The Collaborative International Dictionary
Knobstick \Knob"stick`\, n.
One who refuses to join, or withdraws from, a trade union.
A stick, cane, or club terminating in a knob; esp., such a stick or club used as a weapon or missile; a knobkerrie.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A stick with a rounded knob at the end. 2 (context slang English) One who refuses to join, or withdraws from, a trade union.
Wikipedia
Knobstick may refer to:
- Strikebreaker or blackleg, a derogatory archaic term for a worker who is not part of a union and works when others are striking
- The Knobstick, an 1893 novel by C. Allen Clarke
Usage examples of "knobstick".
Cardus and Jeremy went off to see about getting the things through the Custom House, where they arrived to find Mazooku keeping half a dozen gorgeous officials, who wanted to open a box, at bay with his knobsticks, and plastering them with offensive epithets, which fortunately they did not understand.
To add to the incongruity of his appearance, on the top of his hair, which was still done in ridges, Zulu fashion, and decorated with long bone snuff-spoons, was perched an extremely small and rakish-looking billycock hat, and in his hand he carried his favourite and most gigantic knobstick.