knockabout

[ nok-uh-bout ]

/ ˈnɒk əˌbaʊt /

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See synonyms for knockabout on Thesaurus.com

noun

Nautical. any of various fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessels having a single jib bent to a stay from the stemhead, no bowsprit being used: usually rigged as a sloop.

something designed or suitable for rough or casual use, as a sturdy jacket, a secondhand car, etc.

a slapstick comedian or comedy.

Australian. an itinerant farm hand or ranch hand; an itinerant handyman.

British Archaic. wanderer.

adjective

suitable for rough use, as a garment: a knockabout jacket and jeans.

characterized by knocking about; rough; boisterous.

slapstick: knockabout comedy.

shiftless; aimless: a knockabout kind of person.

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Origin of knockabout

First recorded in 1875–80; noun, adj. use of verb phrase knock about

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use knockabout in a sentence

We have tastes in common; for instance, we do not like knock-about brothers at a music-hall—they bore us.
Castellinaria|Henry Festing Jones
Certainly Edward Pierson shrank from the rough touches of a knock-about philosophy.
Saint's Progress|John Galsworthy
He has collected his knock-about money, his shearing, and his harvest money about the end of January.
The Crooked Stick|Rolf Boldrewood
There's a knock-about pantomime outfit at the Canterbury—Martinetti I think the name is—that's damned good.
The Market-Place|Harold Frederic

Jones brought me home on that neat little knock-about spad he's just bought.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, April 30, 1919|Various

British Dictionary definitions for knockabout

knock about

knock around

verb

(intr, adverb) to wander about aimlessly

(intr, preposition) to travel about, esp as resulting in varied or exotic experiencehe's knocked about the world a bit

(intr, adverb foll by with) to associateto knock about with a gang

(tr, adverb) to treat brutallyhe knocks his wife about

(tr, adverb) to consider or discuss informallyto knock an idea about

noun knockabout

a sailing vessel, usually sloop-rigged, without a bowsprit and with a single jib

adjective knockabout

rough; boisterousknockabout farce

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with knockabout

knock about

Also, knock around.

Be rough or brutal with, maltreat, as in He was known to knock his wife about on a regular basis. [c. 1800]

Wander from place to place, as in They were knocking around Europe all summer. [Colloquial; c. 1830]

Discuss or consider, as in They met to knock about some new ideas. [Mid-1900s] Also see kick around.