knock about

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To hit (someone or something) all over repeatedly

   To hit (someone or something) all over repeatedly; hence, to behave violently towards or mistreat (someone or something).

   • It was known that he would knock his wife about when he had been drinking.
   • I never saw quite so wretched an example of what a sea-faring life can do; but to a degree, I know it is the same with them all: they are all knocked about, and exposed to every climate, and every weather, till they are not fit to be seen.
   • [Y]oung Mustafa refused to cook rice; Farraj and Daud knocked him about until he cried; […]
2. 2

   To knock back a drink

   To knock back a drink; to finish a drink.

3. 3

   To move or roam around aimlessly

   To move or roam around aimlessly; to be in circulation.

   • 'Oh, come, sir,' protested Greatorex. 'This account speaks of a few other specimens knocking about. Surely in a year or two's time this one couldn't be positively identified as stolen?'
4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      To be present at or inhabit a certain place.

      • He [a hare] used to knock about here in Holleia, and they said he was nearly black. A good many were after him and had a shot at him, but they never had any luck, until this rascally Andreas came here.
      • [I]n the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood confronted by the fall of a barometer he had no reason to distrust. […] "That's a fall, and no mistake," he thought. "There must be some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about."

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