the lowdown on

low-down

1. adjective Dishonest or unfair; vile or despicable; contemptible. Always used before a noun. The guy I've been seeing turned out to be a low-down, cheating rat! You're nothing but a low-down coward, you know that? My low-down boss fired me, even though it was his mistake that lost us the client!

2. noun The truth, facts, or most pertinent information about something. OK, here's the low-down: I've got a great business opportunity lined up, but I need to borrow a few thousand dollars to get it off the ground. This is Jane—she'll give you the low-down on day-to-day tasks around the office.

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

the lowdown on

The whole truth about something, as in We're waiting to hear the lowdown on what happened after we left. This term uses lowdown in the sense of "the basic or fundamental part." [Slang; early 1900s]

See also: lowdown, on

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.