Dictionary

knock down en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (transitive) To hit or collide with ▸ To hit or knock (something or someone), intentionally or accidentally, so that it falls.
   • As I took the can off the shelf, I knocked down the one beside it.
   • I won't surrender / I will fight better / You lock me out, you knock me down / But I will find my way around 2012, Ingrid Michaelson, “This Is War”, in Human Again:
   • He was out tomcatting one night / When he started a big fight / And a big policeman came and knocked him down. 1977, Sonny James, “In the Jailhouse Now”, in Sonny James In Prison, In Person:
2. (transitive) To hit or collide with ▸ To demolish.
   • We knocked down the garden shed when we moved.
3. (informal, transitive) To hit or collide with ▸ To reduce the price of.
   • They knocked it down by another £5, so we bought it.
4. (qualifier:usually passive voice, transitive) To hit or collide with ▸ To disassemble for shipment.
   • The furniture is shipped knocked down, so assembly is required.
5. (transitive) To acquire money, especially illicitly ▸ To accumulate money, usually through crime.
6. (transitive) To acquire money, especially illicitly ▸ To embezzle.
7. (informal, transitive) To drink or party ▸ To drink fast.
   • I love to go down the pub and knock down pints of lager.
8. (Australia, slang, transitive) To drink or party ▸ To spend extravagantly for a celebration.
9. (transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ To approve a drinking toast by banging glasses on the table.
   • They click their glasses and knock down the toast. 1954, H. C. N. de Lanerolle, "Well, Mudaliyar!" and Other Plays (page 179)
10. (archaic, transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ To nominate (someone) to speak.
11. (Australia, New-Zealand, transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ To introduce (someone) to another, especially to a woman.
12. (transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ To reject or override a decision.
    • The judge knocked the award down to a half-million.
13. (transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ To sentence (someone) to prison or other sentence.
14. (transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ At an auction, to declare (something) sold with a blow from the gavel.
    • The auctioneer knocked it down at £50.
    • The picture was knocked down for £50.
15. (transitive) To choose, declare or approve. ▸ To sell.
    • She had to wait for the end of the sale before these matters were put up, and as the auctioneer was in a hurry to get the sale over, and most of the bidders had left, she got a full set of servant's bedroom furniture knocked down to her for five pounds[.] 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 74:
16. (dated) To send a stop signal to ensure a train is signalled to stop at the correct point.
17. (transitive) To reduce the burning of (a fire), as by cooling it with water or dirt.

Forms

Synonyms

demolish (demolish) · level · sell (declare something sold at an auction with a blow from the gavel) · level · destroy (demolish) · reduce (reduce the price of) · knock over (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · level · level

Translations (44)

fi pudottaa (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · pl powalić (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · eo debati (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · fi iskeä alas (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · rgn abàtar (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · gl outorgar (declare something sold at an auction with a blow from the gavel) · ru сбить (reduce the price of) · ru повали́ть (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · gl varexar (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · sdn lampanni (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · la prosternō (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · ru сбива́ть (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · sdn abbattì (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · no slå ned (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · fi kaataa (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · el κατακυρώνω (declare something sold at an auction with a blow from the gavel) · ru сбивать (reduce the price of) · te పడద్రోయు (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · cs srazit (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · ny kugwétsa (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · fi iskeä (declare something sold at an auction with a blow from the gavel) · es derribar (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · gl escudir (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · de umwerfen (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · ru сбить (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · pl zwalić (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · fr renverser (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · bg бруля (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · ar صَرَعَ (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · de niederschlagen (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · pl zbić (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · pl obalić (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · pt derrubar (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · it abbattere (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · gl adxudicar (declare something sold at an auction with a blow from the gavel) · cmn 砍价 (reduce the price of) · nrf abattre (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · mk сруши (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · ru вали́ть (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · gl derribar (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · sdc abbatí (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · sc abbàttiri (hit or knock (something) so that it falls) · la addīcō (declare something sold at an auction with a blow from the gavel) · mi kōpehupehu (hit or knock (something) so that it falls)