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knocker-upper

noun

Etymology

By a regular pattern for (informal) nouns seen also in similar forms, such as fixer-upper and cleaner-upper; the sire sense involves an extra degree of wordplay, as an alternative surface analysis of knock (h)er up + -er is playfully apparent (who knocked 'er up?).

Definitions

  1. Alternative form of knocker-up (person who knocks to awaken in the morning).

    • In 1876, a knocker-upper on rounds in Bradford spotted a 2 a.m. house fire and saved a sleeping family.

  2. .

  3. The male who has sired a pregnancy.

    • What, Shelley is pregnant?! Who's the knocker-upper? [ = Who's the father?]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for knocker-upper. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA