Definition of "knock out" []

• To strike or bump (someone or something) out. (verb)
• To render unconscious, as by a blow to the head. (verb)
• To put to sleep. (verb)
• To exhaust. (verb)
• To complete, especially in haste; knock off. (verb)

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• "For example, in the case of the hybrid mating factor/concentrated salt scaffold protein they added further mutations to knock out the original pathway, to ensure there was no cross-reaction where, say, one signal would activate both the mating response and the high salt response."
• "Jasper spun, firing off several shots from his ray gun at Bobby before he hit the taut oxhide and was hurled back up into the air, wheeling his legs in kicks and punches to knock out the gangsters who grabbed at his knees."
• "For a similarly outrageous price, we secured a place to stay in Westminster: four sleeping spots in one large, homey, third-floor, slope-ceilinged room, with an interior stairway so steep, narrow, and serpentine that you were likely to simultaneously rupture a couple of disks and knock out a piece of the railing as you carried your suitcases up."