"knocker-upper" meaning in English

See knocker-upper in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knocker-upper.wav Forms: knocker-uppers [plural]
Etymology: By a regular pattern for (informal) nouns seen also in similar forms, such as fixer-upper and cleaner-upper; the sire sense involves an extra degree of wordplay, as an alternative surface analysis of knock (h)er up + -er is playfully apparent (who knocked 'er up?). Head templates: {{en-noun|head=knocker-upper}} knocker-upper (plural knocker-uppers)
  1. Alternative form of knocker-up (person who knocks to awaken in the morning). Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: knocker-up (extra: person who knocks to awaken in the morning)
    Sense id: en-knocker-upper-en-noun-YssND79z Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -er, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, People Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 2 39 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er: 49 4 46 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 72 3 25 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 66 2 31 Disambiguation of People: 57 0 43
  2. (in coopering, a tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole).
    Sense id: en-knocker-upper-en-noun-zbTuKupp
  3. (informal, humorous) The male who has sired a pregnancy. Tags: humorous, informal Synonyms: sire, father, dad, daddy, baby daddy
    Sense id: en-knocker-upper-en-noun-SAH1Q2Hn Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English terms suffixed with -er Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 33 9 58 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er: 49 4 46

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "By a regular pattern for (informal) nouns seen also in similar forms, such as fixer-upper and cleaner-upper; the sire sense involves an extra degree of wordplay, as an alternative surface analysis of knock (h)er up + -er is playfully apparent (who knocked 'er up?).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knocker-uppers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "knocker-upper"
      },
      "expansion": "knocker-upper (plural knocker-uppers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "person who knocks to awaken in the morning",
          "word": "knocker-up"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 2 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 4 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -er",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 3 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "66 2 31",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 0 43",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of knocker-up (person who knocks to awaken in the morning)."
      ],
      "id": "en-knocker-upper-en-noun-YssND79z",
      "links": [
        [
          "knocker-up",
          "knocker-up#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "."
      ],
      "id": "en-knocker-upper-en-noun-zbTuKupp",
      "qualifier": "a tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(in coopering, a tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in coopering"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "33 9 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 4 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -er",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              51
            ]
          ],
          "text": "What, Shelley is pregnant?! Who's the knocker-upper? [ = Who's the father?]",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The male who has sired a pregnancy."
      ],
      "id": "en-knocker-upper-en-noun-SAH1Q2Hn",
      "links": [
        [
          "male",
          "male"
        ],
        [
          "sired",
          "sire#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "pregnancy",
          "pregnancy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, humorous) The male who has sired a pregnancy."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sire"
        },
        {
          "word": "father"
        },
        {
          "word": "dad"
        },
        {
          "word": "daddy"
        },
        {
          "word": "baby daddy"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knocker-upper.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "knocker-upper"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "By a regular pattern for (informal) nouns seen also in similar forms, such as fixer-upper and cleaner-upper; the sire sense involves an extra degree of wordplay, as an alternative surface analysis of knock (h)er up + -er is playfully apparent (who knocked 'er up?).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "knocker-uppers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "knocker-upper"
      },
      "expansion": "knocker-upper (plural knocker-uppers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "person who knocks to awaken in the morning",
          "word": "knocker-up"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of knocker-up (person who knocks to awaken in the morning)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "knocker-up",
          "knocker-up#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "."
      ],
      "qualifier": "a tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(in coopering, a tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in coopering"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English humorous terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              51
            ]
          ],
          "text": "What, Shelley is pregnant?! Who's the knocker-upper? [ = Who's the father?]",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The male who has sired a pregnancy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "male",
          "male"
        ],
        [
          "sired",
          "sire#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "pregnancy",
          "pregnancy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, humorous) The male who has sired a pregnancy."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sire"
        },
        {
          "word": "father"
        },
        {
          "word": "dad"
        },
        {
          "word": "daddy"
        },
        {
          "word": "baby daddy"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knocker-upper.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/44/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-knocker-upper.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "knocker-upper"
}

Download raw JSONL data for knocker-upper meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). 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.