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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



... grand vale on our memory. The heat of the sun was now excessive, and Masiko, thinking that it was overpowering, proposed to send forward to the ship and get a hammock, in which to carry any one who might knock up. He was truly kind and considerate. Dr. Livingstone having fallen asleep after a fatiguing march, a hole in the roof of the hut he was in allowed the sun to beat on his head, and caused a splitting headache ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone

... "Well, you wait here a moment, and I'll see if I can't knock up some sort of shelter—I used to be pretty good at ...
— The Miracle Man • Frank L. Packard

... party of them on foot upon a long journey, he overheard their observations upon his appearance and powers—"He is not strong," said they; "he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself into those bags (trowsers): he will soon knock up." This caused the missionary's Highland blood to rise, and made him despise the fatigue of keeping them all at the top of their speed for days together, until he heard them expressing proper opinions of his pedestrian powers. What he did ...
— Self Help • Samuel Smiles

... "you stay at home and take care of the house. I am strong, and well accustomed to exercise; but, depend upon it, you would knock up ...
— A True Hero - A Story of the Days of William Penn • W.H.G. Kingston

... so-called villages between Middle and Lower Kolymsk, Silgisit and Krest, making the stages of the journey 90, 180, and 240 miles respectively. A little drive like the final stage of, say, London to Durham with such short rests would probably knock up an English horse, but even our weakly teams were fit to continue after twenty-four hours at Lower Kolymsk. Krest, so named from a large wooden cross which stands amidst a few log huts, was reached on March ...
— From Paris to New York by Land • Harry de Windt



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