knock out
Idioms-
Also, knock out cold . Render unconscious by a blow or some other means. For example, It was just a swinging door, but it knocked her out , or Just one of those sleeping pills can knock you out cold . [Late 1500s]
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Make tired, exhaust, as in That sightseeing tour knocked me out .
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Render useless or inoperative, as in The storm knocked out the power .
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See knock off , def. 2.
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See knock oneself out .
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.
“Now that the money is better, that might knock out several college players in the draft.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026
League One side Port Vale knock out Premier League team Sunderland to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1954.
From BBC • Mar. 8, 2026
Second, do we need to have the ability to knock out all of their missile sites in order to deter nuclear war?
From Slate • Feb. 3, 2026
The therapy uses so-called Crispr-Cas9 technology to knock out a cholesterol-promoting gene called ANGPTL3 that pushes up levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 8, 2025
Time to knock out some of this homework.
From "Dear Martin" by Nic Stone
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.