"know like the back of one's hand" meaning in English

See know like the back of one's hand in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-know like the back of one's hand.ogg Forms: knows like the back of one's hand [present, singular, third-person], knowing like the back of one's hand [participle, present], knew like the back of one's hand [past], known like the back of one's hand [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|know<,,knew,known> like the back of one's hand}} know like the back of one's hand (third-person singular simple present knows like the back of one's hand, present participle knowing like the back of one's hand, simple past knew like the back of one's hand, past participle known like the back of one's hand)
  1. (transitive, simile) To be intimately knowledgeable about something. Tags: transitive Synonyms: know inside and out, know like a book, know like the palm of one's hand Related terms: give someone the back of one's hand Translations (be intimately knowledgeable about): 瞭如指掌 (Chinese Mandarin), 了如指掌 (liǎorúzhǐzhǎng) (Chinese Mandarin), kennen als z'n broekzak (Dutch), tuntea kuin omat taskunsa (Finnish), connaître comme sa poche (French), etwas kennen wie die eigene Westentasche (German), ismeri, mint a tenyerét (Hungarian), kjenne som sin egen bukselomme (Norwegian), znać jak własną kieszeń (Polish), conhecer como a palma da mão (Portuguese), познавати као свој длан [Cyrillic] (Serbo-Croatian), познавати као свој џеп [Cyrillic] (Serbo-Croatian), poznavati kao svoj dlan [Roman] (Serbo-Croatian), poznavati kao svoj džep [Roman] (Serbo-Croatian), conocer algo como la palma de su mano (Spanish), känna som sin egen ficka (Swedish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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    {
      "form": "knows like the back of one's hand",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "knowing like the back of one's hand",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "knew like the back of one's hand",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "known like the back of one's hand",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "args": {
        "1": "know<,,knew,known> like the back of one's hand"
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He knows the software like the back of his hand, and can often solve problems over the phone, without looking.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 218:",
          "text": "\"I can; know that country like the back of my hand. You haven't got a road map, I suppose. Well, no matter, I'll give you the lay of the land without it.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 27, Tim Bano, quoting Sanaz Toossi, “It's a play born of rage”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 15:",
          "text": "“I know American audiences like the back of my hand,” she says, sitting in a dressing room in London at the end of a long day of rehearsals; […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be intimately knowledgeable about something."
      ],
      "id": "en-know_like_the_back_of_one's_hand-en-verb-jLahGHss",
      "links": [
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          "knowledgeable",
          "knowledgeable"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, simile) To be intimately knowledgeable about something."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "give someone the back of one's hand"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "know inside and out"
        },
        {
          "word": "know like a book"
        },
        {
          "word": "know like the palm of one's hand"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "瞭如指掌"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "liǎorúzhǐzhǎng",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "了如指掌"
        },
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          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "kennen als z'n broekzak"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "tuntea kuin omat taskunsa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "connaître comme sa poche"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "etwas kennen wie die eigene Westentasche"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "ismeri, mint a tenyerét"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "kjenne som sin egen bukselomme"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "znać jak własną kieszeń"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "conhecer como a palma da mão"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "знать как свои́ пять па́льцев (znatʹ kak svoí pjatʹ pálʹcev, literally “to know like one's five fingers”)",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "tags": [
            "Cyrillic"
          ],
          "word": "познавати као свој длан"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "tags": [
            "Cyrillic"
          ],
          "word": "познавати као свој џеп"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "tags": [
            "Roman"
          ],
          "word": "poznavati kao svoj dlan"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "tags": [
            "Roman"
          ],
          "word": "poznavati kao svoj džep"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "conocer algo como la palma de su mano"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
          "word": "känna som sin egen ficka"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "audio": "En-au-know like the back of one's hand.ogg",
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  "word": "know like the back of one's hand"
}
{
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      "form": "knows like the back of one's hand",
      "tags": [
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        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
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      "form": "knowing like the back of one's hand",
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      "form": "knew like the back of one's hand",
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      "form": "known like the back of one's hand",
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        "participle",
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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      "word": "give someone the back of one's hand"
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          "text": "He knows the software like the back of his hand, and can often solve problems over the phone, without looking.",
          "type": "example"
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        {
          "ref": "1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 218:",
          "text": "\"I can; know that country like the back of my hand. You haven't got a road map, I suppose. Well, no matter, I'll give you the lay of the land without it.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 27, Tim Bano, quoting Sanaz Toossi, “It's a play born of rage”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 15:",
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          "type": "quote"
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        "To be intimately knowledgeable about something."
      ],
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          "knowledgeable",
          "knowledgeable"
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      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, simile) To be intimately knowledgeable about something."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "know inside and out"
    },
    {
      "word": "know like a book"
    },
    {
      "word": "know like the palm of one's hand"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "瞭如指掌"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "liǎorúzhǐzhǎng",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "了如指掌"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "kennen als z'n broekzak"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "tuntea kuin omat taskunsa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "connaître comme sa poche"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "etwas kennen wie die eigene Westentasche"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "ismeri, mint a tenyerét"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "kjenne som sin egen bukselomme"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "znać jak własną kieszeń"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "conhecer como a palma da mão"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "знать как свои́ пять па́льцев (znatʹ kak svoí pjatʹ pálʹcev, literally “to know like one's five fingers”)",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic"
      ],
      "word": "познавати као свој длан"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic"
      ],
      "word": "познавати као свој џеп"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "tags": [
        "Roman"
      ],
      "word": "poznavati kao svoj dlan"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "tags": [
        "Roman"
      ],
      "word": "poznavati kao svoj džep"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "conocer algo como la palma de su mano"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "be intimately knowledgeable about",
      "word": "känna som sin egen ficka"
    }
  ],
  "word": "know like the back of one's hand"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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.

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