English Explanatory Dictionary

knock off

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

To halt one's work or other activity.
To kill.
To defeat.
To remove, as a discount or estimate.
To rob.
To make a copy of, as of a design.
To assign (an item) to a bidder at an auction, indicated by knocking on the counter.
To have sex with (a woman).
To accomplish hastily.
To remove (something or someone) by hitting.

noun

Nonstandard form of knockoff.

Pronunciation

En-au-knock off.ogg

Word forms

knock off knocks off knocking off knocked off knock offs

Etymology

In the verb sense of stopping work, said to be from the practice aboard slave galleys to have a man beat time for the rowers by knocking on a block or drum; when he stopped, the rowers could rest.

Synonyms

call it a day call it a night down tools bump off do away with whack annihilate bag baptize bereave of life blight bring down bury cack compromised to a permanent end croak crush dash deactivate dead demolish destroy dispatch dispose of do do in dust eliminate end eradicate ex exterminate finish finish off flatten grease knock off lay waste to make away with merc mortify neutralize obliterate off pay off pick off polish off pop off punch someone's ticket put an end to put down put someone out of their misery put six feet under put to sleep ravage rub out ruin scotch scupper scuttle

Related words

knock down knock it off knock one's socks off knock over bump off

Derived words

knockoff knock off someone's socks knock someone off his perch knock someone's block off

Translations

Hungarian: kinyír

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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