Word.ws English Dictionary

know which way is up

know which way is up is the alternative form 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.

Forms of know which way is up

third-person singular presentknows which way is up
present participleknowing which way is up
pastknew which way is up
past participleknown which way is up

Questions about know which way is up

What is know which way is up the alternative form of?
Know which way is up is the alternative form of know which end is up.

Words near know which way is up in the dictionary

  1. know whether one is Arthur or Martha
  2. know which end is up
  3. know which side of one's bread is buttered
  4. know which side of the bread is buttered
  5. know which side one's bread is buttered on
  6. know which way is up
  7. know your place
  8. know'd
  9. know'st
  10. know-all
  11. know-alls

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: know which way 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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “know which way is up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/know_which_way_is_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.