noun
- 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.
- something designed or suitable for rough or casual use, as a sturdy jacket, a secondhand car, etc.
- a slapstick comedian or comedy.
- Australian. an itinerant farm hand or ranch hand; an itinerant handyman.
- British Archaic. wanderer.
adjective
- suitable for rough use, as a garment: a knockabout jacket and jeans.
- characterized by knocking about; rough; boisterous.
- slapstick: knockabout comedy.
- shiftless; aimless: a knockabout kind of person.