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Synonyms

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.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He had secured an injunction to restrain the Board from suspending his company on the grounds that suspension would force a reckless liquidation of the company's holdings, knock the bottom out of the grain market.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ben Flesh may be corruptible, and Author Elkin's spendthrift talent some times threatens to knock the bottom out of the word market entirely.

From Time Magazine Archive

They would then knock the bottom out of the Home Rule agitation.

From Ireland as It Is And as It Would be Under Home Rule by Buckley, Robert John

Any fool can knock the bottom out of this Home Defence business.

From If Winter Comes by Hutchinson, A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth)

That story should knock the bottom out of our friend's statement.

From Love of Brothers by Tynan, Katharine

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.