with knobs on
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
With Adrian Jones experiencing run - up stutters, this was followed by a stingy stint against Gloucestershire in the B&H and then a career - best 4 for 37 to dismantle Somerset.
But he wasn't going to withdraw tactically this bloody buggering time, no sir, not with brass knobs on …
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “with knobs on” mean?
even more so or to a greater extent Literally: with decorative knobs added
Is “with knobs on” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.