knock

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: knockingroastbashbangsmashbeltrapwhackwhangstrike hardbumptap

WordNet 3.0

Noun (5)

  1. the sound of knocking (as on a door or in an engine or bearing)“the knocking grew louder”Synonyms: knocking
  2. negative criticismSynonyms: roast
  3. a vigorous blow“the sudden knock floored him”“he took a bash right in his face”“he got a bang on the head”Synonyms: bashbangsmashbelt
  4. a bad experience“the school of hard knocks”
  5. the act of hitting vigorously“he gave the table a whack”Synonyms: beltrapwhackwhang

Verb (6)

  1. deliver a sharp blow or push :"He knocked the glass clear across the room"Synonyms: strike hard
  2. rap with the knuckles“knock on the door”
  3. knock against with force or violence“My car bumped into the tree”Synonyms: bump
  4. make light, repeated taps on a surface“he was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently”Synonyms: taprappink
  5. sound like a car engine that is firing too early“the car pinged when I put in low-octane gasoline”“The car pinked when the ignition was too far retarded”Synonyms: pinkping
  6. find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws“The paper criticized the new movie”“Don't knock the food--it's free”Synonyms: criticizecriticisepick apart
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Knock \Knock\ (n[o^]k), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Knocked (n[o^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Knocking.] [OE. knoken, AS. cnocian, cnucian; prob. of imitative origin; cf. Sw. knacka. Cf. Knack.]

1.To drive or be driven against something; to strike against something; to clash; as, one heavy body knocks against another. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

2.To strike or beat with something hard or heavy; to rap; as, to knock with a club; to knock on the door. [1913 Webster]

For harbor at a thousand doors they knocked.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]
Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.— Matt. vii. 7.[1913 Webster]

3.To practice evil speaking or fault-finding; to criticize habitually or captiously. [Slang, U. S.] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

To knock about, to go about, taking knocks or rough usage; to wander about; to saunter. [Colloq.] "Knocking about town." --W. Irving.

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." --De Quincey.

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." --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]

Knock \Knock\ (n[o^]k), v. t.

1.To strike with something hard or heavy; to move by striking; to drive (a thing) against something; as, to knock a ball with a bat; to knock the head against a post; to knock a lamp off the table. [1913 Webster]

When heroes knock their knotty heads together.— Rowe.[1913 Webster]

2.To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door. [1913 Webster]

Master, knock the door hard.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

3.To impress strongly or forcibly; to astonish; to move to admiration or applause. [Slang, Eng.] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

4.To criticise; to find fault with; to disparage. "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it." [PJC]

To knock in the head, or To knock on the head, to stun or kill by a blow upon the head; hence, to put am end to; to defeat, as a scheme or project; to frustrate; to quash. [Colloq.] -- To knock off. (a) To force off by a blow or by beating. (b) To assign to a bidder at an auction, by a blow on the counter. (c) To leave off (work, etc.). [Colloq.] -- To knock out, to force out by a blow or by blows; as, to knock out the brains.

To knock up. (a) To arouse by knocking. (b) To beat or tire out; to fatigue till unable to do more; as, the men were entirely knocked up. [Colloq.] "The day being exceedingly hot, the want of food had knocked up my followers." --Petherick. (c) (Bookbinding) To make even at the edges, or to shape into book form, as printed sheets. (d) To make pregnant. Often used in passive, "she got knocked up". [vulgar]

Knock \Knock\, n.

1.A blow; a stroke with something hard or heavy; a jar. [1913 Webster]

2.A stroke, as on a door for admittance; a rap. " A knock at the door." --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]

A loud cry or some great knock.— Holland.[1913 Webster]

Knock off, See knock off in the vocabulary. [PJC]

backfire \backfire\, back fire \back fire\

1.A fire started ahead of a forest or prairie fire to burn only against the wind, so that when the two fires meet both must go out for lack of fuel. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

2. (a) A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in a direction reverse to that in which it should travel; also called a knock or ping. (b) an explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC] Backfire

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