| 释义 |
knocker
noun- an inveterate critic; a person addicted to finding faults and making criticisms US, 1898
- I hope both these books will answer the professional knockers and provide the information that many now seek. — Max Lake, Classic Wines of Australia, p. xi, 1966
- It came to me suddenly about half-way through the Opera House opening festival that the reason Australia is so well populated with knockers is that there is still so much to knock. — Bill Hornadge, The Ugly Australian, p. 256, 1974
- Australians are ironically proud of one of its locally acquired meanings and of our reputation as a land of “knockers” in which sense the word is a portmanteau term embracing elements of scepticism, rejection, complaint, jeering, carping, unreasonable criticism and a few more. — Nancy Keesing, Lily on the Dustbin, p. 137, 1982
- The mumbo jumbo of the knocker keeps a lot of people in a job and football wouldn’t be the same without them. — Ivor Limb, Footy’s No Joke!, p. 47, 1986
- Haven’t the knockers ever heard of legal tender? — Andrew Nickolds, Back to Basics, p. 63, 1994
- The knockers could say what they liked about the NHS [National Health Service], but it worked. — John King, White Trash, p. 53, 2001
- a person who defaults (deliberately) on a hire-purchase agreement UK
A narrowing of an earlier use applied to a person who contracts a debt with no intention of repaying it. - — Woman’s Own, 28 February 1968
- a thief or confidence trickster posing as a door-to-door salesman UK
- — Angela Devlin, Prison Patter, p. 69, 1996
- in circus and carnival usage, a member of the audience who warns others that something is a fraud US
- — Don Wilmeth, The Language of American Popular Entertainment, p. 152, 1981
- A well-patched cop would sooner run a “knocker” off the lot than cite Party Time Shows’ personnel for stealing the heart medicine. — Peter Fenton, Eyeing the Flash, p. 127, 2005
- someone who discloses that a pool player is in fact a professional US
- — Steve Rushin, Pool Cool, p. 18, 1990
- in pinball, a sound effect when an additional ball is won US
- — Bobbye Claire Natkin and Steve Kirk, All About Pinball, p. 113, 1977
- a plainclothed police officer US, 2007
- “Knockers,” he whispers. “I don’t know none of them.” — David Simon and Edward Burns, The Corner, p. 16, 1997
▶ on the knocker- exactly, precisely AUSTRALIA
- “Are your names Messrs. Gales and Mann?” “Right on the knocker,” Splinter assured him. — J.E. MacDonnell, Don’t Gimme the Ships, p. 137, 1960
- [H]is slitted eyes watched the pointers of the bombsight moving together. “She’s coming up right on the knocker, skip.” — W.R. Bennett, Target Turin, p. 19, 1962
- “My room is at the top of a flight of stairs, right at the back of the building.” “I’ll be there. On the knocker!” — John Wynnum, Tar Dust, p. 34, 1962
- right away; promptly AUSTRALIA, 1962
- Murphy was a good bookmaker. Gave a bit of credit during a bad trot and always settled on the knocker. — Frank Hardy, The Yarns of Billy Borker, p. 102, 1965
- used of a door-to-door canvasser or salesman UK, 1934
- — The Financial Times, 16 November 1973
- I shall be out on the knocker working for Frank [Dobson]. — The Guardian, 23 January 2000
▶ up to the knocker
thoroughly, perfectly, entirely AUSTRALIA, 1911- I’m out to get even with them all fair up to the knocker. — Norman Lindsay, Halfway to Anywhere, p. 79, 1947
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