Word.ws English Dictionary

have the drains up

have the drains up verb: to investigate the internals of a situation.

Verb

have the drains up (third-person singular simple present has the drains up, present participle having the drains up, simple past and past participle had the drains up)

  1. To investigate the internals of a situation.
    • So let's now have the drains up and have a good old look at some dodgy working practices that should have gone out with the ark.2008, Kevin Duncan, So What?, page 65
    • I want you to have the drains up. Find out why there have been all these cock-ups. I want two reports. One the official confidential one to be sent up the line and kept on file, but between you and me I want to know more than that.2013, Ken Bridgewater, Open Verdict, page 52

Forms of have the drains up

third-person singular presenthas the drains up
present participlehaving the drains up
past participlehad the drains up
pasthad the drains up

Questions about have the drains up

What does have the drains up mean?
Have the drains up means to investigate the internals of a situation.
What part of speech is have the drains up?
Have the drains up is a verb.
What is the past tense of have the drains up?
The past tense of have the drains up is had the drains up.

Words near have the drains up in the dictionary

  1. have the black ox tread on one's foot
  2. have the blues
  3. have the cards
  4. have the cards in one's hands
  5. have the dirts with
  6. have the drains up
  7. have the drop on
  8. have the first idea
  9. have the floor
  10. have the foggiest
  11. have the goods on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have the drains up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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