"knock the corners off" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knocks the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocking the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "knock the corners off"
      },
      "expansion": "knock the corners off (third-person singular simple present knocks the corners off, present participle knocking the corners off, simple past and past participle knocked the corners off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Csilla Toldy, Desert Skies, page 133:",
          "text": "That's the point. He needs a father to knock the corners off him and whip him into shape.'",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Daphne Coyne, A Surfeit of Aunts, page 66:",
          "text": "[…] these prefects, about ten of them, indulged any sadistic leanings they had by making our lives as difficult as possible. This was allowed to go unchecked by the staff who probably overlooked it as part of school life designed to knock the corners off.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality."
      ],
      "id": "en-knock_the_corners_off-en-verb-kaC8sbVZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ],
        [
          "accustom",
          "accustom"
        ],
        [
          "vicissitude",
          "vicissitude"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ],
        [
          "naïveté",
          "naïveté"
        ],
        [
          "selfishness",
          "selfishness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knock the corners off"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knocks the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocking the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knocked the corners off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "knock the corners off"
      },
      "expansion": "knock the corners off (third-person singular simple present knocks the corners off, present participle knocking the corners off, simple past and past participle knocked the corners off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Csilla Toldy, Desert Skies, page 133:",
          "text": "That's the point. He needs a father to knock the corners off him and whip him into shape.'",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Daphne Coyne, A Surfeit of Aunts, page 66:",
          "text": "[…] these prefects, about ten of them, indulged any sadistic leanings they had by making our lives as difficult as possible. This was allowed to go unchecked by the staff who probably overlooked it as part of school life designed to knock the corners off.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ],
        [
          "accustom",
          "accustom"
        ],
        [
          "vicissitude",
          "vicissitude"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ],
        [
          "naïveté",
          "naïveté"
        ],
        [
          "selfishness",
          "selfishness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knock the corners off"
}