knock on wood
Formsknocks on wood, knocking on wood, knocked on wood
- 1An expression of hope that good fortune keeps holding, said while performing the customary gesture meant to keep bad luck away.
Much like tossing salt over your shoulder, it is a small ritual people use to feel shielded from misfortune.
We haven't had a single breakdown all year, knock on wood.
I should make it to the finals, knock on wood.
Note
The phrase usually comes at the end of a sentence, set off by a comma, right after the claim it protects: I have never had any knee problems yet, knock on wood. It does the work of hopefully, but with a wink of superstition, and it suits claims about a lucky streak so far. The regional split with touch wood is the same as for the verb.
- 2To perform the customary gesture of tapping wood after a bold or hopeful remark, in the belief that it wards off the misfortune such a statement might attract.
Like throwing spilled salt over your shoulder, it is a reflex gesture meant to cancel out tempted fate.
Drivers who boast about a clean record often knock on wood as they say it.
He praised the calm weather, then knocked on wood just to be safe.
Note
A US and Philippine idiom whose Australian and New Zealand counterpart is touch wood. Both name the same gesture, and the custom behind them is a folk practice of unclear origin. As a verb it inflects only at knock (knocks on wood, knocked on wood) while the rest stays fixed, and the gesture comes just after the confident remark it is meant to cancel.
Practice
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Origin
From a folk practice whose origin is unclear.