Hypertext Webster Gateway: "knockabout"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Knockabout \Knock"a*bout`\, n.
1. (Naut.) A small yacht, generally from fifteen to
twenty-five feet in length, having a mainsail and a jib.
All knockabouts have ballast and either a keel or
centerboard. The original type was twenty-one feet in
length. The next larger type is called a raceabout.
2. A knockabout performer or performance. [Theat. Slang]
3. A man hired on a sheep station to do odd jobs. [Colloq.,
Australia]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Knockabout \Knock"a*bout`\, a.
1. Marked by knocking about or roughness.
2. Of noisy and violent character. [Theat. Slang]
3. Characterized by, or suitable for, knocking about, or
traveling or wandering hither and thither.
4. That does odd jobs; -- said of a class of hands or
laborers on a sheep station. [Collog., Australia]
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
knockabout
adj 1: full of rough and exuberant animal spirits; "boisterous
practical jokes"; "knockabout comedy" [syn: {boisterous}]
2: suitable for rough use; "a knockabout overcoat"; "a
knockabout old car"
n : a sloop with a simplified rig and no bowsprit
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