know-everything

English

Alternative forms

• know everything

Noun

know-everything (plural know-everythings)

1. Synonym of know-it-all
   • 1984, Dave Godfrey, The new ancestors, page 276:

     There is Mali, there is Guinea, you are about to say— but our loans to Mali and Guinea, my young know-everythings, are like fish to vultures; the stomach remains empty.

   • 1998, Albert Blankenship, George Edward Breen, Alan Dutka, State of The Art Marketing Research, →ISBN, page 214:

     Even with the best screening methods, the loud talkers, the silent ones, and the know-everythings still may show up, for the world is full of these.

   • 2001, Lucille Osterweil, Lifedance: Balancing the Needs of Self and Others, →ISBN, page 34:

     Why is the "know-everything" so afraid of the autonomy of others, and the "know-nothing" so afraid of his own autonomy?

   • 2010, Steven Dillon, The Solaris Effect: Art and Artifice in Contemporary American Film, →ISBN, page 141:

     There is the unthinking no and the thinking no, the negation spoken by the know-nothings, and the negation of the know-everythings.

2. A highly knowledgeable person; expert.
   • 1981, Lodging Hospitality: LH. - Volume 37, page 116:

     Lots of people are like that in our business, trying to act like complete know-everythings.

   • 1993, The New Yorker, page 85:

     In the nineteenth century, Twain was the know-everything traveller, who made his homeland seem doubly attractive by so engagingly representing its energy and creativity.

   • 1995 March 24, Tessa Timney, “New MD junior corps”, in rec.arts.marching.drumcorps (Usenet):

     The guard is being instructed by indoor guard know-everythings and will # about 22 or so

   • 2013 November 19, gtr, “Do you scope out a restaurant?”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet):

     We were the know-everythings about the vast restaurant options in our area.