"knock around" meaning in All languages combined

See knock around on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knock around.wav [US] Forms: knocks around [present, singular, third-person], knocking around [participle, present], knocked around [participle, past], knocked around [past]
Etymology: From knock + around. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} knock around (third-person singular simple present knocks around, present participle knocking around, simple past and past participle knocked around)
  1. (informal) Synonym of knock about. Tags: informal Synonyms: knock about [synonym, synonym-of] Derived forms: knockaround [noun]

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From knock + around.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knocks around",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocking around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked around",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "knock around (third-person singular simple present knocks around, present participle knocking around, simple past and past participle knocked around)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"around\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Violence",
          "orig": "en:Violence",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "knockaround"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              10,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I like to knock around the garden on Saturdays.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              10,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I used to knock around with John when we were younger.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              38
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I’ve got some scissors knocking around somewhere in the kitchen.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              27,
              32
            ],
            [
              42,
              48
            ]
          ],
          "text": "It was known that he would knock his wife around when he had been drinking.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              73,
              88
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 5: Lotus Eaters]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 72:",
          "text": "He moved to go. / ― Well, glad to see you looking fit, he said. Meet you knocking around.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              127,
              139
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 December 1, “Stop & Examine”, in Rail, number 945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 71:",
          "text": "Film-making seems to run in the family. Charlie Spencer Chaplin and my great-grandmother were siblings, and my grandad used to knock around London with Charlie when they were lads.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              85,
              100
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 June 16, Eric Bulson, “Yes I Will Read ‘Ulysses’ Yes”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:",
          "text": "And Sylvia Beach, a fellow American and the fearless publisher of Ulysses, was still knocking around Paris willing to entertain questions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of knock about."
      ],
      "id": "en-knock_around-en-verb-Itr5ezjm",
      "links": [
        [
          "knock about",
          "knock about#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Synonym of knock about."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "knock about"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knock around.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knock around"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "knockaround"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From knock + around.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knocks around",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocking around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked around",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "knock around (third-person singular simple present knocks around, present participle knocking around, simple past and past participle knocked around)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs formed with \"around\"",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Violence"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              10,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I like to knock around the garden on Saturdays.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              10,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I used to knock around with John when we were younger.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              38
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I’ve got some scissors knocking around somewhere in the kitchen.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              27,
              32
            ],
            [
              42,
              48
            ]
          ],
          "text": "It was known that he would knock his wife around when he had been drinking.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              73,
              88
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 5: Lotus Eaters]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 72:",
          "text": "He moved to go. / ― Well, glad to see you looking fit, he said. Meet you knocking around.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              127,
              139
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 December 1, “Stop & Examine”, in Rail, number 945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 71:",
          "text": "Film-making seems to run in the family. Charlie Spencer Chaplin and my great-grandmother were siblings, and my grandad used to knock around London with Charlie when they were lads.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              85,
              100
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 June 16, Eric Bulson, “Yes I Will Read ‘Ulysses’ Yes”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:",
          "text": "And Sylvia Beach, a fellow American and the fearless publisher of Ulysses, was still knocking around Paris willing to entertain questions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of knock about."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "knock about",
          "knock about#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Synonym of knock about."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "knock about"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knock around.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knock_around.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knock around"
}

Download raw JSONL data for knock around meaning in All languages combined (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.