knock the bottom out of

Idioms  

1. Also, knock the props out from under. Render invalid, undermine. For example, The discovery of another planet that might support life knocks the bottom out of many theories, or Jane's skilled debating knocked the props out from under her opponent. The first expression dates from the late 1800s, the variant from the first half of the 1900s.

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Example Sentences

But analysts caution that while metallurgical coal prices are high now, global factors could easily knock the bottom out of the market, leaving local workers stranded — just as they were in 2015, when Corsa idled two mines in Somerset County, cutting more than 100 jobs.

From Washington Post

One of the hardest decisions to make is to introduce a new, lower-priced product that would seem to knock the bottom out of your own market and margin.

From Inc

He knew that meant the breeze had already awakened somewhere not far away, and that when the sea that it was stirring up came down on them it would not take it very long to knock the bottom out of the Shasta.

From Project Gutenberg

After a few minutes he rose, and said: "I'll go and look at the fittings, and then I'll turn this little matter of yours over again, and see if I can't knock the bottom out of it, I'm kinder fond of these sort of things."

From Project Gutenberg

It would be easy enough to knock the bottom out of the scheme by bringing the police into it; her nervousness at the mention of them had shown that plainly.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• erode
• frustrate
• hurt
• impair
• ruin
• sabotage
• sap
• subvert
• threaten
• thwart
• torpedo
• undercut
• weaken
• wreck