Knob"stick` (?), n. One who refuses to join, or withdraws from, a
trades union. [Cant, Eng.]
Knock (nk), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Knocked (nkt); p. pr. & vb. n.
Knocking.] [OE. knoken, AS. cnocian, cnucian; prob. of imitative
origin; cf. Sw. knacka. Cf. Knack.] 1. To drive or be driven against
something; to strike against something; to clash; as, one heavy body
knocks against another. Bacon.
2. To strike or beat with something hard or heavy; to rap; as, to knock
with a club; to knock on the door.
For harbor at a thousand doors they knocked.
Dryden.
Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Matt. vii. 7.
To knock about, to go about, taking knocks or rough usage; to wander
about; to saunter. [Colloq.] "Knocking about town." W. Irving. -- To
knock up, to fail of strength; to become wearied or worn out, as with
labor; to give out. "The horses were beginning to knock up under the
fatigue of such severe service." De Quincey. -- To knock off, to cease,
as from work; to desist. -- To knock under, to yield; to submit; to
acknowledge one's self conquered; -- an expression probably borrowed
from the practice of knocking under the table with the knuckles, when
conquered. "Colonel Esmond knocked under to his fate." Thackeray.
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Knock (nk), v. t. 1. To strike with something hard or heavy; to move by
striking; to drive (a thing) against something; as, to knock a ball
with a bat; to knock the head against a post; to knock a lamp off the
table.
When heroes knock their knotty heads together.
Rowe.