Green’s Dictionary of Slang

knob n.

1. representative of body parts.

(a) the clitoris.

[UK]Wandring Whore II 12: [She] gave them Instructions to [...] commend his Trap-stick, pluck their coats above their thighes, their smock above their Knees, bidding him thrust his hand into the best C— in christendom, tickling the knobs thereof.

(b) the head.

[UK]New Canting Dict. n.p.: knob The Head or Skull.
[Ire]K. O’Hara Tom Thumb II iii: Bear off the carcasses; lop off his knob.
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]Sporting Mag. Nov. IX 106/1: Pallas, who sprung out of Jupiter’s knob.
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[US]N.-Y. Eve. Post 10 July 2/4: The Boy [...] planted a tremendous blow upon the Champion’s knob.
[US]D. Crockett in Meine Crockett Almanacks (1955) 125: I hit him a crack over his knob with my big steering oar.
[US]Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 26 Nov. n.p.: She put in a left hander which told well upon his knob.
[UK]Swell’s Night Guide 108/2: Attic, the head, brain pan, the knob, the nut, the canister.
[Aus]Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 18 Apr. 3/5: Kitchen gave one on the knob and got away.
[US]Matsell Vocabulum.
[UK] ‘Cheap John’ in Prince of Wales’ Own Song Book 51: Talk of macassar, to make your hair grow [...] Mine is the stuff, lads, to put on your knob.
[UK] ‘’Arriet on Labour’ in Punch 26 Aug. 89/1: Them golden tresses [...] Was all tight knotted round ’er knob.
[Aus]C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 42: Knob, the head.
[US]H. Green Maison De Shine 188: Bill ain’t above hittin’ a gelmun on the back o’ the knob ef he saw a opportunity.
[US]B. Fisher Mutt & Jeff 3 Feb. [synd. cartoon] I look ten years younger. Mutt can’t kid me about my knob any more.
[Aus]C.J. Dennis ‘War’ in Moods of Ginger Mick 26: An’ when yeh ’ear I’ve took a soljer’s job / I give yeh leave to say I’ve done me block / An’ got a flock uv weevils in me knob.
[US]Ade Hand-made Fables 262: He never got Gettysburg straightened out in the Knob until after he visited the Battlefield.
[US]O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 103: What dam-fool play yu got in that ossified knob yu put yore hat on?
[US]N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 18: All a guy does is get his knob shaved by the barber.
[US]L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 3: He’s got a real crazy beat and a weird kick that will carve your knob.
[US](con. 1945) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 301: The sergeant nudged the head of the man. It snapped off and tumbled towards the feet of the naked prisoner. Only then did he cry out and do a little dance to avoid being touched by the blackened loose knob of his buddy.

(c) the penis; used generically for sexual intercourse (see cite 2023).

[UK]Peeping Tom (London) 36 142/2: [A]t push the second, she will have a flush in the hand besides his Nob in Crib, but will play out before his done Pegging.
[UK]‘Donewell’ Green Girls 13: With her free hand she took hold of the knob, that caressed her so deliciously.
[UK]‘Ramrod’ Nocturnal Meeting 64: The hard knob went further and further in, and presently it was stuck full length in my bleeding cunt.
[UK] ‘Twins’ in Bold (1979) 226: Women they pray for it, / Brown hatters pay for it, / Knob, glorious knob.
[UK]‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 115: There’s more fucking cheese on your knob than hair on your block.
[US] in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 51: This knob out in front attracted foul cunt.
[UK]K. Amis letter 24 Sept. in Leader (2000) 480: Shall have to plead impotence, phallic stricture, boils on the knob, knob that is, hernia, clap &c.
[UK]G. Freeman Undergrowth of Lit. (1969) 71: Then he stooped and pressed his lips to the crown of King Prick’s knob.
[US]D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 111: I’ll let you polish this knob until it spits.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett Godson 109: Kirsty had her mouth around his knob now.
[UK]F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 124: Knob’s Law – that’s what you’re ruled by, Wayne. As soon as there’s a fire in your loins, there’s a freeze-up in your brain.
[Ire]R. Doyle Commitments 36: What’s healthy abou’ gettin’ sand on your knob?
[US]R.P. McNamara Times Square Hustler 55: They suck on your knob for a little bit.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] Kathy had her tongue in his ear, a hand on his knob and was starting to softly moan a little and grind against him.
[Scot]I. Welsh Filth 6: She’d suck his fuckin knowb right there [...] if he asked her tae.
[UK]Guardian Weekend 3 July 3: You’d have to prove that Marx had knob-rot and all.
[UK]J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 44: He’s used a porno mag tae make his wraps. I’ve got a bit of some guy’s knob on mine, mid-cum-shot, gross.
[Ire]L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 62: [I]t’s only a fucking piano, it wasn’t your knob you lost.
X 26 Dec. 🌐 This is one of the sad things about being single. You know. That, and a lack of knob.

(d) (also cock-knob, nob) the head of the penis.

[UK]Rosa Fielding 73: I felt no pain until the hot plum-shaped knob came against my virgin barrier.
[UK]‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) I 67: The next instant something seemed to tighten round its knob, another furious thrust, — another, — and a sharp cry of pain. [Ibid.] II 242: For two days afterwards, that funny sense of fullness came over my cock-knob, then the tingling, then the desire for cunt.
[UK]Sheaves from an Old Escritoire 108: He gently forced his way through the tender lips as they tightened round the knob.
[UK]Confessions of Lady Beatrice 5: Edward turned. His knob burned in his turning against my thigh.
[US] in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 233: The size of my phallus / Was just right for Alice / Till the night that she bit off the knob.
[UK]Nunnery versus Fuckery 9: Sister Rosemary raised her eyes and found herself staring at the red, bulbous nob of Joey’s prick.
[US]Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
[US]P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 78: You should hear the guys at school. ‘Suck my dick, slob on the knob, lick my stick’.
[US]‘Bill E. Goodhead’ Nubile Treat 🌐 She relished the feel of his wet cock-knob on her lips.
[US]Doctor Dan ‘Horny Family’ 🌐 Jason was very well endowed for his age. It was at least seven inches long and had a huge crimson knob.

(e) (also knobbies) a female breast, usu. in pl. as knobs.

[US]‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana II 108: K stands for Knobbies / Like pumpkins they grow.
[US] in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 77: She had her good points [...] especially those at the end of her knobs.
[US]‘Troy Conway’ Cunning Linguist (1973) 152: I put my hands on her splendid knobs.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 141: There are a number of vernacular terms that refer to a woman’s breasts as big, tasty, touchable, and formidable – [...] knobs, guns, headlights.
[UK](con. 1956) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 66: Who do I see in a tight sweater, with knobs like this?
[Ire]G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Knobs (n): breasts.

(f) (US) spec. a woman’s nipple, usu. in pl. as knobs.

[US]H. Miller Roofs of Paris (1983) 69: She grabs my balls and rubs the knobs of her bubs against my chest.
[US]R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 51: She got hair on her pussy / That sweeps the floor. / She got knobs on her titties / That open the door.
[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

(g) (US black) the knee, usu. in pl. as knobs.

[US]D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 76: Knees— [...] knobs.

(h) (US teen) in fig. use of sense 1c, a general term of abuse.

[UK]B. MacMahon Children of the Rainbow 14: So are we, you bothered knob of an ex-jockey.
[Aus]T. Winton Human Torpedo 94: ‘Hey, you little knob!’ cried the guy behind the counter.
[UK]N. Griffiths Stump 54: I know it’s fuckin Welsh, yer knob.
[SA]Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 9 Jan. 🌐 The Newlands crowd called Kevin Peterson a ‘knob’. This provoked him to throw beer at his tormentors.
[UK]J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 33: He was such a knob.
J. Phillips on Twitter 20 Dec. 🌐 Remember people this anonymous knob doesn't represent you.
[Ire]P Howard Braywatch 16: [of in-laws] ‘Two focking knobs’.

2. in gambling use.

(a) a swindling fairground game, also called ‘under and over’.

[UK]W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 11: This is what he calls the ‘Knob,’ played with dice, or ‘under and over’.

(b) see nob n.1 (9)

3. (US black) in pl., stylish, up-to-date shoes with shined toecaps [? the shape of the toecap].

[US]B. Seale Seize the Time 306: Knobs are up-to-date, stylish shoes with well-shined toes.

4. (US) the police.

H.B. Darrach Jr. ‘Sticktown Nocturne’ in Baltimore Sun (MD) 12 Aug. A-1/1: A wandering tale about how he and three other barnacles had ‘shekeled in’ recently to get a ‘snake ranch’ (which he explained was a room hired for a party); how the knobs had raided them.

5. a blow.

[US]P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 132: We had tangled and dealt up a storm. I had gotten my lumps from Brew’s fists. But he had caught some Thomas knobs on his side jaw, too.

In compounds

knob-end (n.) [SE end; lit. the glans penis]

a general derog. term.

[Scot]I. Welsh Trainspotting 303: The customer’s always right, even if he’s a fuckin knob-end.
[UK]N. Griffiths Sheepshagger 239: Remember that twat of a judge [...] Fuckin knob-end he was, aye.
M. Rowason on Twitter 17 Oct. 🌐 Maybe God sent us Brexit to flush out the seriously deranged fascistic knobends who want to deport or lock up everyone different from them.
knob-gobbling (n.) [gobble v.1 (2)]

fellatio; thus knob-gobbler, a fellatrix or fellator.

[US]Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 198: On the other hand they may indulge in a 69, with reciprocal muff-noshing and knob-gobbling, if they are both linguists.
[US]R. Palmer Deviant Memoirs 19: eah I mean you, you little sociopathic, knob-gobbling fuck!
[Aus]me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 You’ gobblin’...me...knob!
knobhead (n.)

see separate entry.

knob-job (n.) [job n.2 (2)]

(orig. US) fellatio.

[US]R. Barrett Lovomaniacs (1973) 49: You don’t get any nookie, because you have got better things to do [...] Like a knob job for the Velvet Voise.
[US]E. Torres After Hours 56: Woody took off with Carmen [...] Knob-job.
[US](con. 1967) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 60: He’d never had his cock sucked [...] The part of St. Louis he grew up in had a lot more Baptist churches than knob jobs.
[US]H. Max Gay (S)language.
[US]M.Martinez Red Bikini Dream 138: I got scared that she might just go down on him right where they sat. Give him a knob-job right over there.
[US]J. Patrick Raw Recruits 134: Except for not being able to put my hand onto the back of his head and grind his gorgeous jarhead face down even harder onto my dick, that knob-job was the very definition of a good time on liberty.
L.L. Hayslip When Heaven and Earth Changed Places 302: Not even a fucking knob job in twelve months!
knob-jockey (n.) [jockey n.2 (4b)]

1. a sexually voracious/successful male.

[UK]S. Collins Good Guys Wear Black 186: He obviously thought he was Top Knob Jockey Banana, a real geezer.
N. Chuma Memoirs of My Struggles 446: The grand national surely taught me the true meaning of the phrase ‘Knob Jockey’ because those ladies rode my knob length by length like a jockey on Sea Biscuit.

2. a general insult, implying that the male subject is a masturbator or a homosexual.

Big Ben Kennedy.com Journal 24 Jul. 🌐 ‘Can I not cuss for 3 hours?’ I should be able to, but just in case let me get it out of my system now... Shit, Fuck, Bitch, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, [...] Knob Jockey.
[UK]N. Griffiths Stump 86: The smell down here doesn’t bother me, nor does the shouting knob-jockey behind me.
[US]K. Adams Cruel Summer 80: The daughter of a coked-up knob-jockey nutter.
[SA]T. Richman Is It Just Me 21: He still comes across as a self-important, rude, smug, pompous, not-as-clever-as-he-thinks-he-is, world-class knob jockey.

3. a sexually voracious woman.

[Ire]B. MacLaverty Matters of Life and Death 185: You become a raving knob jockey. Fuckin Miss Posh panting for it.
knob polisher (n.)

1. a young male prostitute; thus knob polish, to masturbate.

[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
Sex-Lexis 🌐.
[US]R. Price Tom Hubbard Is Dead 57: I noticed you and him talking and I thought you found yourself a new knob-polisher.

2. (N.Z. prison) to see oneself as more important, powerful than one is [? polish the knob , i.e. the fantasist is ‘sucking himself off’].

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 102/1: knob polisher n. = kackle pants.
knob shiner (n.)

1. a masturbator; thus knob-shining n.

[UK]Roger’s Profanisaurus 🌐 knob shiner n. Someone who is always prepared to polish a pink oboe.
Sex-Lexis 🌐 knob polisher. knob polishing. knob sack. knob shining.

2. a general term of abuse.

Big Ben Kennedy.com Journal 24 Jul. 🌐 ‘Can I not cuss for 3 hours?’ I should be able to, but just in case let me get it out of my system now... Shit, Fuck, Bitch, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits, Twat, Asswipe, Knob Shiner, Jerkoff.

3. a homosexual.

(con. 1990s) R. Griffiths British Queer Cinema 191: Jamie is able to produce a veritable tirade of derogatory names for being queer (shirt-lifter, knob-shiner, etc.).
knobstick (n.)

see separate entry.

In phrases

carve someone’s knob (v.)

(US black) to explain, to make understand.

[US]L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 3: He’s got a real crazy beat and a weird kick that will carve your knob.
do the knob (v.)

to take notice.

[Aus](con. 1940s) T.A.G. Hungerford Sowers of the Wind 204: Darcey merely laughed. [...] ‘All right, don’t do the knob! but in case you’re interested one of the Indians [...] looks like croaking.’.
knob high to a ladybug (adj.) (also dick high to a midget)

(Aus.) of a person, very short.

[Aus]N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] It’s 1998 and here I am, knob high to a ladybug – or 11 in proper English – and on a fishing adventure with the old man.
[Aus]N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I was dick-high to a midget and a flat-out 50kg wringing wet.
lose one’s knob (v.)

(Aus.) to go mad, to break down.

[Aus]Aussie (France) 10 Jan. 10/1: My oath, that camp was a roughie; a terrible windy job: / We ’ad casualties every day – I was loosin’ me bloomin’ knob.
polish the knob (v.) (also polish the tool)

to fellate.

[US] in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 345: See that girl in blue. / She’ll polish your knob if you ask her to.
[US]H. Rhodes A Chosen Few (1966) 205: How much woul’ja charge t’polish a knob real quick without bitin’?
[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 156: Prison fellation is [...] polishing the knob.
[US]Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 63: Polish the Knob The act of oral sex.
[US]B. Gifford Night People 118: Wake me up with them fat lips polishin’ the knob.
[UK]J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 146: I’m greeted by the sight of some junkie hooker [...] about to give me a blow-job with Mister Mortimer and Clarkie egging her on, telling her I’ve just got out of the boob and [...] ain’t had it polished for a five stretch.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 143/1: polish the knob v. (also polish the tool) to perform fellatio.
[US]S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘I was at the top of the stairs polishing some jagoff’s knob from the State’s Attorney General’s office’.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

knob-knocker (n.)

(US tramp) a safe cracker.

[Can](con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 221: Knowing they were knob-knockers, I didn’t connect with them.
knob-twiddler (n.) (also knob-twister) [the knobs on the betting board]

(Aus.) a bookmaker.

[Aus]Truth (Brisbane) 5 Dec. 13/2: Outstanding reversal of form at Randwick yesterday was when the knob-twiddlers opened their hearts and bet sevens the field in [...] the Macquarie Grove Handicap.
[Aus]Truth (Sydney) 30 may 12/5: If Allan produced a merry-go-round horse in a race on Sydney tracks, the bag boys would install it favorite. This trainer is certainly feared by the knob-twisters.
[Aus]Truth (Sydney) 14 May 27/1: The knob-twiddlers were well oiled about him today; as he was always an 8/1 chance.
[Aus]Truth (Sydney) 12 Mar. 32/3: Tanport opened at 33/1 and when not a penny came for him the big-hearted knob twisters rolled her price to 50/1, with still no takers.
[Aus]Canberra Times (ACT) 9 July 12/2: According to Mr Regan, the bookmakers are less ‘generous hearted’ than they used to be and the trek around the ring in search of a ‘knob-twiddler’ who will take a larger-than-average wager is getting longer.

In phrases

with knobs on (also with nobs on) [i.e. with ‘extras’]

1. embellished, with ‘add-ons’, to the utmost.

[UK]‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 162: Westerners would bait the east end, gently, as a bit of the real life-with-knobs on.
[UK]Dly Herald 15 Oct. 5/6: In spite of all this the Bruce party lost with knobs on.
[UK]M. Morris Dark Tumult 237: ‘Coo, there’s a life for you, Alf!’ ‘Life with knobs on all right.’.
[UK]G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 4: The velvet ’and in the iron glove I’d give ’em, miv knobs on.
[UK]H.E. Bates A Little of What You Fancy (1985) 488: Meanwhile fondest salutations and all that. Avec knobs. Bless.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 25 Oct. 4: It’s the Americans who have given us, or given us back, the Hallowe’en traditions. With knobs on.

2. (usu. UK juv.) a retort meaning the same to you and more so.

[UK]H. Graham Last of the Biffins 217: As a wit he certainly lived up to the family motto: ‘Tu quoque nobiscum,’ which has been popularly rendered, ‘The same to you, with knobs on’.
[UK]E. Waugh Vile Bodies 135: Same to you, old boy, with nobs on.
[UK]G. Fairlie Bulldog Drummond Stands Fast 16: ‘This is no laughing matter.’ ‘Tell that to your husband with knobs on!’.
[UK]Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 28: If she had added ‘With knobs on’, it would, of course, have made it stronger.
[UK]I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 66: Same to you with knobs on, / Cabbages with clogs on.
[UK]Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 24: ‘Hey!’ I said. ‘Hey to you with knobs on,’ she replied.
[UK]K. Waterhouse There is a Happy Land (1964) 13: Same to you with knobs on.
[SA]P. Slabolepszy ‘Over the Hill’ in Mooi Street (1994) 51: Bugger off, man [...] and the same to you with brass bladdy knobs on it!
[Ire](con. 1970s) G. Byrne Pictures in my Head 66: ‘Merry Christmas, Barney.’ ‘Same to you, lads, with knobs on.’.
[UK]Guardian Editor 21 Jan. 20: The feeling is returned with knobs on.

3. for certain, absolutely.

[UK]G. Blake Shipbuilders (1954) 23: ‘Is Motherwell goin’ to bate Morton? That’s the question.’ ‘Sure. Nobs on.’ Tommy assured him. [Ibid.] 60: ‘You’ve clicked right enough,’ said the barman, impressed. ‘Sure,’ observed Danny again, ‘with knobs on.’.
[Aus]L. Glassop We Were the Rats 259: ‘My oath. We’ll give ’em Singapore.’ ‘With knobs on.’.
[UK]G. Fairlie Capt. Bulldog Drummond 55: I should say I am not displeased, with nobs on.
[UK]Wodehouse Mating Season 9: The laughing Love God is sweating away [...] once more with knobs on!
[UK]P. Theroux Family Arsenal 240: A thirty-pounder would get this fucking pile to the moon. Yeah, with knobs on.
[UK](con. 1961) J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend Scene 19: dad: You’re giving me nothing??? vivian: With knobs on.