knock up

See also: knockup and knock-up

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɒk ʌp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

knock up (third-person singular simple present knocks up, present participle knocking up, simple past and past participle knocked up)

1. (colloquial) To put together, fabricate, or assemble, particularly if done hastily or temporarily. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: knock together, run up

   I'll just knock up a quick demo for the sales presentation.

2. (British) 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. [from 17th c.]
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 15”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, page 1:

     “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.”

   • 1966, Ngaio Marsh, Death at the Dolphin, page 160:

     ‘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.’

3. (dated) To exhaust; wear out; tire out; to fatigue until unable to do more. [from 18th c.]
   • 1835, Charlotte Brontë, chapter XVII, in Villette‎^[1]:

     ‘Now, mamma,’ he said, when he went out, ‘take notice, you are not to knock up your god-daughter with gossip,’ [...]

   • 1861, John Petherick, Egypt, the Soudan and Central Africa, page 389:

     The day being exceedingly hot, the want of food had knocked up my followers […]

4. (dated, intransitive) To become exhausted or worn out; to fail of strength; to become wearied, as with labor; to give out. [from 18th c.]
   • 1856, Thomas de Quincey, Memorials, page 81:

     […] the horses were beginning to knock up under the fatigue of such severe service […]

   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, VII [Uniform ed., p. 87]:

     I met one of your dons at tea, and he said that your degree was not in the least a proof of your abilities: he said that you knocked up and got flurried in examinations.

5. (slang, chiefly US) To impregnate, especially out of wedlock. See knocked up. [from 19th c.]

   I guess his summer plans are shot now that he knocked his girlfriend up.

   • 2015, Jaime Loren, Waiting for April, Pan, →ISBN:

     “And how many other girls has he knocked up?” “Would you keep your voice down? Mom's home.” She pressed her hands to her head. “I just don't understand how you could ditch Rowan and get knocked up by Scott, like, right away.”

6. (racket sports, intransitive) 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. [from 19th c.]
   • The Tennis & Rackets Association - Tournament Rules

     Official Knock up: if the players knock up together a maximum of five minutes shall be permitted; if they knock up separately each player shall be permitted to knock up for a maximum of five minutes.

7. (bookbinding) To make even at the edges, or to shape into book form.

   to knock up printed sheets

8. (obsolete, printing) To straighten up a stack of paper.

Synonyms

• (to put together): construct; see also Thesaurus:build or (if hasty) Thesaurus:kludge
• (to exhaust): tire, wear down, wear out; see also Thesaurus:tire
• (to become exhausted): tire, weary
• (to awaken someone): bring round, wake up; see also Thesaurus:awaken
• (to impregnate): get with child; see also Thesaurus:impregnate

Derived terms

• knockup (noun)
• knock-up (noun)

Related terms

• knocked up
• knocker-up
• knocker-upper
• knocking shop

 

Translations

To exhaust, wear out

• German: erschöpfen (de)

To impregnate, especially out of wedlock

• Czech: zbouchnout (cs)
• Finnish: panna paksuksi
• French: encloquer (fr)
• German: schwängern (de)
• Russian: де́лать бере́менной impf (délatʹ berémennoj), сде́лать бере́менной pf (sdélatʹ berémennoj), обрюха́тить (ru) pf (obrjuxátitʹ) (slang)
• Spanish: hacer un bombo

practice or warm up before a tennis match

• Czech: rozehrát se, rozpinkat se
• German: aufwärmen (de)
• Italian: palleggiare (it)
• Russian: разминаться (ru) (razminatʹsja)