KNOCK ABOUT • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Knock about

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/nɑk əbˈaʊt/ Listen

verb

Knock v. i. (past & past part. knocked; pres. part. knocking)

1.

To drive or be driven against something; to strike against something; to clash; as, one heavy body knocks against another.

2.

To strike or beat with something hard or heavy; to rap; as, to knock with a club; to knock on the door. "For harbor at a thousand doors they knocked." "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

3.

To practice evil speaking or fault-finding; to criticize habitually or captiously. (Slang, U. S.)

To knock about, to go about, taking knocks or rough usage; to wander about; to saunter. (Colloq.) "Knocking about town."

To knock up, to fail of strength; to become wearied or worn out, as with labor; to give out. "The horses were beginning to knock up under the fatigue of such severe service."

To knock off, to cease, as from work; to desist.

To knock under, to yield; to submit; to acknowledge one's self conquered; an expression probably borrowed from the practice of knocking under the table with the knuckles, when conquered. "Colonel Esmond knocked under to his fate."

See images of 'Knock about'

Etymology of 'Knock about'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Knock about" Quotes from Famous Books

... me. I don't want to be taught how to hit ducks. I want to find out for myself. I don't care for that sort of thing," he repeated savagely; "I just ache to go off somewhere with a boy of my own age where there's no club and no preserve and no tutor; and where I can knock about and get whatever there is to ...

— The Danger Mark • Robert W. Chambers

... 'em at their own valuation: Yes. If at the country's: So-so. If at mine: Ha! I know what you'd like to ask: Should I be a Bigwig in THEIR estimation? Not I! As you knock about, Miss Freeland, you'll find out one thing—all bigwiggery is founded on: Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. Seriously, these are only tenpenny ones; but the mischief is, that in the matter of 'the Land,' the men ...

— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... annually on tours of exploration and so forth. I tell you, I am the better for it, and she is the better for it, and nobody is any the worst for it, unless it be yourself. Men who have knocked about as I have done, will continue to knock about as long as they live. In the army, out of the army, all the same. Lady Vi. understands me, and I her, and you forget, Arthur, that ...

— Crowded Out! and Other Sketches • Susie F. Harrison

... I went into the most abominable company because it amused me and I had only myself to please, and I saw what a fearfully tense grip the monster, Drink, has taken of this nation; and let me say that you cannot understand that one little bit, if you are content to knock about with a policeman and squint at signboards. Well, I want to know how these legislators can go to church and repeat certain prayers, while they continue to make profit by retailing Death at so much a gallon; and I want to know how some scores of other godly men go out of their way ...

— The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions - Joints In Our Social Armour • James Runciman

... at their own valuation: Yes. If at the country's: So-so. If at mine: Ha! I know what you'd like to ask: Should I be a Bigwig in THEIR estimation? Not I! As you knock about, Miss Freeland, you'll find out one thing—all bigwiggery is founded on: Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. Seriously, these are only tenpenny ones; but the mischief is, that in the matter of 'the ...

— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com