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What's the origin of the phrase 'Knocked up'? The ‘impregnate’ meaning of ‘knock up’ was coined in the USA in the late 19th century. There is of course another meaning to ‘knock up’, which is ‘awaken someone by knocking’.
Jan 24, 2024 · The phrase "knocked up" is an idiom that has been used for centuries to describe a woman who becomes pregnant, usually unexpectedly or out of wedlock. While it may seem like a crude and disrespectful phrase to use, its origins actually stem from a more innocent and literal meaning.
If you knock someone up, you knock on the door of their bedroom or of their house in the night or in the morning in order to wake them up.
Apr 12, 2014 · From "Knocked up" to mean "woken up", it appears that the meanings split somewhere between the 1920s and the 1940s. Does anyone know the history of how the meanings split and exactly why and how it happened?
Feb 11, 2023 · Did the phrase "knocked up" come from slavery, as a viral tweet claimed? We were asked by several Snopes readers about it and found the claim to be false.
uk / ˈnɒk.ʌp / us / ˈnɑːk.ʌp /. a short time before the start of a game of tennis or a similar sport when players practise by hitting the ball to each other: Let's have a quick knock-up before the game. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
Jun 2, 2024 · knocked up (not comparable) ( slang, principally American, sometimes offensive) Pregnant, typically outside of marriage . Synonyms: see Thesaurus: pregnant. ( slang, archaic) Exhausted; worn out or used up.
