knock up
/nɒk ʌp/
Frequency: 4.35 in modern English
Meaning
verb
To put together, fabricate, or assemble, particularly if done hastily or temporarily.
Colloquial
verb
To awaken (someone) as by knocking at the door; rouse; call; summon; also, to go door-to-door on election day to persuade a candidate's supporters to go to the polling station and vote. See also knocker up.
British usage
verb
To become exhausted or worn out; to fail of strength; to become wearied, as with labor; to give out.
Dated; Intransitive verb
verb
To impregnate, especially out of wedlock or accidentally. See knocked up.
American usage; Slang
verb
To gently hit the ball back and forth before a tennis match, as practice or warm-up, and to gauge the state of the playing surface, lighting, etc. See knock-up.
Intransitive verb
verb
To straighten up a stack of paper.
Example Sentences
- "I'll just knock up a quick demo for the sales presentation."
- "However, by dint of beating about a little in the dark, and now and then knocking up a peaceable inhabitant to inquire the way, we at last came to something which there was no mistaking."
- "“Very sorry to knock you up, Watson,” said he, “but it's the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you.”"
- "‘I didn't knock you up when I came in,’ Peregrine said. ‘There seemed no point. It was getting light. I just thought I’d leave the note to wake me at seven. And oddly enough I did sleep. Heavily.’"
- "‘Now, mamma,’ he said, when he went out, ‘take notice, you are not to knock up your god-daughter with gossip,’ [...]"
- "The day being exceedingly hot, the want of food had knocked up my followers […]"
Usage
- Colloquial
- British usage
- Dated
- Intransitive verb
- American usage
- Slang