factory and apparently used to knock off biscuits every day.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 823: This guy might [...] have all his crooked friends knock off our cash.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 97: I met a man who asked if I’d knock off a car for him.
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 147: We goin’ knock off the man’s numbers houses one by one.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 142: ‘Thieving?’ ‘We don’t like that word. We prefer euphemisms like nicking, knocking off, finding, scrounging.’.
1982		(con. 1930s–50s) E. Mac Thomáis Janey Mack, Me Shirt is Black 76: Could you not knock off a pair of bootlaces for yerself?
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time app. C 216: They get into little groups and reminisce about when I knocked off so-and-so’s warehouse.
1992		M. Frayn Now You Know 147: You nick stuff! [...] If you got your hands on something like this, you’d knock it off fast enough!
1994		R.P. McNamara Times Square Hustler 44: I was already dealing drugs and doin’ armed robberies. My speciality was knockin’ off other drug spots.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] At the moment he’s out on bail for knocking off a hundred grand.
2000		M.E. Dassad ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 Ramon handed me the four bills; I wondered where he’d come up with the cash; probably knocked off a liquor store, maybe robbed a church, maybe it was just their months pooled VA checks.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 112: One day she did it [...] managed to knock off this blue eye.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Got busted knocking off a factory‘.
2014		Smith & Zippilli ‘She Died with Grace’ in ThugLit Jan. [ebook] [W]e devised a grand plan to knock off old man Schwartz' corner store.
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] ‘Still have my carpenter’s tools, the ones Lucy May hasn’t knocked off’.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 152: Should’ve been on magazine covers, not knocking off bank trucks.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 42: ‘Are you telling me you’d rather knock off another cult or some other bullshit score?’.

(b) to arrest.

1929		C. Coe Hooch! 50: Goin’ to knock him off, are they?
1938		L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 24: You must be gettin’ old — to go an’ get yourself knocked off the first day of the season.
1944		C. Fluck ‘Bubbles’ of the Old Kent Road 41: The laughter and ridicule would bring the flatties (police) and he would be chucked out or knocked off. If the latter, at the court next morning he would plead his own cause.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 119/1: Knock off, v. [...] 3. To seize and arrest; to raid premises with seizure and arrest in view.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 191/1: Knocked Off. Arrested.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 202: If you don’t shut your trap [...] I’ll knock you off as well.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 40: You should more consideration [...] than to get knocked off in a place where it rains all the time.
1965		C. Himes Cotton Comes to Harlem (1967) 66: Why don’t the Feds knock him off? Who’s he paying?
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 191: Knock off To steal, to arrest.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 89: Knock off – 1. to steal [...] 3. to arrest.

(c) to raid; to seize stolen goods.

1925		D. Hammett ‘The Scorched Face’ Story Omnibus (1966) 79: Elwood has been there an hour. Let’s knock it off knocking off post offices.
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 35: Those were the days when pete-men were working all through the Southern States.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 22: She had enough sense not to get knocked off by the police.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 119/1: Knock off, v. [...] 3. To seize and arrest; to raid premises with seizure and arrest in view.
1968		G. Radano Walking the Beat 66: While I’m on vacation the Chief Inspector’s men knock off a dice game in our sector .

(a) (US) to acquire money, usu. easily.

1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 7: In the big towns a first-class soda jerk can knock off eighteen to twenty bucks a week.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Big Shoulders’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 580: He knocks off five per cent on a winning bet as his commission.
1943		J. Mitchell McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001) 39: To hear them tell it [...] all the bums in the Bowery were knocking off millions down in Wall Street when they were young.

(b) to dispose of, e.g. a debt.

1833		‘The Amiable Family’ in Fal-Lal Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 8: ’Cos the tippery I’d not got a stock of, / My water rate payments to knock off.
1955		‘Ed Lacy’ Best that Ever Did It 🌐 A job like this had to last at least ten days— three hundred bucks would knock off a lot of bills.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 165: ‘Why? What for?’ ‘For starters, to knock off half of what you owe on bets’.