Adjacent Words

knockabout definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: full of rough and exuberant animal spirits; "boisterous practical jokes"; "knockabout comedy" [syn: boisterous, knockabout]
2: suitable for rough use; "a knockabout overcoat"; "a knockabout old car" n
1: a sloop with a simplified rig and no bowsprit

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1880 1. suitable for rough use <knockabout clothing> 2. a. being noisy and rough ; boisterous <knockabout games> b. characterized by boisterous antics and often extravagant burlesque <knockabout comedy> 3. of a sailing vessel having a simplified rig marked by absence of bowsprit and topmast <a knockabout sloop> • knockabout noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --attrib.adj. 1 (of comedy) boisterous; slapstick. 2 (of clothes) suitable for rough use. 3 Austral. of a farm or station handyman. --n. 1 Austral. a farm or station handyman. 2 a knockabout performer or performance.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Knockabout Knock"a*bout`, n. 1. (Naut.) A small yacht, generally from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, having a mainsail and a jib. All knockabouts have ballast and either a keel or centerboard. The original type was twenty-one feet in length. The next larger type is called a raceabout. 2. A knockabout performer or performance. [Theat. Slang] 3. A man hired on a sheep station to do odd jobs. [Colloq., Australia]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Knockabout Knock"a*bout`, a. 1. Marked by knocking about or roughness. 2. Of noisy and violent character. [Theat. Slang] 3. Characterized by, or suitable for, knocking about, or traveling or wandering hither and thither. 4. That does odd jobs; -- said of a class of hands or laborers on a sheep station. [Collog., Australia]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Knockabout comedy is lively and often involves people doing funny things, rather than saying them. (mainly BRIT) He gave one of his best knockabout performances in a long time. ADJ: usu ADJ n