knacker's yard

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableBritishold-fashioned

   A place where old or injured farm animals are taken to be killed and their bodies processed for other uses.

   Grammar: Countable and usually with the: the horse went to the knacker's yard.

   Patterns

   • send something to the knacker's yard
   • go to the knacker's yard

   The lame horse was sold to the knacker's yard after the vet gave up hope.

   In the old days, farmers sent worn-out animals to the knacker's yard.

   The village still has a field where a knacker's yard once stood.

2. 2phraseidiomBritishinformalhumorous

   Used humorously to say that a machine, system or person is so old or worn out that it is nearly finished.

   Grammar: Fixed idiom, usually with for the: this car is ready for the knacker's yard.

   Patterns

   • ready for the knacker's yard
   • heading for the knacker's yard

   My old laptop is ready for the knacker's yard; the screen keeps flickering.

   After forty years of service, the bus was finally sent to the knacker's yard.

   When the manager hobbled in on crutches, someone joked that he was heading for the knacker's yard.

Word forms

Common combinations

ready for the knacker's yard

That sofa is ready for the knacker's yard.

send to the knacker's yard

They threatened to send the old machine to the knacker's yard.

end up in the knacker's yard

Without repairs, the van will end up in the knacker's yard.

head for the knacker's yard

At this rate, the team will head for the knacker's yard before the season ends.

Synonyms and how they differ

scrapheap

Scrapheap suggests a place for discarded objects and is more neutral, while knacker's yard is more colorful and implies something exhausted.

slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse refers to a place where animals are killed for meat, which is not the same function as a knacker's yard.

junkyard

A junkyard is where old vehicles or objects are dumped, and it never refers to animals.

Word family

knacker noun

a person who buys old animals for slaughter

knackered adjective

very tired (British informal)

knacker verb

to exhaust someone (British informal)

yard noun

an enclosed area outside a building

Commonly confused: knacker's yard or knackered?

Practice

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