Etymology
1. O.E.
cnocian (W.Saxon
cnucian), likely of imitative origin. Meaning "deprecate, put down" is from 1892.
Knockoff "cheap imitation" is from 1966.
Knock out "to stun by a blow for a 10-count" in boxing is short for
to knock out of time; slang
knockout "attractive person" is from 1892. To
knock oneself out "make a great effort" is from 1936.
Knock-kneed first attested 1774. Command
knock it off "stop it" is first recorded 1902.
Knocker "door banger" is from 1598;
knockers "a woman's breasts" is from 1941.
Knock up is 1663 in sense of "arouse by knocking at the door;" however it is little used in this sense in Amer.Eng., where the phrase means "get a woman pregnant" (1813), possibly ult. from
knock "to copulate with" (1598; cf. slang
knocking-shop "brothel," 1860).
"Knocked up in the United States, amongst females, the phrase is equivalent to being enciente, so that Englishmen often unconsciously commit themselves when amongst our Yankee cousins." [John Camden Hotten, "The Slang Dictionary," London, 1860]
2. From Middle English knokken, from Old English cnocian, ġecnocian, ġecnucian, cnucian (“to knock, pound on, beat”), from Proto-West Germanic *knokōn, from Proto-Germanic *knukōną (“to knock”), a suffixed form of *knu-, *knew- (“to pound on, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew-, *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up, concentrate”). The English word is cognate with Middle High German knochen (“to hit”), Old English cnuian, cnuwian (“to pound, knock”), Old Norse knoka (compare Danish knuge (“to squeeze”), Swedish knocka (“to hug”)). More at knuckle. See: Middle English '
knokken', Old English '
cnocian', Proto-Germanic '
*knukōną', Middle High German '
knochen', Danish '
knuge', Swedish '
knocka'.
Verbs referencing "knock"
Sranan
naki, Dutch
knokken, Swedish
knocka.