knocking-shopn.
/ˈnɒkɪŋʃɒp/, U.S. /ˈnɑkɪŋˌʃɑp/ slang.
A brothel.
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society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > brothel
houseOE
bordelc1300
whorehousec1330
stew1362
bordel housec1384
stewc1384
stivec1386
stew-house1436
bordelryc1450
brothel house1486
shop?1515
bains1541
common house1545
bawdy-house1552
hothouse1556
bordello1581
brothela1591
trugging house1591
trugging place1591
nunnery1593
vaulting-house1596
leaping house1598
Pickt-hatch1598
garden house1606
vaulting-school1606
flesh-shambles1608
whore-sty1621
bagnioa1640
public house1640
harlot-house1641
warrena1649
academy1650
call house1680
coney burrow1691
case1699
nanny-house1699
house of ill reputea1726
smuggling-ken1725
kip1766
Corinth1785
disorderly house1809
flash-house1816
dress house1823
nanny-shop1825
house of tolerance1842
whore shop1843
drum1846
introducing house1846
khazi1846
fast house1848
harlotry1849
maison de tolérance1852
knocking-shop1860
lupanar1864
assignation house1870
parlour house1871
hook shop1889
sporting house1894
meat house1896
massage parlour1906
case house1912
massage establishment1921
moll-shop1923
camp1925
notch house1926
creep joint1928
slaughterhouse1928
maison de convenance1930
cat-house1931
Bovril1936
maison close1939
joy-house1940
rib joint1940
gaff1947
maison de passe1960
rap parlour1973
1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) 166 Knocking-shop, a brothel, or disreputable house frequented by prostitutes.
1938 ‘J. Spenser’ Crime against Society xiii. 126 She might wonder if you hadn't been gettin' scragged in a knockin' shop for not payin' yer dues.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 300 This eye-sore..always reminds me of one of the costlier knocking-shops.
1959 ‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder xiv. 149 I'm a clean-living man... I wouldn't go to any back-street knocking shop.
1969 L. Kennedy Very Lovely People ii. 111 Yes, it seems that some of the girls are running a knocking-shop on the side.
1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 115 Somewhere there must be a woman whose longings corresponded to mine. Perhaps she could be found, that unknown She, even within the confines of a knocking shop.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1860