head down, bum up in English

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{
  "etymology_text": "From an assumed position of strenuous work. Compare nose to the grindstone.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "head down, ass up",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head down, arse up",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "head down, bum up (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007 April 6, Gold Coast Bulletin, \"Call of Sea Sirens\"",
          "text": "Hadn't heard a thing. Hard at work, head down, bum up."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hard at work; preparing oneself to work hard."
      ],
      "id": "en-head_down,_bum_up-en-adv-vZZBsJ84",
      "links": [
        [
          "Hard",
          "hard"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "preparing",
          "preparing"
        ],
        [
          "oneself",
          "oneself"
        ],
        [
          "hard",
          "hard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, slang) Hard at work; preparing oneself to work hard."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nose to the grindstone"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "not-comparable",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-head down, bum up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/96/En-au-head_down%2C_bum_up.ogg/En-au-head_down%2C_bum_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/En-au-head_down%2C_bum_up.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "head down, bum up"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "etymology_text": "From an assumed position of strenuous work. Compare nose to the grindstone.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "head down, ass up",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head down, arse up",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "head down, bum up (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English adverbs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English uncomparable adverbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007 April 6, Gold Coast Bulletin, \"Call of Sea Sirens\"",
          "text": "Hadn't heard a thing. Hard at work, head down, bum up."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hard at work; preparing oneself to work hard."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Hard",
          "hard"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "preparing",
          "preparing"
        ],
        [
          "oneself",
          "oneself"
        ],
        [
          "hard",
          "hard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, slang) Hard at work; preparing oneself to work hard."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "not-comparable",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-head down, bum up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/96/En-au-head_down%2C_bum_up.ogg/En-au-head_down%2C_bum_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/En-au-head_down%2C_bum_up.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "nose to the grindstone"
    }
  ],
  "word": "head down, bum up"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-29 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (4eaa824 and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.

"head down, bum up" meaning in English

Adverb