Wiktionary

knocker

See also: Knocker

English

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A door knocker in Paris

Etymology

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From knock +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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knocker (plural knockers)

  1. A device, usually hinged with a striking plate, used for knocking on a door.
    • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
      Knockers in this part of the world seem intended for ornament only, — nobody seems to pay any attention to them when they’re used.
    • 2016 August 18, Ben Gallaty (lyrics and music), “Small Red Boy”, in The Bible 2, performed by AJJ:
      His tongue became a staircase, his uvula the knocker / Of an ornate wooden door that led me straight into my future
  2. A person who knocks.
    • 1963, Patrick Anderson, The Character Ball: Chapters of Autobiography, page 220:
      He was a loud knocker. Despite my usual timidity, after a bit I opened the door.
  3. A critic; one who disparages.
    • 1947, Saul Bellow, The Victim:
      "I try to give everybody credit," declared the old man. "I am not a knocker. I am not too good for this world."
  4. (informal, derogatory) A person who knocks (denigrates) something.
  5. (slang, usually in the plural) A person's breast, especially if large.
  6. (especially Cardigan, in South Wales, archaic) A dwarf, goblin, or sprite imagined to dwell in mines and to indicate the presence of ore by knocking. [18th to 19th c.]
  7. (pinball) A mechanical device in a pinball table that produces a loud percussive noise.
    • 1963, Harper's magazine, volume 226:
      A good game needs color, lights, bells, gongs, and knockers, all to assure the player he is making progress […]
  8. (dated, slang) A 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. (geology) A large, boulder-shaped outcrop of bedrock in an otherwise low-lying landscape, chiefly associated with a mélange.
  11. (slang) One who defaults on payment of a wager.
    • 2004, Carl Chinn, Better Betting with a Decent Feller, page 48:
      To the consternation of those who believed that bookies were 'knockers' (defaulters), he paid his losses with alacrity […]
  12. (slang, Eastern African-American Vernacular) A gun.
    • 2021 March 18, “Brotherly Love” (track 3, 1:01 from the start), in Dougie B (lyrics), The D.O.A. Tape‎[1]:
      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
    • 2022 February 22, “Keep a Blixky” (track 10, 1:05 from the start), in The Blixky Tape 2 (Deluxe)‎[2]:
      Last opper we caught had to pop 'em, shouldn't've left out his crib without knockers
    • 2022 October 31, “Doomsday” (track 7, 1:53 from the start), in Kay Flock (lyrics), F L O C K A‎[3]:
      Dotty my holster, totin on this knocker (Grrah, grrah)
      If we see the'Ds, bitch, move proper
  13. (slang, Eastern African-American Vernacular) An undercover policeman.
    • 2019 December 31, “Draco” (0:33 from the start), Chris Èlite (lyrics)‎[4]:
      The knockers around better do what I say so

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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