- Informal Termsto cease activity, esp. work:to knock off at five every day.
- to stop doing something;
quit:Knock it off or you'll get into a mess. - Slang Terms Slang. to dispose of;
finish. - Slang Termsto murder;
kill. - Slang Termsto die.
- Slang Termsto get rid of;
reduce. - Slang Termsto disable or defeat.
- Slang Termsto commit a robbery at;
steal from:The gang knocked off a gas station. - [Slang. Naut.]to blow the head (of a sailing vessel) off the wind.
- to imitate, copy, or plagiarize:to knock off designer dresses in cheap materials.
- Sportto defeat (an opponent) in a boxing match by striking such a blow that the opponent is unable to rise within the specified time.
- to render (a person) unconscious:Those sleeping pills knocked me out for ten hours.
- to make tired or exhausted:Christmas shopping always knocks me out.
- Informal Termsto produce quickly, hurriedly, or with ease:He knocks out two poems a day.
- to damage or destroy:The explosion knocked out the power for several hours.
- See knock (def. 18).
- to strike (someone or something) from an erect to a prone position:to knock over a lamp.
- to distress;
overcome:When the announcement came we were completely knocked over. - Slang Termsto rob, burglarize, or hijack:He knocked over five banks.
- Slang Termsto make pregnant.
- to exhaust;
weary;
tire. - to damage;
mar:The children knocked up the new table. - to injure;
wound:He was afraid to come home from school all knocked up again. - [Brit.]to wake up;
rouse;
call:He knocked us up before dawn.
n.
- an act or instance of knocking.
- the sound of knocking, esp. a rap, as at a door.
- a blow or thump.
- Informal Termsan adverse criticism.
- the noise resulting from faulty combustion or from incorrect functioning of some part of an internal-combustion engine.
- Sport[Cricket.]an innings.
- British Terms, Business
- one of a combination of dealers who bid together, rather than against each other, at an auction, and later resell the purchases among themselves.
- an auction at which this is done.
- the sale of merchandise recently obtained by a dealer at an auction.
- bef. 1000; 1890–95 for def. 4; Middle English knokken, knoken (verb, verbal), Old English cnocian, cnucian; cognate with Old Norse knoka to thump, knock
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged See strike.
'knock down' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
bludgeon - break - deck - down - dump - fell - flatten - floor - knock - knock-down-drag-out - knockdown - level - low - mow - overthrow - plaster - run - run over - skittle - sprawl
to reduce the price of something they are selling:
She wanted $200 but I knocked her down to $175.
See also
knock-down
Price decreases
See more results »
knock something down
phrasal verb with knock verbus Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
B2
to destroy a building or part of a building:
There are plans to knock the library down and replace it with a hotel complex.
Destroying and demolishing
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to show that what someone has said is not true :
She easily knocked down every argument he put up.
Proving and disproving
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knock-down
adjective [ before noun ]
usYour browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈnɑːk.daʊn/ ukYour browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈnɒk.daʊn/(of a price) extremely cheap:
They're selling jeans for ridiculous knock-down prices.
See also
knock someone/something down (REDUCE PRICE) informal
Costing little or no money
See more results »
knock down something/someone | Intermediate English
knock down something/someone
phrasal verb with knock verbus Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
(CAUSE TO FALL)
to hit someone or something forcefully so that it falls down, or falls to a lower place:
Try not to knock the fence down when you back out of the driveway.
knock down something
phrasal verb with knock verbus Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
(DESTROY)
to destroy and remove a building, wall, or other structure:
The city is going to knock the old train station down and build a new library.
To knock down a system, practice, rule, etc. means to get rid of it:
He wants to use the WTO to knock down trade barriers.
(REDUCE)
to reduce the price, amount, or value of something:
He wanted $300 for the ring, but we got him to knock it down to $250.
The SEC knocked down their $1.5 billion penalty to $500,000.
(Definition of knock down something/someone from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)knock sb down | Business English
knock sb down
phrasal verb with knock verb [ T ]uk Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
to persuade someone to reduce the price of something they are selling:
knock sb down from/to sth She wants $120 for the bike, but I'll try and knock her down to $90.
knock sth down
phrasal verb with knock verb [ T ]uk Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
to reduce the price of something you are selling, or persuade someone to reduce the price of something they are selling:
knock sth down from/to sth They managed to knock the price down from €290,000 to €220,000 .
See also
knock-down
knock-down
adjective [ only before noun ]
informal ( US also knockdown)ukYour browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
usYour browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
extremely cheap or much lower than the usual amount:
a knock-down deal/price/rate
They are offering a full broadband internet service for a knock-down £17.99 a month.
very serious and damaging:
a knockdown battle/blow The company has had a knock-down blow.
COMMERCE US
used to describe furniture that is sold in pieces that must be joined together:
a knockdown bookcase/desk/table
Compare
self-assembly adjective
(Definition of knock sb down from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)Examples of knock someone down
knock someone down
Of course, a knock-down, drag-out free-for-all can be enormously amusing.
From Dallas Morning News
That's the knock-down, drag-out solution, which could really get ugly, and the league wants to avoid it.
From Los Angeles Times
Picking out the best games of the year is always a knock-down, drag-out fight.
From Wired
The elders proposed some creative ways of talking through disagreements before they get to the knock-down, drag-out level.
From Huffington Post
Yet in the knock-down, cheat-prone world of elite sports, some biologically based criteria are surely needed.
From Slate Magazine
We could be having a knock-down, drag-out fight off-stage, and we'd walk on stage and the rhythm would be there.
From New York Post
It's the source of the film's biggest and most honest laughs: a knock-down, drag-out display of outrageous physical comedy, performed by two actors fearlessly committing to the brutality.
From A.V. Club
The quick knock-down effect on insects, the low mammalian toxicity and the rapid decomposition of pyrethrins in the soil make it an ideal and safe insecticide.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Plus, he is only claiming to make relativism possible and coherent, he is not claiming to have a knock-down argument for it, even when it seems that he does.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It is the custom of prize-fighting audiences to cheer a clean knock-down blow.
From Project Gutenberg
After every knock-down blow she "came up smiling," as the sporting reporters say.
From Project Gutenberg
Take my word for it, that to get over the ground without a thought of the road, there's nothing like a regular knock-down affliction.
From Project Gutenberg
Just after the second knock-down, time was called for the end of the round.
From Project Gutenberg
I'm willing to admit he's too many for me in a stand-up and knock-down fight.
From Project Gutenberg
The point had been reached where one knock-down blow outweighed a bushel of arguments.
From Project Gutenberg
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.