knockout

Etymology

It is the noun and adjective use of the verb phrase knock out,^[2][3][4][5] which is formed from English knock + out.^[2] In boxing, “to knock out” was to stun an opponent with a blow so that he could not rise before the count of ten, short for “to knock out of time”.^[2] The verb knock goes back to Old English cnocian (“to pound, beat; knock on a door”), probably of imitative origin.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first use is British slang, recorded from the early 19th century: an auction at which a ring of bidders agree to keep the price low and then share out the goods among themselves.^[3][5] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1818,^[5] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1810–20.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The boxing sense, a blow that leaves an opponent unable to rise and so ends the fight, is recorded from 1882,^[2] and the adjective, as in knock-out fight, from 1884.^[2] Before the end of the 19th century the word was also used of a competition in which the losers of each round drop out.^[3] As slang it soon came to mean a person or thing of outstanding quality: Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes Do me proud well 'e's a knock out from a song of 1892,^[6][2] and by 1935 it was used especially of a beautiful woman.^[2] The adjective meaning "causing unconsciousness" was first used of drugs (a knock-out pill, 1895),^[6] the source of knockout drops.^[3] To knock oneself out, to make a great effort, is recorded by 1925, a figurative use of the boxing sense.^[2] In genetics a knockout animal has had a gene removed or made inactive.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1818 – British slang, a rigged auction in which a ring of bidders keeps the price down.^[5][3]
• 1882 – in boxing, a blow that knocks out an opponent.^[2]
• 1884 – adjective, as in knock-out fight.^[2]
• 1892 – slang, an excellent or impressive person or thing.^[2][6]
• 1895 – adjective, of a drug, causing unconsciousness: a knock-out pill.^[6]
• 1925 – to knock oneself out, to do something with great effort.^[2]
• 1935 – a strikingly attractive woman.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of knocking someone unconscious, or the state of being knocked out.^[9][10]
2. In boxing, a blow that knocks an opponent down so that he cannot get up within the set count, and the win that results; compare technical knockout.^[10][7][9]
3. A competition in which the losers in each round are eliminated, or one of its rounds: They went out in the knockout stage.^[9][3][8]
4. (informal) A strikingly attractive or impressive person or thing: Her new dress was a knockout.^[10][7][9]
5. (British slang) An auction at which a ring of dealers keeps the bidding low and later divides the goods among themselves.^[5][3]
6. In genetics, an animal from which a particular gene has been removed or made inactive.^[8][7]

Adjective

1. Able to knock someone out or make them unconscious: a knockout punch, knockout drops.^[10][7][3]
2. Eliminating the losers in each round: a knockout tournament.^[5][9]
3. (informal) Strikingly attractive or excellent.^[7][6]
4. Having a gene removed or made inactive by genetic engineering: knockout mice.^[7]

Related words

• knock out
• technical knockout
• TKO
• knock
• out

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin