Definition of "knocker-up" [knocker-up]

• A person whose job was to go from house to house in the early morning and wake up workers by tapping on the bedroom window with a long pole. (noun)

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• "For a few pennies a week, a knocker-up would come around to wake you at whatever time you requested."
• "SIMON: (Reading) It's Monday morning, hours before dawn, and Mary Smith, the knocker-up, has left her home."
• "In England, one solution to this problem was to hire someone called a knocker-up."