Word.ws English Dictionary

know where the bodies are buried

know where the bodies are buried verb: to possess confidential and incriminating information about a person's or organization's misdeeds or other secrets.

Verb

know where the bodies are buried (third-person singular simple present knows where the bodies are buried, present participle knowing where the bodies are buried, simple past knew where the bodies were buried, past participle known where the bodies were buried)

  1. (idiomatic) To possess confidential and incriminating information about a person's or organization's misdeeds or other secrets.
    • Senator John Stennis […] has been active and effective for so long as a member of the Armed Services Committee that he knows as well as any man can where the bodies are buried in the Pentagon and the boondoggles are buried in the defense budget.1971 September 19, Tom Wicker, “In the Nation”, in New York Times, retrieved 13 Aug 2018
    • No one except Ecclestone probably really understands the revenues being earned by the sport, such is the secrecy and labyrinthine structure. […] He knows where the bodies are buried. No one wants to get on his wrong side.2005 November 26, “Business Comment”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 13 Aug 2018

Forms of know where the bodies are buried

third-person singular presentknows where the bodies are buried
present participleknowing where the bodies are buried
pastknew where the bodies were buried
past participleknown where the bodies were buried

Questions about know where the bodies are buried

What does know where the bodies are buried mean?
Know where the bodies are buried means to possess confidential and incriminating information about a person's or organization's misdeeds or other secrets.
What part of speech is know where the bodies are buried?
Know where the bodies are buried is a verb.
What is the past tense of know where the bodies are buried?
The past tense of know where the bodies are buried is knew where the bodies were buried.

Words near know where the bodies are buried in the dictionary

  1. know what side one's bread is buttered on
  2. know what's o'clock
  3. know what's what
  4. know when to fold 'em
  5. know where one stands
  6. know where the bodies are buried
  7. know whether one is Arthur or Martha
  8. know which end is up
  9. know which side of one's bread is buttered
  10. know which side of the bread is buttered
  11. know which side one's bread is buttered on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: know where the bodies are buried (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-know where the bodies are buried.ogg.

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