"knock" vt. = 'copulate with' 1702 interdates OED

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:43 AM -0400 7/23/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 7/23/2010 01:12 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>Interesting!
>
>The full definition for "knock, v." sense 2.d is "To copulate with;
>also, to make pregnant. So in phr. to knock a child (or an apple) out
>(of)."  [For "apple", the OED has 1818; for "child", 1922 Joyce.]
>
>A fun citation is "1604 MARSTON Malcontent III. iii. sig. E2v Haue
>beate my Shoomaker, knockt my Sempstres, cuckold my Pottecary, and
>vndone my Taylor."
>
>'Way down at 18.j is "To make (a woman) pregnant; (less commonly) to
>have sexual intercourse with (a woman). slang (orig. U.S.).
>     1813 C. EARLE Diary 12 Apr. in J. McPhee Pine Barrens (1971) ii.
>33 William Mick's widow arrived here in pursuit of J. Mick, who she
>says has knocked her up."
>
>Joel

Farmer & Henley provide a 1560 cite under their entry for KNOCK
'copulate', but it seems to illustrate if anything the related
substantival subentries (KNOCK (1) 'an act of coition' (2) 'the
penis':

1560 Nice Wanton [Dodsley] Goldlocks She must have knocks, Or else I
do her wrong.
1598 FLORIO, Worlde of Wordes, _cunnuta_, a woman nocked.

The F&H entry for the related (as they see it) NOCK (v.) (cf. "nok
her with his Prick" in the Maine cite below) provides, along with the
same Florio cite above, this much later one:

1775 ASH, Dict. NOCK, to perform the act of generation on a female.

LH



>>On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 6:25 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>>  Subject:      "knock" vt. = 'copulate with' 1702 interdates OED
>>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>  "knock" v. = 'copulate with' 1702; interdates OED2 sense 2.d 1604--1785.
>>>
>>>  Province and Court Records of Maine,
>>>  Vol. IV:
>>>  The Court Records of York County, Maine,
>>>  Province of Massachusetts Bay,
>>>  November, 1692 -- January, 1710--11.
>>>  Portland: Maine Historical Society, 1958.
>>>
>>>  5 January 1702/03.
>>>
>>>  p. 288.
>>>  The sd Sarah tiny [sic] ... doth testifie & Saye that ... John Ame
>>>  [sic] came ... & Swore by God that I had promised him he Should nok
>>>  mee ly with mee & withall he took hold of mee & Threw mee Down &
>>>  pulled up my Close Shewed all my Nakedness & Run into the house
>>after Mee ...
>>>
>>>  p. 289.
>>>  Elizabeth Tyler ... doth Testifie & Seay that She ... Saw John Amee &
>>>  Sarah Tinny ... & both of them run up in the Chamber Shee first & him
>>>  after but he Staid little while there but come down againe ... & Shee
>>>  after him ... but when She [Tinny] Come downe Shee [Tyler] hard
>>>  [heard] the sd Sarah Tiny [sic] Call him Indian dog & bee for that he
>>>  Said Sarah you promised me to let me ly with you & now I will ly ...
>>>  [ellipsis in original] with you & Shee run behind my back & he Puled
>>>  her out and said he would kik and nok you & the sd Sarah Tinny asked
>>>  sd Mee where he would nok her with a hatchet or hamer but he sd he
>>>  would nok her with his Prick ...
>>>
>>>  [The free-wheeling and free-writing colonial district of Maine.]
>>  >
>>>  Joel
>>>
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