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Knock up   /nɑk əp/   Listen
verb
Knock  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. "When heroes knock their knotty heads together."
2.
To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door. "Master, knock the door hard."
3.
To impress strongly or forcibly; to astonish; to move to admiration or applause. (Slang, Eng.)
4.
To criticise; to find fault with; to disparage. "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it."
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."
(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  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."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Knock up" Quotes from Famous Books



... each side. The face and the top of the head were exposed, but the body, arms and neck were heavily bandaged. The duellists are placed opposite each other, and the seconds, who also have swords in their hands, stand one on each side, ready to interfere and knock up the combatant's sword. They say 'Auf die Mensur', and then the slashing begins. As soon as blood is drawn the seconds interfere, and the doctor examines the cut. If it is not bad they go on fighting ...
— Home Life in Germany • Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick
... great ships with much fancy work about the poop. He it was who repaired the gilt carvings in the stern-works, and made the bulkheads for the admiral's cabin. He was a decorator and beautifier, not unlike the modern painter, but he was to be ready at all times to knock up lockers for the crew, to make boxes and chests for the gunner, and bulkheads, of thin wood, to replace those broken by the seas. As a rule the work of the joiner was done by the carpenter, a much more important person, who commanded ...
— On the Spanish Main - Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. • John Masefield
... Mary and I are very poorly. Asbury says tis nothing but influenza. Mr. W. appears all but dying, he is delirious. Mrs. W. was taken so last night, that Mary was obliged at midnight to knock up Mrs. Waller to come and sit up with her. We have had a sick child, who sleeping, or not sleeping, next me with a pasteboard partition between, killed my sleep. The little bastard is gone. My bedfellows are Cough and cramp, we sleep 3 ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 6) - Letters 1821-1842 • Charles and Mary Lamb
... 'Tom Cummins was in the chair,' said the man with the brown coat. 'It was half-past four when I got to Somers Town, and then I was so uncommon lushy, that I couldn't find the place where the latch-key went in, and was obliged to knock up the old 'ooman. I say, I wonder what old Fogg 'ud say, if he knew it. I should get the ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens
... by galloping as fast as our horses would go, whenever the ground would admit of our doing so. Every moment might be of consequence. Should the Spaniards again attack the fort, we knew too well that our friends would have a hard matter to hold it. Our guide frequently exclaimed that we should knock up our steeds, or bring them to ...
— In New Granada - Heroes and Patriots • W.H.G. Kingston


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