knock-up

1 of 2

noun

British
: a warm-up or practice session before a game in a racket sport (such as tennis)

knock up

2 of 2

verb

knocked up; knocking up; knocks up

transitive verb

1
sometimes vulgar : to make pregnant
2
British : rouse, summon

Examples of knock-up in a Sentence

Verb I asked the clerk at the hotel to knock me up at 7:00 a.m.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Verb
Meanwhile, while Miranda busies herself with building a pageant empire, her husband Ray, a pill-popping nurse, has knocked up the 18-year-old granddaughter of one of his hospice patients. Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025 Julia, worried, maintains that she’s not knocked up. Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 15 Aug. 2025 With 200 hp worth of empty space to play with before knocking up against the 600-hp V12 Verado, Mercury is dialing up the overall output of the V10 range by adding a new 425-hp variant as the flagship of the family. New Atlas, 12 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1884, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1592, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of knock-up was in 1592

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Cite this Entry

“Knock-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knock-up. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.

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