1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Floor the pig, knock down the officer.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 15. That moment the farmer let fly at the drover, which floored him.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xxi. ‘When I saw him so floored as not to be able to come to time, I knew there had been some hard hitting going on thereabouts, so I kept clear.’
1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 10. Then (apostrophising ‘Maga’) floor me not. Ibid., p. 60, The Corinthian, being no novice in these matters, floored two or three in a twinkling.
1835. Coleridge, Table Talk (published posthumously). The other day I was what you may called floored by a Jew.
1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 425 (Ed. 1857). Even Mr. Bob Sawyer … was floored.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, The Channings, ch. v. ‘So if the master is directing his suspicions to the seniors, he’ll get floored.’
1870. L. Oliphant, Piccadilly, Pt. V., p. 196. ‘Whenever the mammas object to asking her on account of that horrid Lady Wylde,’ I floor all opposition by saying, ‘Oh, Lady Jane Helter will bring her.’
1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. Pope, who was the fresher, started at a terrific pace and drove his man all over the ring, ending by flooring him.
To floor the odds (betting men’s).—Said of a low-priced horse that pulls off the event in face of the betting.