I. ˈ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ adjective
Etymology: knock about
1. : designed or suitable for rough or casual informal use
knockabout clothing
a knockabout travel valise
2.
a. : noisy and rough : boisterously violent
was especially fond of knockabout games
knockabout diversions
b. : marked by, given to, or skilled at boisterously funny antics and farce and often extravagant burlesque or slapstick
a knockabout film comedy
a knockabout vaudeville act
knockabout comedians in baggy pants — Time
3. : marked by or given to irregular, haphazard, or aimless wandering about : traveling about carelessly or like a vagrant : roaming
are afraid the place is full of knockabout single men — O.E.Rölvaag
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: partly from knockabout (I) ; partly from knock about
1.
a.
(1) : a performer of knockabout comedy
a couple of vaudeville knockabouts
(2) : a performance or instance of knockabout comedy
a grave ceremony that gradually turned into hilarious knockabout
b. : boisterous farcical humor of the kind found in knockabout comedy
the rehearsal scene was good knockabout — Leslie Rees
2.
a. Australia : a handyman on a sheep station
b. : one that wanders about or travels in an irregular, haphazard, or aimless way : wanderer , vagrant
a man without family, a knockabout — D.C.Peattie
3. : a sloop with a simplified rig marked by absence of bowsprit and topmast and by having a single headsail on the forestay
4. : something designed or suitable for rough or casual informal use: as
a. : an article of clothing (as a coat, hat) designed or suitable for such use
b. : an unpretentious vehicle especially designed or suitable for short trips or other casual informal use
a secondhand car that will serve as a knockabout
was now in a one-cylinder knockabout which in every way lived up to its name — William Beebe