knock — OET · Shobdo

knock

verb

1 he knocked on the door marked ‘Inquiries’:

bang, tap, rap, thump, pound, hammer;

strike, hit, beat, batter, buffet, pummel.

2 she knocked her knee painfully on the table:

bump, bang, hit, strike, crack;

injure, hurt, damage, bruise;

informal bash, thwack.

3 he knocked into an elderly man with a walking stick:

collide with, bump into, bang into, knock against, hit, strike, be in collision with, run into, crash into, smash into, plough into, slam into, dash against, ram, jolt;

North American impact;

informal bash into.

4 informal I'm not knocking the company—it's first-class:

criticize, find fault with, run down, disparage, belittle, depreciate, deprecate, detract from, give a bad press to, cast aspersions on, scoff at, deride, jeer at, carp at, cavil at;

lambast, censure, condemn, denounce, revile, attack;

informal slam, pan, bash, pull to pieces, pull apart, pick holes in, maul, savage, flay, throw brickbats at, shoot down, give something a battering, talk something down, have a go at, bad-mouth;

British, informal slate, rubbish, slag off;

North American, informal trash, pummel;

Australian, New Zealand, informal bag.

▷antonyms praise.

□ knock about (also knock around) informal

1 for a couple of years we knocked about the Mediterranean:

wander, roam, rove, range, travel, travel idly, journey, voyage, globetrot, drift, coast, meander, gad about, gallivant, jaunt, take a trip, go on a trip;

ramble, stroll, saunter, maunder, amble, traipse, dawdle, potter;

traverse, travel round, roam around, range over;

rare peregrinate, perambulate, vagabond.

2 she knocked around with artists:

associate, consort, keep company, go around, mix, socialize, have dealings, have to do with, accompany, escort;

be friends, be friendly;

informal hobnob, hang out, run around, be thick with, chum around, pal around, pal up.

□ knock someone or something about (also knock someone or something around)

her husband was a brute who used to knock her about:

beat up, beat, batter, strike, hit, punch, thump, thrash, smack, slap, cuff, buffet, pummel, belabour;

maltreat, mistreat, abuse, ill-treat, ill-use, treat roughly, assault, attack, maul, manhandle;

injure, damage, cause injury to, hurt, harm, wound, bruise;

North American beat up on;

informal rough up, do over, lay into, lace into, give someone a hiding, clobber, clout, bash, belt, whack, wallop, sock, plug, deck;

archaic smite.

□ knock something back

informal

she knocked back her gin:

swallow, gulp down, drink up, swill down, swill, quaff, guzzle, toss off, consume, finish;

informal down, swig;

British, informal get one's laughing gear round;

North American, informal scarf (down/up), snarf (down/up), chug;

rare ingurgitate, bib.

□ knock someone down

two men knocked him down |

their son was knocked down by a car:

fell, floor, flatten, bring down, prostrate, topple, knock to the ground, throw to the ground, rugby-tackle;

mug, attack, assault, set upon, beat up;

knock over, run over, run down.

□ knock something down

1 the shop was closed and knocked down:

demolish, pull down, bring down, take down, tear down, destroy;

raze, raze to the ground, level, flatten, knock to the ground, topple, fell, bulldoze.

2 informal the firm has knocked down the prices of its machines:

reduce, lower, cut, decrease, bring down, drop, put down, diminish, mark down;

informal slash, down.

□ knock off

British, informal

they knock off at 5 o'clock:

stop work, finish work, finish working, clock off, close shop, shut down, leave work, finish the working day;

take a break, break, break off, rest, pause, stop, halt, finish;

informal call it a day, have a breather, take five.

▷antonyms clock on.

□ knock someone off

informal

the person who slugged me was the one who knocked off Maloney:

kill, murder, assassinate, do to death, do away with, make away with, get rid of, dispose of, eliminate, liquidate, terminate, finish off;

informal do in, bump off, top, polish off, croak, stiff;

North American, informal waste, blow away, ice, off, rub out;

literary slay.

□ knock something offinformal

1 someone knocked off the video recorder:

steal, purloin, take, make off with, abscond with, pilfer, misappropriate;

thieve, rob;

informal nab, snitch, snaffle, swipe, filch, lift, souvenir;

British, informal pinch, nick, half-inch, whip, nobble;

North American, informal heist, glom;

Australian, informal snavel;

West Indian, informal tief.

2 we expect you to knock off three stories a day:

produce, make, turn out, create, construct, assemble, fashion, put together, fabricate;

complete, finish;

mass-produce.

3 I've always been able to knock off several years from my age:

deduct, take off, subtract, take away, dock, debit, remove.

▷antonyms add on.

□ knock it off!

informal

‘Oh, knock it off,’ she snapped:

stop it;

informal cut it out, give it a rest, leave off, pack it in, lay off, quit;

British, informal give over.

□ knock someone out

1 I hit him with the axe and knocked him out:

stun, strike unconscious, knock unconscious, render unconscious, knock senseless, stupefy, daze, lay out, floor, prostrate, level;

informal KO, kayo, knock cold, put out cold.

2 England had been knocked out of the World Cup:

eliminate;

beat, defeat, vanquish, overwhelm, overthrow, overcome, get the better of, trounce.

3 informal walking that far knocked her out:

exhaust, wear out, tire out, overtire, overtax, tire, fatigue, weary, enervate, drain, sap, debilitate, enfeeble, prostrate;

informal do in, take it out of, fag out, frazzle;

British, informal knacker;

North American, informal poop.

4 informal the view from my window knocked me out:

overwhelm, overpower, stun, stupefy, amaze, astound, astonish, stagger, take someone's breath away, leave someone open-mouthed, dumbfound, confound, take aback;

impress, dazzle, enchant, entrance;

informal bowl over, flabbergast, knock sideways, knock for six, hit like a ton of bricks, floor, blow away.

□ knock up

they were knocking up before the tennis match:

warm up, practise, have a practice game, hit a ball around.

□ knock someone up

1 British, informal we were knocked up at five in the morning:

wake, wake up, waken, awaken, call, rouse, arouse, get out of bed, get up;

informal give someone a shout.

2 informal he's going to marry her—he's knocked her up:

make pregnant, impregnate, inseminate;

informal put in the family way;

British, informal get in the club;

archaic get with child.

□ knock something up

1 British, informal I could knock up some frames:

make quickly, put together quickly, prepare hastily, build rapidly, whip up, rig up, jerry-build, throw together, cobble together, improvise, devise, contrive;

make, prepare, produce, get, get ready, assemble, put together;

informal fix, rustle up.

2 British, informal Gloucester knocked up their biggest win of the season:

achieve, attain, accomplish, gain, win, succeed in making, reach, make, get, obtain;

score, chalk up, tally, record;

informal clock up, notch up, rack up, bag.

noun

1 there was a sharp knock at the door:

tap, rap, rat-tat, rat-tat-tat, knocking, bang, banging, beating, pounding, hammering, drumming, thump, thud.

2 the casing is tough enough to withstand knocks:

bump, blow, bang, striking, beating, jolt, jar, jarring, shock;

collision, crash, smash, impact.

3 a knock on the ear:

blow, bang, stroke, hit, slap, smack, crack, buffet, punch, cuff, thump, box;

informal clip, clout, wallop, thwack, belt, bash.

4 informal this isn't a knock on Dave, he's the best player we've got:

criticism, disparagement, stricture, fault-finding, denigration, censure, reproach, reproval, condemnation, lambasting;

informal slamming, panning, slagging off, flak, brickbats;

British, informal rubbishing, slating.

▷antonyms praise.

5 life's hard knocks:

setback, reversal, reverse of fortune, rebuff, rejection, defeat, failure, difficulty, misfortune, bad luck, stroke of bad luck, mishap, bad experience, blow, body blow, disaster, calamity, disappointment, grief, sorrow, trouble, hardship;

informal kick in the teeth, one in the eye, whammy.

knock Oxford Dictionary of English