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Our commando's implied an interesting byway. In colloquial UK English at least, the word 'knock' has been given some particular meanings in simple combination:
Knock off: to end work or disengage from a task
Knock out: to render senseless
Knockout: 'drop-dead gorgeous' (Guru has a boring 'strikingly attractive')
Knock up: to impregnate
Knock up: also, to wake factory or mine workers
(the task was given to a 'knocker-up')
Knock-off: an article manufactured as a cheap copy of the original
There are others, too - are these shared around the world, or do some of them have similar structures for quite different meanings? Does anyone have a particular favourite?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Knockdown is used in the expression 'knockdown and dirty fight'meaning the fight is a real doozy.
You may get 'knockers' as a response from a few gentlemen (well maybe not gentlemen)discribing the protruding parts of a woman's anatomy, since you mentioned knocking up and impregnating and all.
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here's one that may only be familiar to wrestlin' fans:
slobberknocker - two or more big guys beating the hell out of each other
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knockdown is also used for something that is easily disassembled into its component parts. Principally furniture, but it can also be used for a temporary building.
A knockabout is a small sailing vessel of some kind, when used as a noun. As an adjective it refers to clothing for knocking about in. Not usually made of sailcloth though :)
Knockwurst is saying bad things about German food.
TEd
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enthusiast
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Here in Oz "knock off" means to steal - could be a physical object or an idea (see Mav's previous "cheap copy" definition) , as well as his first meaning of finishing work, and also to defeat esp in a sporting competition.
"Knock it off" means "give it a rest", cease and desist.
A knocker is a person who constantly criticizes (knocks) someone or something, as well as the banging thingimmy on a front door for knocking up (waking, not impregnating!) the residents.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Glad to have you, belMarduk. Gee, I think this is the most intriguing newcomer's name for a long time! Would you care to enlighten us on how it came into being?
Knock on wood is a superstitious saying and/or action to ward off potential ill luck.
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>Glad to have you, belMarduk.
Ah, Jackie, but if I told you that then wouldn't I be breaking the unwritten LIU rule I've seen a few newbies being chided about? I should tell you it is a composite of two words though.
Maverick, one more I thought of. We often use the expression "knock together" as in put together quickly. (eg I'll knock together a couple of samples to show your client). I don't know if this is common usage.
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Pooh-Bah
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Jackie
I'm glad that you mentioned "knock on wood", I'd always half listened to the song, wondering what it meant. The usual expression here in the UK is "touch wood". When children use this expression the joke is to touch a friend's head (implying that it is wooden) - do you have the same joke?
More knocks:
When shops have a sale they often talk about "knockdown prices".
I think that the impregnate version of "knock up" became known in the UK during the war, when GI's were most amused by being "knocked up" in the morning.
To knock something up would be more likely here (I think) that knock something together (meaning a rough version or "mock up") although the latter may be coming into use to avoid the obvious innuendo.
I used to live near a place called Knockin in Shropshire. The local shop proudly displays its name above the door - "The Knockin Shop".
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"The Knockin Shop"Hah! I thought we might get some good ones by knocking heads together. A bit off-string, but this reminds me of a family joke in Kent - a nighboring village was called Loose, pronounced Looze, to the puzzlement of outsiders. So imagine the expresion on strangers' faces when they saw the sign for Loose Womens' Institute 
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Ah, Jackie, but if I told you that then wouldn't I be breaking the unwritten LIU rule I've seen a few newbies being chided about? I should tell you it is a composite of two words though.
Hrmph...grumble, grumble...can't believe you're going to make me work for it! Boy, some people!
I did acually spend time on the two-word theory before I asked, because it struck me that it was very easy to pull the name Mark out of those letters. But I couldn't come up with a last name that I was familiar with, which of course is not a real indication that I was wrong.
Mark Duble? Dubel? Blude and Lubed came to mind.
Some other possibilities: murk blade, bleak drum, dream bulk, blake drum. But I "doubt" that any of those are it.
Make blurd sounds like something meaningful, but--
hey! Who asked about homophones, anyway?
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