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Meaning of know the ropes | Babel Free

Verb CEFR C1

Definitions

To have experience of the appropriate procedures; know how a particular task or job should be done (with reference to ropes used in sailing).

Examples

“A traveller from Pontypridd to Llantrisant, not knowing the ropes, would naturally travel to the station of that name, only to find himself at Pont-y-Clun, two miles distant, and probably would not be at all soothed to discover that, had he alighted at the previous station (known as Cross Inn), he would have been within half a mile of his objective. [the station at Pontyclun was named Llantrisant before it closed, it later reopened as Pontyclun]”

CEFR level

C1
Advanced
This word is part of the CEFR C1 vocabulary — advanced level.

See also

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