knock in

knock in

English

Noun

knock in

1. (card games, archaic) The game of lanterloo.
   • 1847, Henry Cockton, The Love Match (page 232)

     "Do you feel inclined to have a knock in for an hour?" said Charles, addressing Tom.
     "I don't understand much of the game."
     […] He was seldom indeed without two good trumps, and therefore almost invariably loo'd those who stood.

Verb

knock in (third-person singular simple present knocks in, present participle knocking in, simple past and past participle knocked in)

1. (obsolete, Oxford University slang) To enter college after hours—after half-past ten at night when the doors have been locked.
   • 1825, Westmacott, Charles Molloy, The English Spy, page 138:

     "Close the oak, Jem," said Horace Eglantine, "and take care no one knocks in before we have knocked down the contents of your master's musical melange."

   • 1861, Hughes, Thomas, Tom Brown at Oxford, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1883, page 458:

     There's twelve striking. I must knock in. Good night. You'll be round to breakfast at nine?

   • 1861, Bradley, Edward, The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green:

     At first, too, he was on such occasions greatly alarmed at finding the gates of Brazenface closed, obliging him thereby to "knock-in;" and not only did he apologize to the porter for troubling him to open the wicket, but he also volunteered elaborate explanations of the reasons that had kept him out after time […]

Related terms

• knock out (“leave after hours”)

References

• (card game): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary