who's who

• Who's Who

From Who's Who, the British publication of biographies for the upper class, first published in 1849.

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who's who (countable and uncountable, plural who's whos)

1. (countable, sometimes capitalized) A publication containing biographies of well-known or important people.
   • 1914, The Everyman Encyclopædia:

     Nearly every country has now a Who's Who, which gives a brief outline of the life and work of living men who have distinguished themselves in various ways.

   • 2001, James H. Sweetland, Fundamental Reference Sources, Chicago and London: American Library Association, →ISBN, page 243:

     But when a living person's profession or vocation is known, it is well to consult first a biographical dictionary in that field, for it often contains more names than the more general who's whos.

2. (countable) A list of notable, famous, or upper-class people.
   • 1954 November 22, “Education: Something for Cleo”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-12-20:

     In the growing who's who of Negro educators, the name of Cleo W. Blackburn, 45, ranks high.

   • 2002 April 6, “The 1992 campaign: Delegates; how New York voters determine who fills seats at Democratic Convention”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Mr. Clinton's candidates, a veritable who's who of New York Democrats, include Carol Bellamy, the former City Council president; Sandra Feldman, head of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, and Representative Gary L. Ackerman of Queens.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2010 February 11, “Dealer to the who’s who of Australian art”, in Sydney Morning Herald‎:

     With glittering names from a who's who of Australian art on her walls she would laugh: "Not just glittering names, glittering examples of their work, too."

3. (uncountable) Collectively, the elite class.
4. (countable) A person appearing in a Who's Who publication.
   • 1942, Milwaukee Journal:

     Sixty-one From Wisconsin Make Debut as Who's Whos [headline]:

5. (countable) A celebrity or famous person, someone likely to be in such a publication.
6. (uncountable, idiomatic) The identities of specific people, understood in terms of such distinguishing characteristics as their backgrounds, prominence, achievements, jobs, etc., as a basis for comparing them and especially as a basis for ranking them within a social group.
   • 1814, Maria Edgeworth, chapter XXIII, in Patronage. […], volume II, London: […] [J. M‘Creery] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, page 348:

     Mrs. Falconer cannot well avoid asking you to some of her entertainments, and it will be pleasant to you to know who's who beforehand.

   • 1902 August 21, Henry James, chapter XX, in The Wings of the Dove, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

     "Milly, it's true," she said, to be exact, "has no natural sense of social values, doesn't in the least understand our differences or know who's who or what's what."

   • 1902, W. W. Jacobs, chapter 5, in At Sunwich Port:

     "I'll learn 'im to insult a respectable British tradesman. I'll show him who's who."

   • 1937 September 27, “Fiction: Recent Books”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-01-25:

     Readers will conjure up many a conjecture over who's who in this literary gallery.

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