A metal ring or hammer attached to a door that you lift and let fall to announce your arrival, or a person who criticizes harshly.
From the verb 'knock,' meaning to strike; the device emerged in medieval times as a way to gain entry before doorbells were invented.
The decorative door knocker was sometimes designed as a lion's head or other fierce creature partly because people believed it would ward off evil spirits—practical technology mixed with superstition.
Knocker is slang for breast, carrying sexualizing subtext. This usage emerged from 20th-century vernacular that reduced women's bodies to crude categories.
Use only in architectural context (door knocker). Avoid in reference to women or bodies.
["critic","opponent","objector"]
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