KNOCK ABOUT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Knock about

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/nɑk əbˈaʊt/ Listen

verb

Knock v. i. (past & past part. knocked; pres. part. knocking)

To drive or be driven against something; to strike against something; to clash; as, one heavy body knocks against another.

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." "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

To practice evil speaking or fault-finding; to criticize habitually or captiously. (Slang, U. S.)

To knock about, to go about, taking knocks or rough usage; to wander about; to saunter. (Colloq.) "Knocking about town."

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."

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."

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Etymology of 'Knock about'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Knock about" Quotes from Famous Books

... annually on tours of exploration and so forth. I tell you, I am the better for it, and she is the better for it, and nobody is any the worst for it, unless it be yourself. Men who have knocked about as I have done, will continue to knock about as long as they live. In the army, out of the army, all the same. Lady Vi. understands me, and I her, and you forget, Arthur, that ...

— Crowded Out! and Other Sketches • Susie F. Harrison