knock up

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /nɒk ʌp/ === Verb === knock up (third-person singular simple present knocks up, present participle knocking up, simple past and past participle knocked up) (colloquial) To put together, fabricate, or assemble, particularly if done hastily or temporarily. [from 16th c.] Synonyms: knock together, run up (UK) To awaken (someone) as by knocking at the door; rouse; call; summon; also, to go door-to-door on election day to persuade a candidate's supporters to go to the polling station and vote. See also knocker up. [from 17th c.] (dated) To exhaust; wear out; tire out; to fatigue until unable to do more. [from 18th c.] (dated, intransitive) To become exhausted or worn out; to fail of strength; to become wearied, as with labor; to give out. [from 18th c.] 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, VII [Uniform ed., p. 87]: I met one of your dons at tea, and he said that your degree was not in the least a proof of your abilities: he said that you knocked up and got flurried in examinations. (slang, chiefly US) To impregnate, especially out of wedlock or accidentally. See knocked up. [from 19th c.] (racket sports, intransitive) To gently hit the ball back and forth before a tennis match, as practice or warm-up, and to gauge the state of the playing surface, lighting, etc. See knock-up. [from 19th c.] The Tennis & Rackets Association - Tournament Rules (bookbinding) To make even at the edges, or to shape into book form. (printing) To straighten up a stack of paper. ==== Synonyms ==== (to put together): construct; see also Thesaurus:build or (if hasty) Thesaurus:kludge (to exhaust): tire, wear down, wear out; see also Thesaurus:tire (to become exhausted): tire, weary (to awaken someone): bring round, wake up; see also Thesaurus:awaken (to impregnate): get with child; see also Thesaurus:impregnate ==== Derived terms ==== knockup (noun) knock-up (noun) ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ====