Word.ws English Dictionary

knocker-upper

knocker-upper noun: . Also the alternative form of knocker-up.

Noun

knocker-upper (plural knocker-uppers)

  1. (a tool to hammer the top head of a cask into place through the bung hole) .
  2. (humorous, informal) The male who has sired a pregnancy.
    • What, Shelley is pregnant?! Who's the knocker-upper? [ = Who's the father?]

Also used as

knocker-upper is also the alternative form of knocker-up.

Synonyms of knocker-upper

Forms of knocker-upper

pluralknocker-uppers

Origin of knocker-upper

By a regular pattern for (informal) nouns seen also in similar forms, such as fixer-upper and cleaner-upper; the sire sense involves an extra degree of wordplay, as an alternative surface analysis of knock (h)er up + -er is playfully apparent (who knocked 'er up?).

Questions about knocker-upper

What does knocker-upper mean?
Knocker-upper means .
What part of speech is knocker-upper?
Knocker-upper is a noun.
What is the plural of knocker-upper?
The plural of knocker-upper is knocker-uppers.

Words near knocker-upper in the dictionary

  1. knockemdowns
  2. knocker
  3. knocker up
  4. knocker ups
  5. knocker-up
  6. knocker-upper
  7. knocker-uppers
  8. knocker-ups
  9. knockered
  10. knockerless
  11. knockers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knocker-upper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-knocker-upper.wav.

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