knock up

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

1. colloquialTo put together, fabricate, or assemble, particularly if done hastily or temporarily.First known use 16th c.

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

   Synonyms: knock together, run up, construct, kludge

2. UKTo 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.First known use 17th c.

   “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.”

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

   2 more examples

   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.

   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

   ‘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.’

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

   Synonyms: bring round

3. datedTo exhaust; wear out; tire out; to fatigue until unable to do more.First known use 18th c.

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

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

   1 more example

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

   1835, Charlotte Brontë, chapter XVII, in Villette

   Synonyms: tire

4. datedintransitiveTo become exhausted or worn out; to fail of strength; to become wearied, as with labor; to give out.First known use 18th c.

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

   1856, Thomas de Quincey, Memorials, page 81

   1 more example

   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.

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

   Synonyms: tire, weary

5. USslangTo impregnate, especially out of wedlock or accidentally. See knocked up.First known use 19th c.

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

   1 more example

   “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.”

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

   Synonyms: get with child

6. intransitiveracket sportsTo 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.First known use 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. artsTo make even at the edges, or to shape into book form.

   to knock up printed sheets

8. mediaTo straighten up a stack of paper.