knock about

British  

verb

1. (intr, adverb) to wander about aimlessly

2. (intr, preposition) to travel about, esp as resulting in varied or exotic experience

   he's knocked about the world a bit

3. to associate

   to knock about with a gang

4. (tr, adverb) to treat brutally

   he knocks his wife about

5. (tr, adverb) to consider or discuss informally

   to knock an idea about

---

noun

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

adjective

1. rough; boisterous

   knockabout farce

knock about Idioms  

1. Also, knock around.

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

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

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

---

Example Sentences

The 10% tariff would knock about 0.1% to 0.2% off the affected countries’ gross domestic product, Goldman Sachs’ chief European economist Sven Jari Stehn estimated in a research note.

From Barron's • Jan. 19, 2026

Today, we'll knock about 40 degrees off that number.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 28, 2022

As a result, her children knock about in similar versions of dishonesty and distress, which can lead to reader fatigue.

From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2020

The ball inside would knock about, shattering the quiet night.

From Washington Post • Jun. 27, 2018

I literally, and under whatever felt restriction of my power to knock about, formed independent relations—several; and two or three of them, as I then thought, of the very most momentous.

From Notes of a Son and Brother by James, Henry