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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Knock \Knock\ (n[o^]k), verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Knocked} (n[o^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Knocking}.] [OE. knoken, AS. cnocian, cnucian; prob. of imitative origin; cf. Sw. knacka. Cf. {Knack}.]
1. To drive or be driven against something; to strike against something; to clash; as, one heavy body knocks against another. --Bacon.
2. To strike or beat with something hard or heavy; to rap; as, to knock with a club; to knock on the door.
For harbor at a thousand doors they knocked. --Dryden.
Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. --Matt. vii. 7.
3. To practice evil speaking or fault-finding; to criticize habitually or captiously. [Slang, U. S.] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{To knock about}, to go about, taking knocks or rough usage; to wander about; to saunter. [Colloq.] ''Knocking about town.'' --W. Irving.
{To knock up}, to fail of strength; to become wearied or worn out, as with labor; to give out. ''The horses were beginning to knock up under the fatigue of such severe service.'' --De Quincey.
{To knock off}, to cease, as from work; to desist.
{To knock under}, to yield; to submit; to acknowledge one's self conquered; -- an expression probably borrowed from the practice of knocking under the table with the knuckles, when conquered. ''Colonel Esmond knocked under to his fate.'' --Thackeray.
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