know which side one's bread is buttered on

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

know which side one's bread is buttered on (third-person singular simple present knows which side one's bread is buttered on, present participle knowing which side one's bread is buttered on, simple past knew which side one's bread was buttered on, past participle known which side one's bread was buttered on)

1. (idiomatic) To be aware of where one's interests lie in a situation.
   • 1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter I, in The Fortunes of Nigel:

     “Pshaw!” answered his mercurial companion; “he knows on which side his bread is buttered, and I warrant you has not lived so long among Englishmen, and by Englishmen, to quarrel with us for bearing an English mind."

   • 1909, Jack London, chapter XXIX, in Martin Eden:

     They are all stupid when they are not crafty, and very few of them are crafty. The only wise Republicans are the millionnaires and their conscious henchmen. They know which side their bread is buttered on, and they know why."

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
     , Episode 16:

     He knows which side his bread is buttered on though in all probability he never realised what it is to be without regular meals.

   • 2008, Jerry Moriarity, Picking the Bones of Eleven Presidents and Others, →ISBN:

     The crowd, which included many children, cheered when Truman confided with a smile, “They know what side their bread is buttered on.”

   • 2003 October 9, Ken Fisher, “Pentium 4 Extremely Expensive Edition, cache boost for everyman”, in Ars Technica‎^[1]:

     On the other hand, the decision to beef up the standard fare without raising prices is a signal that Intel knows which side of the bread is buttered.

See also

• butter one's bread on both sides