knickety-knockadv.n.
/ˌnɪkᵻtɪˈnɒk/, U.S. /ˌnɪkᵻdiˈnɑk/ An echoic word imitating an alternation of knocking sounds; hence adverbially: striking from side to side with alternation of sound. Also as n.: a tapping or knocking sound.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of blow or fall > [adverb] > knock
knickety-knock1812
1812 H. Smith & J. Smith Rejected Addr. 37 His head as he tumbled, went nickety knock Like a pebble in Carisbrook well.
1825 Chr. Wordsworth in Life (1888) 28 You know that the pebbles cry nickety-nock when they arrive at the bottom.
1880 L. Parr Adam & Eve III. v. 106 There keeps soundin' in my ears a nickety-knock like the tappin' on a coffin-lid.
1908 H. de V. Stacpoole Blue Lagoon v Fixed in his memory, along with the rain and the wind and the smell of the burning turf, and the grunting of the pig and the knickety-knock of a rocking cradle.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1901; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adv.n.1812