/nok"euh bowt'/ , n.
1. Naut. any of various fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessels having a single jib bent to a stay from the stemhead, no bowsprit being used: usually rigged as a sloop.
2. something designed or suitable for rough or casual use, as a sturdy jacket, a secondhand car, etc.
3. a slapstick comedian or comedy.
4. Australian. an itinerant farm hand or ranch hand; an itinerant handyman.
5. Brit. Archaic. wanderer.
adj.
6. suitable for rough use, as a garment: a knockabout jacket and jeans.
7. characterized by knocking about; rough; boisterous.
8. slapstick: knockabout comedy.
9. shiftless; aimless: a knockabout kind of person.
[ 1875-80; n., adj. use of v. phrase knock about ]