Word.ws English Dictionary

know a B from a battledore

know a B from a battledore is the alternative form of know B from a battledore.

Meaning of know B from a battledore

Verb

know B from a battledore (third-person singular simple present knows B from a battledore, present participle knowing B from a battledore, simple past knew B from a battledore, past participle known B from a battledore)

  1. (archaic, often in the negative) To know anything at all; to have the most basic common sense or intelligence.
    • Euery man can ſay Bee to a Battledore, and vvrite in prayſe of Vertue, and the ſeuen Liberall Sciences, threſh corne out of the full ſheaues, and fetch vvater out of the Thames; but out of drie ſtubble to make an after harueſt, and a plentifull croppe vvithout ſovving, and vvring iuice out of a...[1599, [Thomas] Nashe, “To His Readers, Hee Cares Not What They Be”, in Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […]...

Forms of know a B from a battledore

third-person singular presentknows a B from a battledore
present participleknowing a B from a battledore
pastknew a B from a battledore
past participleknown a B from a battledore

Questions about know a B from a battledore

What is know a B from a battledore the alternative form of?
Know a B from a battledore is the alternative form of know B from a battledore.

Words near know a B from a battledore in the dictionary

  1. knouters
  2. knouting
  3. knoutings
  4. knouts
  5. know
  6. know a B from a battledore
  7. know A from B
  8. know about
  9. know any better
  10. know B from a battledore
  11. know back to front

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: know a B from a battledore (page history and authors); know B from a battledore (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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