know one's way around

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

know one's way around (third-person singular simple present knows one's way around, present participle knowing one's way around, simple past knew one's way around, past participle known one's way around)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To know an area.

   London black cab drivers are obliged to undergo a nearly 3-year-long examination known as the Knowledge to prove that they know their way around the city.

2. (transitive, intransitive, idiomatic) Synonym of know one's stuff: to be knowledgeable about a subject or task.

   Joe really knows his way around corn mazes.

   • 1951, Mickey Spillane, One Lonely Night‎:

     "Mike's been in on a lot of big stuff, Lee," Pat cut in. "He knows his way around."

   • 1998 August 24, Johanna McGeary et al., “Sifting For Answers”, in Time:

     But after more than two decades in the FBI's secretive national-security division, she knows her way around terrorism.

   • 2011, W. E. B. Griffin, William E. Butterworth IV, Covert Warriors‎, →ISBN:

     “What I need is either a set of CIA credentials—better yet, a CIA agent who knows his way around and can be trusted to keep his mouth shut.”

   • 2012, Donna Hill, Dare to Dream‎, →ISBN:

     "Nothing like a man who knows his way around a kitchen," Desiree said.