king hit

See also: king-hit

English

Alternative forms

king-hit

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Noun

king hit (plural king hits)

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, also figurative) A blow intended to incapacitate in one hit, often delivered without warning.
- 2001, Robert Manne, Exclusionary Nationalism, Peter Craven, The Best Australian Essays 2001, page 60,
  Yet still, in the cultural area, at this time it had not yet delivered the populist king hit.
- 2010, Mark Dapin, King of the Cross:
  ‘Yeah, he says he′s sorry for stealing your scooter but you deserved it, and he wants you to take him on in a fair fight,’ said Dror. ‘No king hits and no guns.’
- 2011, Mark Latham, “Correspondence: Bad News”, in Andrew Charlton, editor, Quarterly Essay, page 112:
  This is what the Australian lacks, the integrity of being itself and coming at its political opponents front-on. In its current guise, it is throwing cowardly king-hits, so much so that a mild, civilised figure such as Bob Brown has labelled it “the hate media.”

Synonyms

sucker punch

Verb

king hit (third-person singular simple present king hits, present participle king hitting, simple past and past participle king hit)

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, also figurative) To attack a victim and knock them unconscious with a single punch.
He king hit from behind and his victim fell to the floor.
- 2003 March 19-30, Cameron Stewart, The Lion King - The Lethal Touch, in The Australian Magazine, republished in Garrie Hutchinson (editor), The Best Australian Sports Writing 2003, unnumbered page,
  His most notorious transgression – and his greatest regret – was the day in 1985 when he king-hit Geelong player Neville Bruns, breaking his jaw.
- 2007August 11, Passengers say dead man (was) ‘king hit’ in fight over $20, Sydney Morning Herald,
  Passengers leaving P&O's Pacific Sun yesterday told how a man who died on board the ship had been king hit following an alcohol-fuelled fight with another man over $20.
- 2007 August 6, “Man sues club and bouncers after king hit”, in Sydney Morning Herald:
  Michael Smith came up to the plaintiff and king hit him ... he was unconscious before he hit the ground,” Mr Karimi′s lawyer, Philip Doherty, SC, told the court.
- 2008, Larry Writer, The Australian Book of True Crime, unnumbered page:
  She came up to where Tilly was shaking me like a rag doll and, without a word, she king-hit Tilly Devine and then sat on her in the street.

Anagrams

kithing