knackered en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
Etymology
From the verb knacker.
Meanings
-
(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, mildly, slang, vulgar) Tired or exhausted.
I've got this job in a warehouse just now and it finishes quite early but I'm dead knackered at the end of the day so I don't know about going out and like studying every night.
2002, Robert Edenborough, Effective Interviewing: A Handbook of Skills and Techniques, pages 97–98:2003, Hugh Dauncey, Geoff Hare (editors), The Tour de France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values, Frank Cass Publishers, London, 2005, page 225, Then, it all just gets worse and worse, you don't sleep so much, so you don't recover as well from the day's racing, so you go into your reserves, you get more knackered, so you sleep less... It's simply a vicious circle.
In the course of this discussion, the (male) presenter, when uttering the word 'knackered', felt obliged to preface his animation of this word with “excuse my language”.
2020 November 12, Jim O’Driscoll, Offensive Language: Taboo, Offence and Social Control, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:So my joy at hearing his voice quickly turns to a paroxysm of anxiety as he manages by exhausted gesture and sound to let us know how knackered he feels, how desperate to get horizontal, almost from the first moment he lands in the chair.
2009, Grace Maxwell, Falling & Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins, page 84:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more knackered | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most knackered | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
cream crackered · Kerry Packered
Synonyms
cream crackered (tired, exhausted)
Translations (36)
cy wedi blino'n lân (extremely tired or exhausted) · nl kapot (extremely tired or exhausted) · es para el arrastre (extremely tired or exhausted) · de fertig (extremely tired or exhausted) · fr claqué (extremely tired or exhausted) · fi sippi (extremely tired or exhausted) · de gerädert (extremely tired or exhausted) · ca esgotat (extremely tired or exhausted) · de erledigt (extremely tired or exhausted) · sv utmattad (extremely tired or exhausted) · fr avoir la tête dans le cul (extremely tired or exhausted) · ca destrossat (extremely tired or exhausted) · es agotado (extremely tired or exhausted) · sv slutkörd (extremely tired or exhausted) · es molido (extremely tired or exhausted) · fr HS (extremely tired or exhausted) · fr éreinté (extremely tired or exhausted) · hu kimerült (extremely tired or exhausted) · fi poikki (extremely tired or exhausted) · es listo de papeles (extremely tired or exhausted) · gd claoidhte (extremely tired or exhausted) · ca plegat en dos (extremely tired or exhausted) · fi puhki (extremely tired or exhausted) · it straccato (extremely tired or exhausted) · it sfibrato (extremely tired or exhausted) · hu nagyon fáradt (extremely tired or exhausted) · ca fet pols (extremely tired or exhausted) · es harto (extremely tired or exhausted) · sv slut (extremely tired or exhausted) · fi sipissä (extremely tired or exhausted) · cy wedi ymlâdd (extremely tired or exhausted) · es hecho polvo (extremely tired or exhausted) · bg уморен (extremely tired or exhausted) · de fix und fertig (extremely tired or exhausted) · es reventado (extremely tired or exhausted) · it spossato (extremely tired or exhausted)