Word.ws English Dictionary

knew which end is up

knew which end is up is the simple past of know which end is up.

Meaning of know which end is up

Verb

know which end is up (third-person singular simple present knows which end is up, present participle knowing which end is up, simple past knew which end is up, past participle known which end is up)

  1. (idiomatic) To possess sound judgment or common sense; to have a clear understanding of a situation.
    • He was too stoned to know which end was up.

Questions about knew which end is up

What is knew which end is up the simple past of?
Knew which end is up is the simple past of know which end is up.

Words near knew which end is up in the dictionary

  1. knew what's o'clock
  2. knew when to fold 'em
  3. knew where one stood
  4. knew where the bodies were buried
  5. knew whether one was Arthur or Martha
  6. knew which end is up
  7. knew which side one's bread is buttered on
  8. knew which side one's bread was buttered on
  9. knewest
  10. kneweth
  11. knewst

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knew which end is up (page history and authors); know which end is 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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