Know

verb. (conventional).—To copulate: applied to women. Also to KNOW CARNALLY and to HAVE CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. For synonyms, see GREENS and RIDE.

  TO KNOW, ONE’S WAY ABOUT, ROUND, A THING OR TWO, A TRICK WORTH TWO, THE ROPES, THE TIME OF DAY, WHAT’S O’CLOCK, WHAT’S WHAT, ONE’S BOOK, LIFE, HOW MANY BLUE BEANS MAKE FIVE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be well-informed, experienced, wide-awake; to be equal to any emergency; FLY (q.v.).

  1534.  UDALL, Roister Doister, i. 2, p. 17 (ARBER).

  1598.  SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., ii. 1. Soft, I pray thee: I know A TRICK WORTH TWO of that.

  1609.  JONSON, Epicœne, or the Silent Woman, v. Daw. O, it pleases him to say so, sir; but Sir Amorous KNOWS WHAT’S WHAT as well.

  1679.  WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, Act iii. Sc. i. But you, gossip, KNOW WHAT’S WHAT.

  1711.  Spectator, No. 132. This sly saint, who, I will warrant, UNDERSTANDS WHAT IS WHAT as well as you or I, widow, shall give the bride as father.

  1773.  GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, v., 1. Hard. Come, boy, I’m an old fellow, and KNOW WHAT’S WHAT, as well as you that are younger.

  1792.  T. HOLCROFT, The Road to Ruin, ii. 3. Gold. YOU KNOW A THING OR TWO!

  1824.  SCOTT, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xiv. I thank you for your hint, Captain Jekyl—I am a raw Scotchman, it is true; but yet I KNOW A THING OR TWO.

  1834.  W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, bk. IV. i. A man of discernment in his way, and KNEW A THING OR TWO.

  1836.  DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, p. 364 (ed. 1857). ‘Never mind, Sir,’ said Mr. Weiler with dignity, ‘I KNOW WOT’S O’CLOCK.’

  1841.  LEVER, Charles O’Malley, ch. xxxvi. I thought I KNEW A THING OR TWO myself, when I landed [in Portugal]; but, Lord love you! I was a babe … compared with [the Portuguese].

  1849.  BULWER-LYTTON, The Caxtons, p. IV. iii. ‘I am no genius, but I am a practical man. I KNOW WHAT’S WHAT.’

  1849–50.  THACKERAY, Pendennis, ch. x. I KNOW WHAT’S O’CLOCK tolerably well.

  1854.  WHYTE-MELVILLE, General Bounce, xxv. The old Roman bon-vivant evidently KNEW A THING OR TWO about dinner-giving.

  1867.  All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 56. The tramp who KNOWS HIS WAY ABOUT knows what to do.

  1887.  BAUMANN, Londinismen, Slang und Cant, ‘A Slang Ditty,’ p. vi.

  1888.  BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, XXIV. We KNEW A TRICK WORTH TWO of that. Ibid., XLIV. He KNEW THE ROPES.

  1889.  Pall Mall Gazette, 9 Nov., p. 7, col. 2. Tell him frankly that you are a new reader, and would be glad of his assistance until you KNOW THE ROPES, as the sailors say.

  1891.  J. NEWMAN, Scamping Tricks, 120. Now it is only fair to say the assistant KNEW HIS BOOK, and was up to snuff.

  1892.  Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Oct., p. 5, col. 2. Mr. Asquith KNOWS, if I may use the phrase, THE TIME OF DAY.

  1892.  MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 13. He did KNOW A THING OR TWO. Ibid., 36. KNOWS HER WAY ABOUT well, I can tell yer. Ibid., 44. Alfongs KNOWS THE ROPES.

  NOT TO KNOW B FROM A BATTLEDORE. See B.

  IN THE KNOW, adv. phr. (common).—Having special and intimate knowledge; IN THE SWIM; on the GROUND FLOOR (q.v.).

  1883.  Referee, 29 April, p. 3, col. 2. As they are being shown about, and as everybody immediately interested knows all about them, perhaps Refereaders would like to be IN THE KNOW likewise.

  1884.  Cornhill Magazine, June, p. 617. The half-dozen young Arabs who are IN THE KNOW as to these eating-houses, and have marked them for their own.

  1888.  The Sportsman, 28 Nov. That greatly desired summit of every embryo racing man’s aspirations … being IN THE KNOW.

  1889.  The Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 1, col. 2. There is somebody I wot of who is fairly IN THE KNOW.

  1889.  Star, 9 Sept., p. 4, col. 3. If he were IN THE KNOW he would be more correct in his facts.

  1892.  Pall Mall Gazette, 31 Oct., 3, 1. Racing on the Flat. By ONE IN THE KNOW [Title].

  1892.  The Leisure Hour, xli. Jan., p. 192 col. 1. It is evident to the reader who is ‘IN THE KNOW’ that the miserable author will have to go round by Cape Horn to get from Greenwich to the Isle of Dogs.

  1894.  Illustrated Bits, 7 April, p. 4, col. 2. Harry Summers, whose father did the commissions for the stable, and whose main ambition was to be IN THE KNOW, so that he might back winners.

  1894.  GEORGE MOORE, Esther Waters, xxx. ‘If one was really IN THE KNOW, then I don’t say nothing about it; but who of us is ever really IN THE KNOW?’

  ALL ONE KNOWS, phr. (common).—The utmost.

  1888.  BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xxiii. A good many men tried ALL THEY KNEW to be prepared and have a show for it.

  I WANT TO KNOW, phr. (American colloquial).—‘Is it possible?’ ‘You surprise me.’