What it means
A knees-up is a proper lively party, usually British, with music on, drinks flowing and everybody having it on the dance floor. It can mean anything from a wedding do to a pub bash, as long as it's got that noisy, happy, slightly chaotic energy where people end up singing louder than they should.
Usage examples
"There’s a knees-up at the social club Saturday, innit. DJ’s on, cheap pints, and Dave’s already practising his dance like he’s dodging puddles on the Tube."
"After the wedding we had a proper knees-up in the village hall, my nan was the last one off the dance floor."
"We’re only popping out for one pint, yeah right, it turned into a full knees-up and I got home when the birds were already gossiping."
"Leave your sulk at the door and get in here, this ain’t a quiet drink, it’s a proper knees-up."
"It started as drinks round Kev's and somehow turned into a full knees-up with someone's aunt belting out Sweet Caroline in the kitchen."
Where it comes from
It comes from Knees Up Mother Brown, a hugely popular Cockney music hall song from the early 20th century. The phrase got picked up in London for a loud, boozy singalong kind of party, then spread wider across Britain till knees-up became a cheeky everyday way to mean a proper lively bash.
Other ways to say it
This expression also appears in
