knock up
/nɒk ʌp/
Frequency: Zipf 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