knockout drops

American

plural noun

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

knockout drops British

plural noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of knockout drops

First recorded in 1890–95

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.

Under the sway of the most sublime knockout drops, I didn’t remember a thing.

From Washington Post

But Frank Brooks wasn't full of knockout drops this time, and with a clear head he was no pushover.

From Project Gutenberg

He managed to slip me some knockout drops and got away yesterday.”

From Project Gutenberg

Yet, even his quick eyesight had failed to discover the knockout drops or powder which the wily Shepard had slipped into that disastrous glass of beer.

From Project Gutenberg

On the sidewalk I tried to figure out if there had been knockout drops in the coffee Natica had brewed for me.

From Project Gutenberg

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