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  1. Knick-knack - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase - Phra

    When knack was first used it meant 'an underhand trick; an adroit or ingenious method of doing something. Geoffrey Chaucer printed the Middle English spelling of the word in The Book of the Duchesse, circa 1369: That was the meaning of knack that was extended to 'knick-knack' by John Fletcher in his work The Loyall Subject, circa 1625: It is likely...

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    John Heywood, used the second meaning of the word knack in his piece titled The Playe called The Foure PP., 1540: Shakespeare also used it in The Taming of the Shrew, 1596: By 1682, the dexterous trick meaning was rarely used. A translation of Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux's Le Lutrinused the term with the meaning we currently have for it, that is, sma...

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    Although the 'adroit method of doing something' was less used after the 16th century, it didn't entirely die out. In the 20th century it re-emerged as the name for 'a special easy facility'. So, someone who can do something that others find difficult but without any apparent effort might be said to have the knack of doing it. That was the meaning i...

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