knocker

n.

1. A hinged fixture, such as a metal ring or bar, used for knocking on a door.
2. knockers Vulgar Slang. A woman's breasts.
3. A goblin or dwarf said to live under the earth and direct miners to ore by knocking.

Cornish tin-miners believed there were helpful spirits in the mines, who could be heard hammering at places where there was a good lode of ore; they might also knock as a warning of danger, for instance before a rock-fall. There were several names for them, the two most usual being ‘knockers’ and ‘buccas’ (the latter is a common Celtic term for various fairies and goblins). Certain taboos had to be obeyed so as not to annoy them: there must be no whistling and swearing, nor should anything be marked with a cross. Workers eating underground should leave a few crumbs for them, for luck. An old man told Bottrell that he had once seen three, ‘no bigger than a good sixpenny doll, yet in their faces, dress and movements, they had the look of hearty old tinners’. One was sitting at a little anvil, ‘no more than an inch square’, sharpening tools for the others.

Knockers were sometimes thought of as fairies, but more often as ghosts of Jews who could never rest because they were guilty of Christ's death. It was said Jews had worked in the tin-mines, either as slaves in Roman times, or as serfs of an Earl of Cornwall; neither account seems to have any factual basis. Among Shropshire lead miners, similar beliefs were held; there, the helpful spirits were simply called ‘the Old Men’, and sometimes identified with Wild Edric's followers (Briggs, 1976: 254-6).

Underground sprites of Cornish folklore in England who are said to inhabit tin mines. They resemble the friendly German kobolds, since they knock to indicate places underground where there is a rich vein of ore.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 4 meanings:

Meaning #1: a person who knocks (as seeking to gain admittance)

Meaning #2: one who disparages or belittles the worth of something
  Synonyms: detractor, disparager, depreciator

Meaning #3: either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman
  Synonyms: breast, bosom, boob, tit, titty

Meaning #4: a device (usually metal and ornamental) attached by a hinge to a door
  Synonym: doorknocker

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - dørhammer, trappeartist, kværulant, smålig kritiker

Nederlands (Dutch)
klopper (b.v. op deur), (mv) borsten (platvloers), colporteur

Français (French)
n. - marteau (de porte), heurtoir, nichons (npl) (arg)

Deutsch (German)
n. - (Tür)klopfer, (Slang) Busen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ρόπτρο, χτυπητήρι (πόρτας), (πληθ.) βυζιά, στήθια

Italiano (Italian)
battente

Português (Portuguese)
n. - batedor (m) (de porta), tetas (f), seios (m) (gír.), chato (m) (gír.), alguém que está sempre criticando

Русский (Russian)
дверной молоток, коммивояжер

Español (Spanish)
n. - aldaba, criticón

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - portklapp, person som knackar, häcklare

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
敲击者, 门环, 敲门者

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 敲擊者, 門環, 敲門者

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 노크하는 사람, 문 두드리는 고리쇠, 놈

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - たたく人, ノッカー, けなし屋

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مقبض لدق الباب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מקיש (על דלת), מקוש-דלת, רוכל מדלת לדלת‬

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door knocker