knocker

plural knockers

1. A device, usually hinged with a striking plate, used for knocking on a door.

   His tongue became a staircase, his uvula the knocker / Of an ornate wooden door that led me straight into my future

   2016 August 18, Ben Gallaty, “Small Red Boy”, in The Bible 2, performed by AJJ

   1 more example

   Knockers in this part of the world seem intended for ornament only, — nobody seems to pay any attention to them when they’re used.

   1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle

2. A person who knocks.

   He was a loud knocker. Despite my usual timidity, after a bit I opened the door.

   1963, Patrick Anderson, The Character Ball: Chapters of Autobiography, page 220

3. A critic; one who disparages.

   "I try to give everybody credit," declared the old man. "I am not a knocker. I am not too good for this world."

   1947, Saul Bellow, The Victim

4. derogatoryinformalA person who knocks (denigrates) something.
5. plural normallyslangA person's breast, especially if large.
6. archaicespecially CardiganA dwarf, goblin, or sprite imagined to dwell in mines and to indicate the presence of ore by knocking.First known use 18th to 19th c.
7. pinballA mechanical device in a pinball table that produces a loud percussive noise to signal that a free game has been earned.

   A good game needs color, lights, bells, gongs, and knockers, all to assure the player he is making progress[…]

   1963, Harper's magazine, volume 226

8. datedslangA person who is strikingly handsome or otherwise admirable; a stunner.
9. A large cockroach, especially Blaberus giganteus, of semitropical America, which is able to produce a loud knocking sound.
10. geographyA large, boulder-shaped outcrop of bedrock in an otherwise low-lying landscape, chiefly associated with a mélange.
11. slangOne who defaults on payment of a wager.

    To the consternation of those who believed that bookies were 'knockers' (defaulters), he paid his losses with alacrity […]

    2004, Carl Chinn, Better Betting with a Decent Feller, page 48

12. slangEastern African-American VernacularA gun.

    Last opper we caught had to pop 'em, shouldn't've left out his crib without knockers

    2022 February 22, “Keep a Blixky” (track 10, 1:05 from the start), in The Blixky Tape 2 (Deluxe)

    2 more examples

    Lay down on that 'Tussin, I think I'ma snooze (Like, like what?) We keep knockers like this shit essential .22 long rifles, these bullets like pencils Homicide, bodies drop when we bend through

    2021 March 18, “Brotherly Love” (track 3, 1:01 from the start), in Dougie B (lyrics), The D.O.A. Tape

    Dotty my holster, totin on this knocker (Grrah, grrah) If we see the'Ds, bitch, move proper

    2022 October 31, “Doomsday” (track 7, 1:53 from the start), in Kay Flock (lyrics), F L O C K A

13. slangEastern African-American VernacularAn undercover policeman.

    The knockers around better do what I say so

    2019 December 31, “Draco” (0:33 from the start), Chris Èlite (lyrics)

1. A surname.