Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

knocker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɔk.ə/ (Australia)
  • [ˈnɒk.ə] (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˈnɒk.ə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˈnɑk.ɚ/ (General-American)
  • [ˈnɔk.ə] ~ [ˈnɔk.ɐ̝] (Australia)
  • [ˈnɑk.ɚ] ~ [ˈnɑk.ɹ̩] (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *knukô Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *knukōną Proto-West Germanic *knokōn Old English cnocian Middle English knokken English knock Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English knocker From knock + -er.

Meanings

  1. A device, usually hinged with a striking plate, used for knocking on a door.
    • His tongue became a staircase, his uvula the knocker / Of an ornate wooden door that led me straight into my future 2016 August 18, Ben Gallaty, “Small Red Boy”, in The Bible 2, performed by AJJ:
    • Knockers in this part of the world seem intended for ornament only, — nobody seems to pay any attention to them when they’re used. 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
  2. A person who knocks.
    • He was a loud knocker. Despite my usual timidity, after a bit I opened the door. 1963, Patrick Anderson, The Character Ball: Chapters of Autobiography, page 220:
  3. A critic; one who disparages.
    • "I try to give everybody credit," declared the old man. "I am not a knocker. I am not too good for this world." 1947, Saul Bellow, The Victim:
  4. (derogatory, informal) A person who knocks (denigrates) something.
  5. (plural-normally, slang) A person's breast, especially if large.
  6. (archaic, in South Wales, qualifier:especially Cardigan) A dwarf, goblin, or sprite imagined to dwell in mines and to indicate the presence of ore by knocking.
  7. (qualifier:pinball) A mechanical device in a pinball table that produces a loud percussive noise to signal that a free game has been earned.
    • A good game needs color, lights, bells, gongs, and knockers, all to assure the player he is making progress[…] 1963, Harper's magazine, volume 226:
  8. (dated, slang) A person who is strikingly handsome or otherwise admirable; a stunner.
  9. A large cockroach, especially Blaberus giganteus, of semitropical America, which is able to produce a loud knocking sound.
  10. A large, boulder-shaped outcrop of bedrock in an otherwise low-lying landscape, chiefly associated with a mélange.
  11. (slang) One who defaults on payment of a wager.
    • To the consternation of those who believed that bookies were 'knockers' (defaulters), he paid his losses with alacrity […] 2004, Carl Chinn, Better Betting with a Decent Feller, page 48:
  12. (qualifier:Eastern African-American Vernacular, slang) A gun.
    • Last opper we caught had to pop 'em, shouldn't've left out his crib without knockers 2022 February 22, “Keep a Blixky” (track 10, 1:05 from the start), in The Blixky Tape 2 (Deluxe):
    • Lay down on that 'Tussin, I think I'ma snooze (Like, like what?) We keep knockers like this shit essential .22 long rifles, these bullets like pencils Homicide, bodies drop when we bend through 2021 March 18, “Brotherly Love” (track 3, 1:01 from the start), in Dougie B (lyrics), The D.O.A. Tape:
    • Dotty my holster, totin on this knocker (Grrah, grrah) If we see the'Ds, bitch, move proper 2022 October 31, “Doomsday” (track 7, 1:53 from the start), in Kay Flock (lyrics), F L O C K A:
  13. (qualifier:Eastern African-American Vernacular, slang) An undercover policeman.
    • The knockers around better do what I say so 2019 December 31, “Draco” (0:33 from the start), Chris Èlite (lyrics):

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
knockers Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

fart knocker · knocker-up · tin knocker · black as Newgate's knocker · tommyknocker · knockers · pork knocker · cock knocker · apple-knocker · nigger knocker · slobber-knocker · snow knocker · ring knocker · up to the knocker · fart-knocker · door knocker · cock-knocker · fartknocker · bommy knocker · knockerless · nigger-knocker · knocker up · knocker-upper · saggar maker's bottom knocker · slobber knocker · on the knocker · pork-knocker · Newgate knocker · doorknocker

Translations (7)

ru приди́ра (person who denigrates something) · ru критика́н (person who denigrates something) · kw knoukyer (mine spirit) · kw kravlost (mine spirit) · fi panettelija (person who denigrates something) · ja ノッカー (mine spirit) · ru критика́нка (person who denigrates something)