to kill. A recent, racier variant of knock off or hit.
► 'I've never spoken to anyone I'm going to knock.' (Hitman quoted in the Observer, 31 May 1987)
to have sex (with). A 300-year-old usage which has been rare since the early 1960s. It now survives mainly in variations such as knock off, knocked up or knocking shop.
to criticise, disparage. The use of knock to mean deprecate is no longer, strictly speaking, slang; it has been employed in this sense since the 19th century.
to cheat. An item of underworld slang.
► They tried to convince her it was a fair deal, but she definitely got knocked.
to steal. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.
► Willie and Andy knocked a couple of vid-eos from out the flats.
the knock
stolen goods, criminal booty. A police and underworld term derived from knock off in the sense of to steal.
credit, hire purchase. This meaning is usually expressed by the phrase to buy something 'on the knock'.
a loss or bad debt (a knocker is a debtor or welcher). The phrase usually forms part of a longer expression such as 'take the knock' or 'get the knock'. Knock here may originally refer to 'financial damage' or to the rapping of the table by a player who cannot take his or her turn in cards or dominoes.
the arrival of the police at one's home, or of a summons to appear in court. From the ominous knock at the door.
► Charlie got the knock last night.

Contemporary slang . 2014.


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