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- DictionaryKnock up
- ▪ make something in a hurry
- ▪ make a woman pregnant
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?
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.
knock something up. to prepare or make something quickly and without much effort. She knocked up a meal in ten minutes. See knock up in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Definition of knock up phrasal verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
1. phrasal verb. If you knock something up, you make it or build it very quickly, using whatever materials are available. [British, informal] 2. phrasal verb [usu passive] If a woman is knocked up by a man, she is made pregnant by him. [informal, vulgar] When I got knocked up, the whole town knew it.
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.
knocked up. 1. Lit. battered; beaten. Sally was a little knocked up by the accident. This book is a little knocked up, so I'll lower the price. 2. Sl. intoxicated. Bill was knocked up and didn't want to drive. Wow, was that guy knocked up! 3. Inf. pregnant; made pregnant. Sue got knocked up but won't say who the father is. See also: knock, up.
Idiom: knock someone up Meaning. Idiom: knock someone up (knock up someone) to get someone pregnant; Note: This is slang. It's an informal expression that has a negative connotation (it is not a polite way to say something). Example sentences — My brother knocked up his wife again—they already have six kids.
