knockout drops

American  

plural noun

1. chloral hydrate or any similar rapidly acting drug, especially one put in a drink secretly to make the drinker unconscious.

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knockout drops British  

plural noun

1. slang a drug secretly put into someone's drink to cause stupefaction See also Mickey Finn

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Etymology

Origin of knockout drops

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

"Sudden remedies are sometimes good in extreme cases, Luke," he drawled, "but administering knockout drops to a sick party is not to be recommended."

From The Ramrodders A Novel by Day, Holman

After it was all over, and most everybody that counted had swallowed knockout drops, Marjorie gives me a sidelight on what's been runnin' through her head.

From Torchy by Brehm, George

He never saw a bludgeon in his life; and he scorned knockout drops.

From Strictly business: more stories of the four million by Henry, O.

He had a horror of knockout drops and the police.

From K by Rinehart, Mary Roberts

At first I thought it might have been the hackneyed knockout drops, but tests by the coroner's physician eliminated that.

From The Poisoned Pen by Reeve, Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin)