Word.ws English Dictionary

knows which side one's bread is buttered on

knows which side one's bread is buttered on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of know which side one's bread is buttered on.

Meaning of know which side one's bread is buttered on

Verb

know which side one's bread is buttered on (third-person singular simple present knows which side one's bread is buttered on, present participle knowing which side one's bread is buttered on, simple past knew which side one's bread was buttered on or knew which side one's bread is buttered on, past participle known which side one's bread was buttered on or known which side one's bread is buttered on)

  1. (idiomatic) To be aware of where one's interests lie in a situation.
    • They are all stupid when they are not crafty, and very few of them are crafty. The only wise Republicans are the millionnaires and their conscious henchmen. They know which side their bread is buttered on, and they know why.1908 September – 1909 September, Jack London, chapter XXIX, in Martin Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published September 1909, →OCLC, page 258

Questions about knows which side one's bread is buttered on

What is knows which side one's bread is buttered on the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Knows which side one's bread is buttered on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of know which side one's bread is buttered on.

Words near knows which side one's bread is buttered on in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knows which side one's bread is buttered on (page history and authors); know which side one's bread is buttered on (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: “knows which side one's bread is buttered on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knows_which_side_one%27s_bread_is_buttered_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.