to knock over
68
2.6
- phrasal verb
- /nɑk ˈoʊvər/
:
tumbar
- In other words, one domino knocks over lots of dominoes.
She's up on the sidewalk knocking the parking meters over, trying to kill me.
- She's up on the sidewalk knocking the parking meters over, trying to kill me.
- It is the first domino that knocks over all the rest and here's why.
- Oops, I didn't mean to knock over your plant that you got in your cubicle.
- When you see the guys running and they're knocking over all the hurdles, they're being penalized for that.
- I'm like one of these dolls, you know, these dolls with, with loaded bases and you knock them over and they jump up.
- It's just like, I think it leaves for a little bit, comes back, it knocks over a table.
Examples
-
Nothing, the cat just knocked over the candy dish.
-
I'm cleaning up the house after he goes to bed and oops, I knock over the tower.
-
You dress me up like this, then wonder why I knock over the tree.
-
Now, you say that some girls saw you knock over a phone booth.
-
Someone brought a monkey that knocked over the salad bar.
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Hey, don't knock over the beer.
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You knocked over the punch bowl, if I remember correctly.
-
It describes her as she knocks over the coffee pot.
-
Coop hits him with an uppercut and knocks him over onto his back.
Fiction book (1994) -
Be careful when you walk near the table; you might knock over the vase.
Synonyms
937
1.0
To hit something by accident with a sudden movement
93
4.1
To fall over or make something fall over, often suddenly when it loses balance
93
3.0
Use force to make someone or something fall to the ground
57
3.0
Make something fall over or move out of place
31
2.6
Flip something so the other side faces up
30
4.1
Make something flip so it is upside down or on its side
30
1.4
To turn your body or an object so the other side faces up
27
3.0
Make something fall from a standing position
3
1.1
To let the drink in your cup or glass fall by accident
1
5.1
To knock something so it falls over
To make something fall over or turn upside down
To make something that stands fall over
To make something tilt so far that it falls over
Antonyms
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'knock' (to hit or bump) plus the particle-like sense of 'over' (resulting in something turning from upright to lying), so the combined sense 'cause something to fall or turn over' is compositionally predictable. This verb+particle pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Knock over comes from a simple image: a strong hit (knock) that pushes something over so it falls from a standing position. That's why to knock over something today means 'to cause it to fall'.