To knock into fits (a cocked hat, the middle of next week etc.), verb.
phr. (common).—To confound; to floor (q.v.); to punish severely. See
Cocked hat, Beat and Fits.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, 42. Knocks recit-ateeves into fits.
To knock (or take) it out of one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To exhaust;
to empty; to punish severely.
1841. Punch, i. p. 265; col. 2. The uphill struggles ... soon knock
it all out of him.
To knock off, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To leave off work; to
abandon. Fr. péter sur le mastic.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, x [ed. Nichols, 1811]. In noting of their
nativities, I have wholly observed the instructions of Pitœus,
where I knock off with his death, my light ending with his life on
that subject.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Knock off, to give over
Trading; also to Abandon or Quit one’s Post or Pretensions.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Knock-off, to give over Thieving.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v., knock-off, to conclude.
1860. Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, v. p. 25. Jack had knocked
off work in the docks some hours.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 4 Mar. Iron ship builders and other employers
will have to knock off.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 10 Aug., p. 6, col. 1. Another half-pint
when he knocks off in the evening, and before he starts for home to
his late tea.
1883. Greenwood, Odd People etc., ‘Genteel Slang’ ... With your
leave or without, he must knock off at midday.
1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, xvii. ‘Why, I heard that you
had knocked off the sea some years ago—come into an estate.’