knockdown vs shy

knockdown

noun
  • An act of knocking down or the condition of being knocked down. 

  • The condition of a sailboat being pushed abruptly to horizontal, with the mast parallel to the water surface. 

  • A shelter erected for use as a temporary dressing room. 

  • A collection of parts required to assemble a product, typically manufactured in one region and exported elsewhere for assembly. 

  • a short pass played downwards, for example from the head onto someone's feet. 

  • A genetically modified organism that carries one or more genes in its chromosomes that have been made less active or had their expression reduced. 

  • The use of a reagent such as an oligonucleotide with sequence complementary to an active gene or its mRNA transcript, to interfere with the expression of said gene. 

  • An overwhelming blow. 

verb
  • To employ the knockdown technique 

adj
  • To be formed into a head by upsetting in fastening. 

  • reduced in price, originally to a price below which an article would not be sold by the auctioneer 

  • powerful enough to overwhelm or knock down 

  • Capable of being taken apart for packing or removal. 

shy

noun
  • An act of throwing. 

  • In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx. 

  • In soccer, a throw-in from the sidelines, using two hands above the head. In shinty, the act of tossing the ball above the head and hitting it with the shaft of the caman to bring it back into play after it has been hit out of the field. 

  • A place for throwing. 

  • A sudden start aside, as by a horse. 

verb
  • To avoid due to caution, embarrassment or timidness. 

  • (transitive) or (intransitive) To throw a ball with two hands above the head, especially when it has crossed the side lines in a football (soccer) match. To hit the ball back into play from the sidelines in a shinty match. 

  • To jump back in fear. 

  • To throw sideways with a jerk; to fling. 

adj
  • Easily frightened; timid. 

  • Embarrassed. 

  • Cautious; wary; suspicious. 

  • Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach. 

  • Short, insufficient or less than. 

How often have the words knockdown and shy occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )