Word.ws English Dictionary

knows which end is up

knows which end is up is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 knows which end is up

What is knows which end is up the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Knows which end is up is the third-person singular simple present indicative of know which end is up.

Words near knows which end is up in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knows 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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