know B from a battledore
English
Verb
know B from a battledore
- (archaic, often in the negative) To know anything at all; to have the most basic common sense or intelligence.
- 1599, Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe:
- Euery man can ſay Bee to a Battledore, and write in prayſe of Vertue, and the ſeuen Liberall Sciences, threſh corne out of the full ſheaues, and fetch water out of the Thames; but out of drie ſtubble to make an after harueſt, and a plentifull croppe without ſowing, and wring iuice out of a flint, thats Pierce a Gods name, and the right tricke of a workman.
- 1599, Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe: