to knock off one's perch
- idiom
- Informal
- After the championship game, the underdog team knocked off their rivals from their perch as champions.
- get knocked off one's perch
Examples
-
The only one getting knocked off his perch is you!
-
That said, there may be a genius this year with an Evil Invention so revolutionary that Schadenfreude might finally get knocked off his perch!
-
The new startup quickly knocked off the established company from its perch in the market.
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In the talent show, the young singer knocked off the reigning champion from her perch with a stunning performance.
Synonyms
97
3.4
To remove someone or something from a competition by defeating them
2
7.6
Make someone feel less proud by criticizing or embarrassing them
2
6.1
To have an advantage over someone in competition
1
8.8
Beat someone by a lot
1
7.4
To get an advantage over someone by doing better than them
1
6.2
To win against other teams or companies in a contest
Antonyms
How Removed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb phrase 'knock off' (remove) combined with 'one's perch' (a high place to sit) yields a clear metaphor of removing someone from a lofty position; the constituent meanings point toward displacement from a height. However, the transfer from a physical 'perch' to social/status superiority is a metaphorical extension rather than strictly compositional, so a B1 learner might infer the sense but it is not fully predictable without some exposure.
Etymology
The idiom knock off one's perch comes from the image of a bird sitting high on a perch. If you knock the bird off, it falls and loses its high place, so the phrase means 'to remove someone from a top position or to defeat them'.