Word.ws English Dictionary

knowing which end is up

knowing which end is up is the present participle and gerund 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 knowing which end is up

What is knowing which end is up the present participle and gerund of?
Knowing which end is up is the present participle and gerund of know which end is up.

Words near knowing which end is up in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knowing 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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