Re: Knackered

Iain wrote: 
When did this word, meaning tired and exhausted, first come into use?
I'm inspired to ask since I was struck by its usage in the new King
King film set in '33, which shows quite a lot of attention to detail
and makes a lot of effort to make the period apparent, as well as in
language and idioms. I'm aware of the toy maybe dating from before
then.

The OED citations of 1886-1963 all seem to use "knacker" as a synonym for "do in" as "to kill". The 1971 Times citation and later seem to refer to "done in" as "exhausted." The 1971 Aldiss citation may stand in some middle ground:

knacker, v. ("n&k@(r)) [f. knacker n.3 2 or knacker n.1 3.]
trans. To kill; to castrate; usu. in weakened sense, to exhaust, to wear
out. So as an imprecation. Freq. as pa. pple. or ppl. a.

1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 90/2
     Knacker, umbringen; he's knackered, er ist abgemurkst worden.
1936 B. Penton Inheritors ix. 72
     Coons is cheap. They'd knacker us white bushmen if they got the
     chance and let them Chows and Jimmy Tannas breed like rabbits.
1946 Penguin New Writing XXVII. 79
     His eyes narrowed but he knew I had him knackered.
1959 M. Pugh Chancer vi. 86
     ‘Wasn't it Major Fleming with the Bren-gun?’ ‘Major Fleming be
     knackered. It was Ramsay.’
1963 New Society 22 Aug. 5/1
     Other adoptions are ‘get knotted’ and ‘knackered’ which have come
     to mean innocently enough, ‘go to hell’, and ‘kaput’.
1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 258
     Gor-Blimey came up, panting like a dog. ‘I'm knackered,’ he said.
     Blood was streaming down his face from a cut on his temple.
1971 Times 21 May 8/7,
     I kept thinking I should whip up the pace and then I'd think ‘I'm
     knackered, I'll leave it for another lap.’
1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xxi. 283
     We've been above Base Camp for twenty-eight days. If we had to go
     back to carrying now we'd have to go all the way back down for a
     rest. We're just too knackered to carry.
1975 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 23 Feb. 25/2
     Oot a' mornin' daein' thae miracles. I'm knackered! Gie's a glass
     o' that wine. Nae kiddin' son, I'm knackered.


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