1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, v. 'Come, boy, I'm an old fellow, and know what's what as well as you that are younger.'
1792. Holcroft, Road to Ruin. You know a thing or two, Mr. Selby.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well. I am a raw Scotchman, Captain Jekyll, it is true, but yet I know a thing or two.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. A man of discernment who knew a thing or two.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 364 (ed. 1857). 'Never mind, Sir,' said Mr. Weller with dignity, 'I know wot's o'clock.'
1841. Lever, Charles O'Malley. I thought I knew a thing or two when I landed in Portugal; but, Lord love you, I was a babe . . . compared to the Portuguese.
1849. Lytton, 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. The old Norman bon-vivant evidently knew a thing or two.
1867. All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 56. The tramp who knows his way about knows what to do.
1887. Baumann, Londinismen, Slang u. Cant, pref., vi. So from hartful young dodgers From vaxy old codgers, From the blowens we got Soon to know vot is vot.
1888. Rolf 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. Newman, Scamping Tricks, 120. Now it is only fair to say the assistant knew his book, and was up to snuff.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 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 Mag., 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. Sportsman, 28 Nov. That greatly desired summit of every embryo racing man's aspirations . . . being in the know.
1889. 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 Gaz., 31 Oct., 3, 1. Racing on the Flat. By one in the know [Title].
1892. Leisure Hour, Jan., p. 192. 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 Ap., 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. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xxiii. A good many men tried all they knew to be prepared and have a show for it.
