1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 23. I'm up to the knocker, I tell you.
2. (common).—In the height of fashion.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, iii. p. 243. She were a fine woman, and togged like a lady right up to the knocker.
1885. D. C. Murray, Rainbow Gold, Bk. II. ch. ii. 'He's dressed too,' he added after a pause, during which the figure drew nearer—'dressed up to the knocker.'
Knocker-face (or Head), subs.
(common).—An ugly-faced person;
ugly-mug (q.v.).
1887. A. Barrère, Argot and Slang, p. 272. Monstrico, m. (familiar), ugly person, one with a knocker face.
Knocker-out, subs. (pugilistic).—See
Knock-out, subs. sense 4.
Knock-in, subs. (common).—1. The
game of loo.
2. (common).—A hand at cards.
3. (trade).—The same as knock-out, subs. sense 1.
Knocking-out, subs. (common).—See
knock-out, subs. sense 1.
2. (Oxford University).—See knock-out, subs. sense 5 s.v. knock.
Knock-out, subs. (common).—1. A
man frequenting auction rooms and
joining with others to buy at a nominal
price. One of the gang is
told off to buy for the rest, and
after a few small bids as blinds,
the lot is knocked down to the
knock-out bidders, so that competition
is made impossible. At the
end of the sale the goods are taken
to a near hand public-house, where
they are re-sold or knocked-out
among the confederates, the difference
between the first purchase
and the second—or tap-room
knock-out—being divided. The
lowest sort of knock-outs, with
more tongue than capital, are called
babes. Hence (2) an auction at
which knocking-out is practised.
Also verbally, as an adj., and in
combination.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Knock out, an illegal auction.
1856. C. Reade, Never Too Late, xlii. This was a knock-out transaction; twelve buyers had agreed not to bid against one another in the auction room, a conspiracy illegal but customary.
1872. Athenæum, 4 May. Book knock-out . . . buying a rare Shakspeare for £20, and afterwards selling it at a knock-out for £525.
1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack. The concern would either remain for a time in shares, or would be knocked out at once, that is, resold by auction among themselves, and the profit divided.
1883. A. Lang, A Bookman's Purgatory, in Longman's Mag., September, p. 522. The auctioneer put up lot after lot, and Blinton plainly saw that the whole affair was a knock-out. His most treasured spoils were parted with at the price of waste paper.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Nov., p. 4, c. 3. He condemned the market 'rings,' and maintained that by the process of knocking out the price of food was kept up.
2. in pl. (gaming).—Dice: when in the box = babes in the wood or rogues in the stocks. See Fulhams.
3. (common).—A man or woman: used either in eulogy or in outraged propriety: also a warm member (q.v.); one who does outrageous things.
4. (pugilistic).—1. A hit out of the guard on the point of the chin, which puts the recipient to sleep, and so ends the fight. Hence, 2
