knacker
part of speech
verb (knacker, knackers, knackered, knackering — slang, UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ); noun (a knacker, knackers)
meaning for a pupil
1) (slang, UK) To knacker something is to break it or wear it out; to knacker someone is to make them very tired. tree →
2) (noun, old-fashioned, UK) A knacker is a person whose job is buying old or dead horses and turning them into meat, glue or other products; a knacker's yard is the place where this is done. tree →
3) (rude, Ireland) A knacker is an insulting word for a rough or badly behaved person; it is offensive, especially to Irish Travellers. tree →
4) (rude, UK, plural «knackers») A slang word for testicles. tree →
sense in the lessons
It belongs to informal, rough speech in Britain, Ireland, Australia and NZ. In stories with real speech it tells the reader someone is very tired or something is broken. «Ready for the knacker's yard» jokingly means too old or worn out to be useful. Phrases: knacker yourself, the knacker's yard.
examples
- (slang) Don't knacker yourself on the first lap. tree →
- (slang) I've knackered my knee playing football. tree →
- That long walk knackered me out. tree →
- The old horse was sent to the knacker's yard. tree →
- (humorous) This old car is ready for the knacker's yard. tree →
- (slang) He knackered the printer by jamming paper in it. tree →
note
Slang and partly rude. The Irish insult sense is offensive and must not be used about people. The body-part sense is rude. In polite or exam writing, use «tire out», «wear out» or «break». Most common form: knackered (very tired).
In the corpora
- "Sent to the knacker's yard" (old-fashioned UK) means an old horse was sent to be slaughtered.
- This clock's knackered!" ("knackered" means broken or worn out).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «knacker» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.