Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A heavy stick or cane with a knob.
- noun In England, a workman who refuses to join a trades-union or retires from it, and who works when the members of the union are on strike. Also knob, nob, blacknob, and blackleg. Equivalent to scab in the United States.
- noun Also spelled
nobstick .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Cant, Eng. One who refuses to join, or withdraws from, a trade union.
- noun A stick, cane, or club terminating in a knob; esp., such a stick or club used as a weapon or missile; a knobkerrie.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
stick with a roundedknob at the end. - noun slang One who refuses to join, or withdraws from, a
trade union .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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'Now, Mr. Thornton, though "knobstick" has not a very pretty sound, is it not expressive?
North and South Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1837
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About 4 P.M. returned our second messenger, bearing with him a reproving message from the Gerad, for not visiting him without delay; in token of sincerity, he forwarded his baton, a knobstick about two feet long, painted in rings of
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It is a knobstick about a cubit long, made of some hard wood: the head is rounded on the inside, and the outside is cut to an edge.
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Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about to kill it with his knobstick.
Allan's Wife Henry Rider Haggard 1890
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As it chanced, though this was not their intention, in the confusion a heavy blow from a knobstick struck him on the temple.
The Ghost Kings Henry Rider Haggard 1890
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"I fun this knobstick nigh a gap i 'th' hedge on th 'Knoll Road," he said.
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"And they'll knobstick 'im for it if they know -- see if they don't!"
Patience Wins War in the Works George Manville Fenn 1870
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Nowt like a knobstick, lad, whether it be a man or a bit o 'wood.
Patience Wins War in the Works George Manville Fenn 1870
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He might hit at you wi 'his own fisty, but it's more'n likely as he'll do it wi' some one else's, or wi 'a clog or a knobstick.
Patience Wins War in the Works George Manville Fenn 1870
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Then he stoops to pick it up, and knobstick comes down on his head.
Patience Wins War in the Works George Manville Fenn 1870
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