knock.
An abrupt rapping sound, as from an impact of a hard object against wood.
Meaning & usage
An abrupt rapping sound, as from an impact of a hard object against wood.
A sharp impact.
He took a knock on the head.
A criticism.
A blow or setback.
Preignition, a type of abnormal combustion occurring in spark ignition engines caused by self-ignition; also, the characteristic knocking sound associated with it.
A batsman's innings.
He had a good knock and scored well.
A ball hit into play, especially one that becomes a hit.
He played a slow but sure knock of 35.
Synonym of hunger knock.
Where this word comes from
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 From Middle English knokken, from Old English cnocian, ġecnocian, ġecnucian, cnucian (“to knock, pound on, beat”), from Proto-West Germanic *knokōn, from Proto-Germanic *knukōną (“to knock”), a suffixed form of *knu-, *knew- (“to pound on, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew-, *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up, concentrate”). The English word is cognate with Middle High German knochen (“to hit”), Old English cnuian, cnuwian (“to pound, knock”), Old Norse knoka (compare Danish knuge (“to squeeze”), Swedish knocka (“to hug”)). More at knuckle.
To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.
Knock on the door and find out if they’re home.
To strike for admittance; to rap upon, as a door.
To criticize verbally; to denigrate; to undervalue.
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
To kick a ball towards another player; to pass.
To hit a ball into play.
To impress forcibly or strongly; to astonish; to move to admiration or applause.
To bump or impact.
I knocked against the table and bruised my leg.
I accidentally knocked my drink off the bar.
To have sex with.
To prosecute under the law; to arrest, imprison, etc.
To end play by declaring one's hand to have under a certain amount of deadwood.
Where this word comes from
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 From Middle English knokken, from Old English cnocian, ġecnocian, ġecnucian, cnucian (“to knock, pound on, beat”), from Proto-West Germanic *knokōn, from Proto-Germanic *knukōną (“to knock”), a suffixed form of *knu-, *knew- (“to pound on, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew-, *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up, concentrate”). The English word is cognate with Middle High German knochen (“to hit”), Old English cnuian, cnuwian (“to pound, knock”), Old Norse knoka (compare Danish knuge (“to squeeze”), Swedish knocka (“to hug”)). More at knuckle.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.