The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ELIMINATE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
E
L
I
M
I
N
A
T
E
More clues leading to the result ELIMINATE
- Scrub best clothing, note: not available
- Exclude from hotel — I’m in a tent
- Get rid of priest, worried about mind finally failing
- Abolish European restriction confining sodium intake at last
- Remove bird dipping into cream
- Take out bird that’s got stuck into cream
- I line team up for murder
- Get rid of cream containing minimum vitamin aiding vision?
- How heat might knock one out?
- Kill time with ale drunk around pub, endlessly
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Knock out" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case knock out = eliminate.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ELIMINATE mean?
ELIMINATE verb- To completely remove, get rid of, put an end to.
- To kill (a person or animal).
- To excrete (waste products).
- To exclude (from investigation or from further competition).
- To record amounts in a consolidation statement to remove the effects of inter-company transactions.