knockabout

[ nok-uh-bout ]

noun

1. Nautical. any of various fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessels having a single jib bent to a stay from the stemhead, no bowsprit being used: usually rigged as a sloop.
2. something designed or suitable for rough or casual use, as a sturdy jacket, a secondhand car, etc.
3. a slapstick comedian or comedy.
4. Australian. an itinerant farm hand or ranch hand; an itinerant handyman.
5. British Archaic. wanderer.

adjective

1. suitable for rough use, as a garment:

   a knockabout jacket and jeans.

2. characterized by knocking about; rough; boisterous.
3. slapstick:

   knockabout comedy.

4. shiftless; aimless:

   a knockabout kind of person.

Word History and Origins

Origin of knockabout¹

First recorded in 1875–80; noun, adj. use of verb phrase knock about

Example Sentences

The members of the controversial rap group Kneecap play themselves in a witty knockabout comedy, a Sundance hit, that tells the tale of their ongoing rise.

From Los Angeles Times

For better or worse, Liman revels in the movie-ness of his popcorn movies, their unwavering devotion to just-having-fun escapism, and he never stops juicing this knockabout comedy, squeezing the pulp for more jokes and odd digressions.

From Los Angeles Times

But there’s an infectious quality to the knockabout antics.

From Los Angeles Times

More than once in the book Richards uses the word “knockabout” to describe his school of comedy.

From Los Angeles Times

One of the films in his early days, it was a very different actor that I love so much, is called “His Girl Friday,” and it's this really end of pier knockabout comedy where they deliver the lines at five times the pace.

From Salon