Word.ws English Dictionary

knew one's ass from a hole in the ground

knew one's ass from a hole in the ground is the simple past of know one's ass from a hole in the ground.

Meaning of know one's ass from a hole in the ground

Verb

know one's ass from a hole in the ground (third-person singular simple present knows one's ass from a hole in the ground, present participle knowing one's ass from a hole in the ground, simple past knew one's ass from a hole in the ground, past participle known one's ass from a hole in the ground)

  1. (idiomatic, vulgar) To have an adequate level of knowledge or skill; to understand what one is doing or talking about.
    • "Why are you so sure and they aren't?" the landsman said. . . .
      "Because Mr. Ricimer knows his ass from a hole in the ground, sir."2004, David Drake, The Reaches, →ISBN

Questions about knew one's ass from a hole in the ground

What is knew one's ass from a hole in the ground the simple past of?
Knew one's ass from a hole in the ground is the simple past of know one's ass from a hole in the ground.

Words near knew one's ass from a hole in the ground in the dictionary

  1. knew no bounds
  2. knew of
  3. knew on what side one's bread is buttered
  4. knew on what side one's bread was buttered
  5. knew one's arse from one's elbow
  6. knew one's ass from a hole in the ground
  7. knew one's ass from one's elbow
  8. knew one's head from a hole in the ground
  9. knew one's head from one's ass
  10. knew one's onions
  11. knew one's own head

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knew one's ass from a hole in the ground (page history and authors); know one's ass from a hole in the ground (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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Cite this entry: “knew one's ass from a hole in the ground.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knew_one%27s_ass_from_a_hole_in_the_ground. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.