# Word for the day  knock up



## Josiah (Apr 25, 2015)

*knock up

*This expression has a number of meaning paticularly in the UK. In the US the expression is pretty much limited to references to pregnancy and how it came about.

*Definitions*

*verb (adverb, mainly transitive)*



_Also_: *knock together* (_informal_) to assemble quickly; improvise   ⇒ to knock up a set of shelves
(_British_, _informal_) to waken; rouse   ⇒ to knock someone up early
(_slang_) to make pregnant
(_British_, _informal_) to exhaust   ⇒ the heavy work knocked him up
(_cricket_) to score (runs)
_(intransitive)_ (_tennis_, _squash_, _badminton_) to practise or hit the ball about informally, esp before a match

*noun*

*knock-up*

a practice session at tennis, squash, or a similar game


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## jujube (Apr 25, 2015)

I know I got the major giggles when I was first asked if I needed a "knock-up call" on my first trip to England in 1967.  Uh, no, getting knocked-up was what I was trying to _avoid_.....


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## Falcon (Apr 25, 2015)

Knock up is two words.


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## hollydolly (Apr 25, 2015)

'Tis true , the word Knocked up is quite a demeaning way in the uk and is more commonly used among the uneducated to describe  someone who is pregnant 

To get knocked up is to get pregnant..usually by someone who's name may be unknown or conveniently 'forgotten' by  the _blooming_ mother to be.. 

A knock up call in a hotel is a pre-arranged alarm call  ( rarely used in the hospitality world now)

''Knocked him up'' in your example of the man and the heavy work isn't really correct Josiah ..mostly it would be used in the context of someone who is physically injured or ill.. rather than exhausted ... he's knocked up in hospital with a broken leg,/she's knocked up in bed at home with pneumonia  ( slang again)


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## oakapple (Apr 25, 2015)

We used to call practise badminton and tennis a knock about, perhaps the knock up is an earlier use, or from a different part of the UK.So many words have differing meanings in the English language.


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## applecruncher (Apr 25, 2015)

I've always disliked this term and never used it.  Here in US it means pregnant and (to me) is crude.  There was a movie "Knocked Up" several years ago and I refused to see it.


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## Ken N Tx (Apr 26, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> ''Knocked him up'' in your example of the man and the heavy work isn't really correct Josiah ..mostly it would be used in the context of someone who is physically injured or ill.. rather than exhausted ... he's knocked up in hospital with a broken leg,/she's knocked up in bed at home with pneumonia  ( slang again)



Sounds like "Laid up"..
.


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## hollydolly (Apr 26, 2015)

Ken N Tx said:


> Sounds like "Laid up"..
> .
> View attachment 17391



Ken the more polite here use 'laid up'' instead of knocked up..


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