knock the corners off

verb

To accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality.

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Meanings

verbknock the corners off (third-person singular simple present knocks the corners off, present participle knocking the corners off, simple past and past participle knocked the corners off)

present singular third person knocks the corners off · participle present knocking the corners off · participle past knocked the corners off · past knocked the corners off

  1. ambitransitiveTo accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality.

    That's the point. He needs a father to knock the corners off him and whip him into shape.'

    2007, Csilla Toldy, Desert Skies, page 133
    1 more example

    […] these prefects, about ten of them, indulged any sadistic leanings they had by making our lives as difficult as possible. This was allowed to go unchecked by the staff who probably overlooked it as part of school life designed to knock the corners off.

    2013, Daphne Coyne, A Surfeit of Aunts, page 66
Cite this entry
APA

knock the corners off. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knock%20the%20corners%20off

MLA

“knock the corners off.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knock%20the%20corners%20off. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “knock the corners off,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knock%20the%20corners%20off.

Source: knock the corners off on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.