knock about

present singular third person knocks about · participle present knocking about · participle past knocked about · past knocked about

1. informaltransitiveTo hit (someone or something) all over repeatedly; hence, to behave violently towards or mistreat (someone or something).

   It was known that he would knock his wife about when he had been drinking.

   3 more examples

   I never saw quite so wretched an example of what a sea-faring life can do; but to a degree, I know it is the same with them all: they are all knocked about, and exposed to every climate, and every weather, till they are not fit to be seen.

   1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume III, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, page 44

   [Y]oung Mustafa refused to cook rice; Farraj and Daud knocked him about until he cried; […]

   1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “Book VI: The Raid upon the Bridges. Chapter LXXVI.”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1937, →OCLC, page 424

   The place also got knocked about during the English Civil War, with "the spire [of its church] having been destroyed by the artillery of the Parliamentary forces".

   2023 February 22, Stephen Roberts, “Reading … between the lines … to Wales”, in Rail, number 977, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 56

   Synonyms: knock around, knock round

2. informaltransitiveTo knock back a drink; to finish a drink.
3. informalintransitiveTo move or roam around aimlessly; to be in circulation.

   'Oh, come, sir,' protested Greatorex. 'This account speaks of a few other specimens knocking about. Surely in a year or two's time this one couldn't be positively identified as stolen?'

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

   Synonyms: knock around, knock round

   1. broadlyinformalintransitiveTo live an unconventional life.

      Synonyms: knock around, knock round

4. informalintransitiveTo be present at or inhabit a certain place.

   He [a hare] used to knock about here in Holleia, and they said he was nearly black. A good many were after him and had a shot at him, but they never had any luck, until this rascally Andreas came here.

   1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “A Day with the Capercailzies”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 77

   1 more example

   [I]n the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood confronted by the fall of a barometer he had no reason to distrust. […] "That's a fall, and no mistake," he thought. "There must be some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about."

   1902 January–March, Joseph Conrad, “Typhoon”, in George R. Halkett, editor, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume XXVI, London: Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, →OCLC, chapter I, page 92, column 2

   Synonyms: hang around

   1. broadlyinformalintransitiveTo engage in a relaxing activity in a place; to hang around in.

      I like to knock about the garden on Saturdays.

      Synonyms: hang around, potter about, potter around

   2. broadlyinformalintransitiveOften followed by with: to spend time companionably; to hang around.

      John and I used to knock about when we were younger.

      1 more example

      I used to knock about with John when we were younger.

      Synonyms: hang around, hang, hang about, knock around, knock round

   3. broadlyinformalintransitiveusually in present participial formTo be mislaid in a place.

      I’ve got some scissors knocking about in the kitchen.

      Synonyms: hang around, knock around, knock round, lie around