knock for a loop

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • Audio (Australia):(file)

Verb

knock for a loop (third-person singular simple present knocks for a loop, present participle knocking for a loop, simple past and past participle knocked for a loop)

  1. (transitive, idiomatic) To astonish; to stagger or overwhelm; to confuse or disorient.
    Synonyms: throw for a loop, throw off
    • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 7:
      [Denham answered] "Gas bombs, Old Man! My own prescription. […] Gas bombs powerful enough to knock a row of elephants for a loop."
    • 1967 November 17, “Wall Street: Big Casino”, in Time‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 July 2014:
      [A] triple threat to the U.S. economy […] has knocked stock prices for a loop.
    • 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest‎[2], →ISBN, page 394:
      Poor Janice, she'll be knocked for a loop. She'll feel she's let her father down.
    • 2008 September 7, Anita Gates, “Stage: Dinner and a Show, in One Spot, at One Price”, in The New York Times‎[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 September 2025:
      Karyn McNay as Ulla, the sexy Swedish actress/receptionist/cleaning woman, knocks the audience for a loop too.

Translations

This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.