"knockabout" meaning in English

See knockabout in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Etymology: Deverbal from knock about. Etymology templates: {{deverbal|en|knock about}} Deverbal from knock about Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} knockabout (not comparable)
  1. Boisterous Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-adj-63QbOGi6
  2. Suitable for rough use. Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-adj-Abt7dL0N

Noun

Forms: knockabouts [plural]
Etymology: Deverbal from knock about. Etymology templates: {{deverbal|en|knock about}} Deverbal from knock about Head templates: {{en-noun}} knockabout (plural knockabouts)
  1. Clothing suitable for rough use.
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-c4I-vdQV
  2. A worker habitually engaged in casual employment.
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-m97Ey10S
  3. A person living in rough, violent conditions.
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-RU2kpfnN Categories (other): English deverbals, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English deverbals: 0 14 13 5 29 11 2 15 11 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 1 14 13 2 31 13 2 14 12
  4. (circus) A tumbler.
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-jWL0BYgF Topics: arts, circus, hobbies, lifestyle, performing-arts, sports
  5. (entertainment) A slapstick comedian or comedy.
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-NURYBi2w Topics: entertainment, lifestyle
  6. (sailing) A small sailboat lacking a bowsprit, of a type found primarily in the Massachusetts area. Categories (topical): Sailing
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-NAl72XYQ Topics: nautical, sailing, transport
  7. (sports, informal) An act of playing a sport casually or informally. Tags: informal Categories (topical): Sports
    Sense id: en-knockabout-en-noun-Lb5qd9xc Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for knockabout meaning in English (6.7kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "knock about"
      },
      "expansion": "Deverbal from knock about",
      "name": "deverbal"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deverbal from knock about.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "knockabout (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 January 19, Alastair Macaulay, “In a City Ballet Quartet, Two Choreographic Voices Manage to Stand Out”, in New York Times",
          "text": "I like the way Ana Sophia Scheller — replacing the injured Ashley Bouder — doesn’t exaggerate the ballet’s second lead woman, but Ms. Bouder’s blend of knockabout comedy and physical brilliance is missed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Boisterous"
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-adj-63QbOGi6",
      "links": [
        [
          "Boisterous",
          "boisterous"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I have a knockabout cello for non-concert gigs."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Suitable for rough use."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-adj-Abt7dL0N",
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knockabout"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "knock about"
      },
      "expansion": "Deverbal from knock about",
      "name": "deverbal"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deverbal from knock about.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knockabouts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "knockabout (plural knockabouts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Clothing suitable for rough use."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-c4I-vdQV",
      "links": [
        [
          "Clothing",
          "clothing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "suitable",
          "suitable"
        ],
        [
          "rough",
          "rough#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "use",
          "use#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1889, Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery under Arms: A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and …, volume 1, page 122",
          "text": "We'd had a couple of knockabouts to help with the cooking and stockyard work. They were paid by the job. They were to stay at the camp for a week, to burn the gunyahs, knock down the yard, and blind the track as much as they could.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1896, Mr. Hall, Parliamentary Debates New Zealand. Parliament. House of Representatives, page 585",
          "text": "It will prevent these shops from keeping these girls and using them as messengers or \"knockabouts\" for twelve months, and then discharging them and getting another batch in their place, which is sometimes done",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Catherine S. Manegold, In Glory's Shadow: The Citadel, Shannon Faulkner, and a Changing America",
          "text": "From what she knew, they were humble people on both sides, farmers and handymen and knockabouts who followed the crops and their best chances state to state. Some worked in the quarries. Some worked in the mills.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A worker habitually engaged in casual employment."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-m97Ey10S",
      "links": [
        [
          "worker",
          "worker"
        ],
        [
          "habitually",
          "habitually"
        ],
        [
          "engage",
          "engage"
        ],
        [
          "casual",
          "casual#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "employment",
          "employment"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "0 14 13 5 29 11 2 15 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English deverbals",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 14 13 2 31 13 2 14 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1983, Michael MacDonald, Mystical Bedlam: Madness, Anxiety and Healing in Seventeenth Century England, page 91",
          "text": "They denounced the peasant's passions as animal lusts and complained that vagabonds and knockabouts were \"generally given to horrible uncleanness. They have not particular w1ves, neither do they range themselves into families, but consort together as beasts.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Hunter James, Smile Pretty and Say Jesus: The Last Great Days of PTL",
          "text": "The guests were mostly reformed drunks and knockabouts who wanted to talk about their troubled trek through life",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas A. Bailey, The American Pageant, Volume I: A History of the American People, page 70",
          "text": "The Virginia assembly in 1670 disfranchised most of the landless knockabouts, accusing them of “having little interest in the country” and causing “tumults at the election to the disturbance of his majesty's peace.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person living in rough, violent conditions."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-RU2kpfnN",
      "links": [
        [
          "person",
          "person#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "living",
          "live#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "violent",
          "violent"
        ],
        [
          "conditions",
          "condition#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tumbler."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-jWL0BYgF",
      "links": [
        [
          "tumbler",
          "tumbler"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(circus) A tumbler."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "arts",
        "circus",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "performing-arts",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A slapstick comedian or comedy."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-NURYBi2w",
      "links": [
        [
          "slapstick",
          "slapstick"
        ],
        [
          "comedian",
          "comedian"
        ],
        [
          "comedy",
          "comedy#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(entertainment) A slapstick comedian or comedy."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sailing",
          "orig": "en:Sailing",
          "parents": [
            "Nautical",
            "Transport",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We sailed our knockabout around Cape Cod.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small sailboat lacking a bowsprit, of a type found primarily in the Massachusetts area."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-NAl72XYQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "sailing",
          "sailing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "small",
          "small#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "sailboat",
          "sailboat"
        ],
        [
          "lacking",
          "lack#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "bowsprit",
          "bowsprit"
        ],
        [
          "type",
          "type#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "found",
          "find#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "primarily",
          "primarily"
        ],
        [
          "Massachusetts",
          "Massachusetts"
        ],
        [
          "area",
          "area"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sailing) A small sailboat lacking a bowsprit, of a type found primarily in the Massachusetts area."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "sailing",
        "transport"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sports",
          "orig": "en:Sports",
          "parents": [
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The kids had a knockabout with a football in the backyard.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An act of playing a sport casually or informally."
      ],
      "id": "en-knockabout-en-noun-Lb5qd9xc",
      "links": [
        [
          "sports",
          "sports"
        ],
        [
          "act",
          "act#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "playing",
          "play#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "sport",
          "sport#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "casually",
          "casually"
        ],
        [
          "informally",
          "informally"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sports, informal) An act of playing a sport casually or informally."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knockabout"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English deverbals",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "knock about"
      },
      "expansion": "Deverbal from knock about",
      "name": "deverbal"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deverbal from knock about.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "knockabout (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 January 19, Alastair Macaulay, “In a City Ballet Quartet, Two Choreographic Voices Manage to Stand Out”, in New York Times",
          "text": "I like the way Ana Sophia Scheller — replacing the injured Ashley Bouder — doesn’t exaggerate the ballet’s second lead woman, but Ms. Bouder’s blend of knockabout comedy and physical brilliance is missed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Boisterous"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Boisterous",
          "boisterous"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I have a knockabout cello for non-concert gigs."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Suitable for rough use."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knockabout"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English deverbals",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "knock about"
      },
      "expansion": "Deverbal from knock about",
      "name": "deverbal"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deverbal from knock about.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knockabouts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "knockabout (plural knockabouts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Clothing suitable for rough use."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Clothing",
          "clothing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "suitable",
          "suitable"
        ],
        [
          "rough",
          "rough#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "use",
          "use#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1889, Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery under Arms: A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and …, volume 1, page 122",
          "text": "We'd had a couple of knockabouts to help with the cooking and stockyard work. They were paid by the job. They were to stay at the camp for a week, to burn the gunyahs, knock down the yard, and blind the track as much as they could.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1896, Mr. Hall, Parliamentary Debates New Zealand. Parliament. House of Representatives, page 585",
          "text": "It will prevent these shops from keeping these girls and using them as messengers or \"knockabouts\" for twelve months, and then discharging them and getting another batch in their place, which is sometimes done",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Catherine S. Manegold, In Glory's Shadow: The Citadel, Shannon Faulkner, and a Changing America",
          "text": "From what she knew, they were humble people on both sides, farmers and handymen and knockabouts who followed the crops and their best chances state to state. Some worked in the quarries. Some worked in the mills.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A worker habitually engaged in casual employment."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "worker",
          "worker"
        ],
        [
          "habitually",
          "habitually"
        ],
        [
          "engage",
          "engage"
        ],
        [
          "casual",
          "casual#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "employment",
          "employment"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1983, Michael MacDonald, Mystical Bedlam: Madness, Anxiety and Healing in Seventeenth Century England, page 91",
          "text": "They denounced the peasant's passions as animal lusts and complained that vagabonds and knockabouts were \"generally given to horrible uncleanness. They have not particular w1ves, neither do they range themselves into families, but consort together as beasts.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Hunter James, Smile Pretty and Say Jesus: The Last Great Days of PTL",
          "text": "The guests were mostly reformed drunks and knockabouts who wanted to talk about their troubled trek through life",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas A. Bailey, The American Pageant, Volume I: A History of the American People, page 70",
          "text": "The Virginia assembly in 1670 disfranchised most of the landless knockabouts, accusing them of “having little interest in the country” and causing “tumults at the election to the disturbance of his majesty's peace.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person living in rough, violent conditions."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "person",
          "person#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "living",
          "live#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "violent",
          "violent"
        ],
        [
          "conditions",
          "condition#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tumbler."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tumbler",
          "tumbler"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(circus) A tumbler."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "arts",
        "circus",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "performing-arts",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A slapstick comedian or comedy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "slapstick",
          "slapstick"
        ],
        [
          "comedian",
          "comedian"
        ],
        [
          "comedy",
          "comedy#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(entertainment) A slapstick comedian or comedy."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "en:Sailing"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We sailed our knockabout around Cape Cod.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small sailboat lacking a bowsprit, of a type found primarily in the Massachusetts area."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sailing",
          "sailing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "small",
          "small#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "sailboat",
          "sailboat"
        ],
        [
          "lacking",
          "lack#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "bowsprit",
          "bowsprit"
        ],
        [
          "type",
          "type#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "found",
          "find#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "primarily",
          "primarily"
        ],
        [
          "Massachusetts",
          "Massachusetts"
        ],
        [
          "area",
          "area"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sailing) A small sailboat lacking a bowsprit, of a type found primarily in the Massachusetts area."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "sailing",
        "transport"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "en:Sports"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The kids had a knockabout with a football in the backyard.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An act of playing a sport casually or informally."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sports",
          "sports"
        ],
        [
          "act",
          "act#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "playing",
          "play#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "sport",
          "sport#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "casually",
          "casually"
        ],
        [
          "informally",
          "informally"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sports, informal) An act of playing a sport casually or informally."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "knockabout"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (1d5a7d1 and 304864d). 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.

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