knuckle n.
1. constr. with the, the sport of prizefighting and its followers and fighters.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Scots Mag. 6 June 39/1: Ye meaner worthies of the knuckle / To Maggs and to the Nailor truckle. |
2. a pickpocket; thus go on the knuckle v., to work as a pickpocket; knucklejill n., a female pickpocket [Grose 1796 et seq. suggests ‘a superior kind of pickpockets’].
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Thieving Detected 17: Those only are stiled Knuckles who confine themselves to the picking pockets of watches, snuff-boxes, pocket-books, and money. [Ibid.] 20: Some of the best Knuckles are women. | |
| View of Society II 73: Knuckle, signifies those who hang about the Lobbies of both Houses of Parliament, the Opera-House and both Play-Houses, and in general [...] They steal watches, snuff-boxes, &c. | |
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Knuckles pickpockets who attend the avenues to public places to steal pocket-books, watches, a superior kind of pickpockets. |
| Life’s Painter 141: I know you are a bad one upon the knuckle, or else, or else you should have your full wack. | |
| ‘Cant Lang. of Thieves’ Monthly Mag. 7 Jan. n.p.: Files or knuckles Pickpockets. | |
| ‘Tom the Drover’ No. 30 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: Suk’ May, she’s a saucy blowen, and can [text illegible] with any Mott in the Town, / At the knuckle, or the lift none so clever. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
| Modern Flash Dict. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | |
| New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Knucklejills female pickpockets. |
3. (US) in pl., a knuckleduster n. (1), ‘brass knuckles’.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Lady of the Lake 214: Put on brass knuckles, filed at every joint, and meet me in an hour at Willett’s Point. | |
| Sporting Times 9 June 3/2: [He] took the blow of the steel ‘kosh’ and the biff of the brass knuckles without a grunt. | |
| One-Way Ride 5: He got into ward politics and ruled a tough constituency with blackjack and brass knuckles. | |
| Tommy Gallagher’s Crusade 76: Tommy saw Al O’Reilly slip on brass knuckles. | |
| Amboy Dukes 115: ‘We never owned gats’ [...] ‘All right,’ Gallagher agreed, ‘knives and knuckles’. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 48: I fingered the garbage-can handle in my pocket — my home-made brass knuckles. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 106: Brass knuckles (knuckles, brass). | |
| Hurricane Punch 44: Mahoney produced a set of brass knuckles [...] Mahoney stowed the knuckles. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | I Am Already Dead 10: [I]n his pocket [he] carried a pair of knuckles, ready to be slipped on. |
4. a fight, violence; thus knuckle-boy, knuckleman, n., a fighter; knuckle-work n., fighting.
| Long Wait (1954) 52: He’s too much of a big shot to do his own knuckle-work. | |
| ‘The Reunion Party’ Hancock’s Half-Hour [TV script] If you wouldn’t mind stepping outside, I’d be only too willing to oblige with a mouthful of knuckles. | |
| Bunch of Ratbags 91: Hiya, Terry, how’s our knuckle-boy, eh? | |
| I’m a Jack, All Right 9: He has offered me a mouthful of knuckles if i don’t pay in full. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Pagan Game (1969) 164: No slouch when it comes to a bit of knuckle. | |
| Gonif 31: Two or three slicings and some knuckles don’t add up to this tough a crack-down. | |
| Awaydays 11: ‘Let’s! Give! De Wrexham!’ shouts Godden [...] ‘a lirrul birra knuckle!’ scream the mob. | |
| Outlaws (ms.) 9: Ged’s blags for the last few years have been [...] all planning and stopwatches. There’s hardly any knuckle at all. | |
| Chopper 4 29: Tasmania and the Northern Territory are probably the last two strongholds left of the genuine knucklemen. |
5. (US drugs) a wrapper of heroin [the knuckle-like bulge of the wrapped drug].
| Permanent Midnight 360: I checked my shoe for the knuckle of tar I’d stashed the night before. |
In compounds
(US) a punch in the mouth.
 | Last Amer. Hero [film] How’d you like a knuckleburger? [HDAS]. | |
| Steel Cowboy [film] Sport, I’m about to feed you a knuckleburger [HDAS]. | |
| Weekend Australian Mag. (Sydney) 5 Oct. 🌐 Brisbane’s Casey McGuire decked ex-Bronco turned Rooster Justin Hodges with a vicious right, which was feared to have smashed Hodges’ jaw. [...] The consensus seems to be Hodges is a notorious lair and loud-mouth who probably deserved his knuckle burger. |
1. handcuffs.
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Knuckledabs, or knuckle confounders, ruffles. |
| Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785]. | |
| Modern Flash Dict. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. |
2. the fists.
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | ‘Luke Caffrey’s Ghost’ in Chap Book Songs 4: He was steel in de hart, blood to de back bone, flint in de nuckle-dabbers, Manley’s mettle in his lims, your soul! |
1. a fool, a peasant.
| Llama Parlour 50: The general public are referred to as ‘knuckle-draggers’, ‘mouth-breathers’ and ‘tree-dwellers’. | |
| Outlaws (ms.) 24: Would she fuck show out to any of the mushers or the knuckle-draggers. |
2. a thug; thus knuckle-dragging adj., violent.
| Litchfield County (CT) Times 6 July n.p.: I immediately wrote a radio script which featured no less than five stabbings [...], two brutal fist fights, and a sleazy bedroom scene between a has-been actress and a young knuckle-dragger [R]. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 228: knuckle-dragger. A thug Knuckle dragger. A lout. | |
| Hot House 142: Former Bureau Director Norman Carlson had spent years trying to change the public’s perception of guards as sadistic knuckle-draggers. | |
| Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 53: It’s a stupid game [...] played by a bunch of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who beat each other senseless. | |
| Intractable [ebook] [K]nuckle-dragging six-foot sinners with broken noses and crew cuts, covered in boob tattoos. | |
| Raiders 183: The fruitcakes, desperos and knuckle-draggers will fall over each other [...] to take the contract. | |
| Stoning 211: ‘One of those knuckle-dragging gorillas’. |
3. (N.Z. prison) derog. term for a person of colour.
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 102/1: knuckle dragger n. a dark-skinned person. |
see separate entry.
see separate entries.
(US) a fist-fight; in phr. take someone dancing down at knuckle junction, to administer a beating.
| Onionhead (1958) 109: Let’s go to knuckle junction, boy. By way of fist city. Come on’. | |
| Great Santini (1977) 37: Your father’s gonna take you dancing down at knuckle junction. | |
| Muscle for the Wing 100: Go ahead, what the fuck, settle it at Knuckle Junction. | |
| FFWD Weekly 🌐 If Don Cherry’s rock ’em sock ’em highlights aren’t enough for you and you want to get more in-depth analysis and information on hockey fights, check out Knuckle Junction on the Web. | |
| Sin Bin 🌐 A list of this seasons most bone shakin’, tooth breakin’, rock ’em sock ’em shootouts at the ole’ Knuckle Junction. |
a blow with the fist.
| ‘Ruby Ransom’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 I gave his wrist a dose of knuckle medicine. |
(US) a boxer.
| Bowery Life [ebook] Dey wants ter go on de stage an’ look pritty, an’ be among de actorines all de time. How kin a knuckle-pusher be an actor? | |
| Elevator Constructor 14 10/2: We cannot believe that he was a two-fisted knuckle pusher by instinct. | |
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 11 Dec. 6B: Lemuel Rogers [...] a former knuckle pusher. | |
| Stand Still Like the Hummingbird 167: Call yourself judge, stool pigeon, priest, knuckle pusher, pimp, Salvation Army Nell, prostitute or pickpocke. |
(orig. US) a blow from a fist, esp. to the mouth.
| in Sun. Graphic 10 Aug. in Norman’s London (1969) 27: He’s liable to bung you a knuckle sandwich without so much as a by your leave. | |
| Norm and Ahmed (1973) 12: I administered a knuckle sandwich to him. | |
| [title] Knuckle Sandwich: Growing Up in the Working-class City. | |
| Breaking Out 233: How would you like a couple-a-nuckle sandwiches to chew on? | |
| West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 93: To harden gnarled hands to bunch into thick mitts or knuckle sandwiches. | |
| Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 47: Bronk offers Artie a fist sandwich. | |
| Kowloon Tong 193: ‘I was going to give him a going-away present,’ Bunt said. ‘A knuckle sandwich,’ Betty said. | |
| Cartoon City 204: ‘Now you’re asking for a fist sandwich,’ Pat said. | |
| A Steady Rain I i: Oh, he’s so sensitive. So I wrapped him in a headlock and give him a knuckle sandwich. |
(US) a beating, a punch.
| Criminal Life (NY) 19 Dec. n.p.: That crowd of dungarees [...] must scatter, or expect knuckle sauce. |
masturbation.
| OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 knuckle shuffle n. male masturbation. |
(US) a punch in the mouth.
| Career of Puffer Hopkins 223: ‘Joe Marsh’s distributing knuckle soup, tonight, and he wants you to take a sup.’ ‘Never mind quite yet,’ cried the sturdy-shouldered young gentleman [...] ‘don’t you throw your legs quite so much ox-fashion or knockin’ down time’ll come afore tomorrow daylight!’. |
(US prison) coded communication between prisoners achieved by rapping their knuckles on their cell walls.
| Star Rover (1963) 157: Our very knuckletalk was a violation of the rules. |
a punch in the face or mouth.
| ‘Half-Size Homicide’ in Speed Detective Nov. 🌐 I spooned him a helping of knuckle tonic; dumped him floundering. |
In phrases
virtually penniless.
| London Life 26 July 2/1: Lawrence, a comp. on the knuckle. | |
| Daily Tel. 4 Aug. 2, col. 1: I once had the honour of being present at a ‘select harmonic’ [...] for the benefit of someone who was down on the knuckle bone in consequence of having been put away since the previous October [...] and only just now released [F&H]. | |
| ‘On the Shelf and Off It’ Sporting Times 18 Jan. 1: It must be admitted that she was somewhat adjacent to the knuckle, although otherwise hale and hearty. | |
| Autobiog. of a Gipsey 413: S’elp me never, I was down on the knuckle when I got there. | |
| Behind A Bus 89: I got with queer company and gambled away my money, and wasted time till I was right down on the knucklebone. | |
| No. 5 John Street 92: I tell yer, I was down on my back seam then. [...] 294: You blued many another maiden aunt at the races, afore you come down to your knuckle-bone. | |
| Fact’ry ’Ands 206: ‘Fair on my knuckle-bone,’ said the printer. | |
| (con. 1930s) Muvver Tongue 18: In really desperate need, he is ‘down on the knucklebones of his arse’. |
(Aus.) to have a fist-fight.
| By Tropic Sea and Jungle in DSUE (1984). | |
| Shiralee 51: They reckon he can go the knuckle, too. | |
| Holy Smoke 46: I s’pose he picked the biggest jokers among his mob because Shad, Mesh and Ab, bein’ from outa town, was dark horses, and might be able to go the knuckles a bit themselves. | |
| G’DAY 81: Before long someone else will stick their bib in, and [...] some bloke decides to go the knuckle and gets done over. | |
| Bug (Aus.) 24 Feb. 🌐 Or, most shameful of all, too pissed or just not mean enough to be able to go the knuckle with some other fuckknuckle in a respectable and competent way when 23 sheets to the wind. | |
| Lingo 45: The many other terms for fighting give an idea of the importance of this activity in larrikin life. bump, comb down, dish, dong, tob, spike, sort out, stonker, rip into, do, go the knuckle on, weigh into, wipe and quilt. | |
| (con. 1945–6) Devil’s Jump (2008) 142: Max [...] was jumping around and shadow-boxing [...]all ready to go the knuckle. |