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

See Examples For:

knockout drops

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

The old Bowery, where they used to take your tintype by force and give ye knockout drops before having your palm read, is now called the Wall Street of the island.

From Sixes and Sevens by Henry, O.

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)

He had a horror of knockout drops and the police.

From K by Rinehart, Mary Roberts

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.