IdiomDaily Life
English
Englishbe a known quantity
Meaning: To be someone whose character or ability is already understood.
Example: “As a former deputy, she's a known quantity to the voters.”
Origin: From mathematics, where a known quantity is a value already given, as opposed to the unknown. The figurative use is common from the 19th century.
Equivalents in other languages
German: kein unbeschriebenes Blatt sein Literally: To be no blank page
More English idioms
- smell a rat To sense that something dishonest is going on.
- a hard nut to crack A difficult problem, or a person who is hard to deal with.
- have a finger in every pie To be involved in many different things at once.
- have a bee in one's bonnet To be obsessed with one idea.
- put down roots To settle somewhere permanently.
- on tenterhooks In anxious suspense.
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