Tagged Questions
0
votes
1answer
117 views
Meaning of “a rage of vision”?
What is the meaning of “had sent him a rage of vision” in this excerpt:
The old man was in a position to know what his ideas were. He had lived for three months in the nephew's house on what he ...
1
vote
3answers
625 views
What is the meaning of “six ways from Sunday”? [closed]
This is a line from the book Test Driven Development by Kent Beck:
Fortunately, we are well rested and relaxed and unlikely to make
mistakes, which is why we will go in teeny-tiny steps, ...
9
votes
3answers
383 views
What does “Sleep through the Second Coming” mean?
There is the following statement in Jeffery Archer’s fiction “Kane & Abel,” in which William Kane, one of the two heroes looks at his wife sleeping soundly on bed unaware of his big problem:
...
1
vote
1answer
130 views
What does “crystal ball” mean in the context? [closed]
I just asked a question on Stackoverflow. They closed it because it needed a "crystal ball" to answer such questions.
My concept of "crystal ball" makes me interpret it as that we need some magic to ...
6
votes
1answer
308 views
What does the phrase “Lady-Macbethed” mean? [closed]
Colonel Hampton snorted contemptuously. Senile dementia! Well, he must
have been senile and demented, to bring this pair of snakes into his
home, because he felt an obligation to his dead ...
-2
votes
1answer
83 views
The meaning of “crime and grime” [closed]
What does the expression crime and grime mean? It was mentioned from this comment:
My dad's SUV got jacked when I was living in Saga Bay. Don't live in FL anymore. Too much f-king crime and grime. ...
2
votes
2answers
163 views
What is the meaning of “dumbly eloquent”?
Please go through this excerpt from "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller:
The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so ...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
What does one's status being “less a blank check than an equation with multiple variables” mean?
There is the following line in a December 8 New York Times article titled “Clinton’s countless choices hinge on one: 2016”:
“But being Hillary Clinton is never a simple matter, and her next few
...
-3
votes
1answer
95 views
What is meaning of “Sulking though”? [closed]
The background story is as follows. Author flunked engineering entrance exam. He took tuitions by paying hefty fee from his father pockets in order to crack the exam. How ever he flunked again. After ...
5
votes
4answers
243 views
What is the meaning of the phrase “we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe”?
I learned the specified phrase from the book "Revolution 2020" by "Chetan Bhagath".
I didn't like the we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe between Raghav and Aarti
What is the meaning of ...
2
votes
3answers
111 views
What is the meaning of “divinity that hedges sublimest woe”?
I found the above phrase in the book "The story of my life" by Helen Keller. The actual sentence is below.
It has been my privilege to meet a few great actors and actress who have the power of so ...
3
votes
1answer
165 views
What does the phrase “red rovering” mean? [closed]
What does the phrase "red rovering" mean? Here is the context:
Over a decade ago, Billy Bob’s career began in the corporate world before red-rovering to agency life.
5
votes
2answers
334 views
What does “sank like a Chevy Volt in water” mean?
The Mesh Report (October 11) issue disclosed President Obama was confident that he won at the first Presidential debate with Mitt Romney in the article titled “Clueless: Obama thought he won debate ...
4
votes
4answers
322 views
What does “to get in line soldier-style” mean?
I read the following sentence and was wondering what does the phrase 'to get in line soldier-style' mean in the context -
A third person familiar with the bank told Reuters that Pandit and O'Neill ...
-2
votes
1answer
313 views
What is the meaning of “I don't need no stinking counters”?
The context is this video at timeline 43:26 seconds .
That's too fancy for me. I don't need no stinking counters.
What does this mean? Is it an American or British expression?
8
votes
2answers
475 views
What does poking with a stick mean?
Please see the context from this blog of Joel Spolsky:
Since you have to poke at Windows Calculator with a stick, it doesn't
have to be as fast as Excel.
What does he mean by poking with a ...
1
vote
3answers
162 views
What does the phrase “Bolting for the Door” mean? [closed]
I was watching this video and at 41:05 secs the professor uses this phrase Bolting for the Door . Does it mean that students will get bored or it will be too difficult for the students such that they ...
3
votes
1answer
390 views
Is “and then some” an offensive expression?
I started an internal email discussion with the title "Editorial: link issues, some spelling issues and then some".
However, upon rereading my own mail, it occurred to me that this might express ...
4
votes
3answers
156 views
What does “pink primates” mean?
What does this sentence mean?
What was over there?
Freaky pink primates!
Why 'pink' ? What is the exact meaning?
It was in Over the Hedge.
4
votes
4answers
472 views
What is the meaning of “often mistaken, never in doubt”?
What is the meaning of "often mistaken, never in doubt"? In what context is the phrase used?
3
votes
1answer
91 views
What is the meaning of the phrase “made out to”, in the current context?
I have received a letter which has the following sentence. The letter is about reimbursement of my travel costs to their location.
Please note that for tax reasons all invoices have to be made ...
2
votes
1answer
192 views
What does “He is not a man about town” mean?
There was the phrase “He is not a man about town” in the article of Time magazine May14 – 20 issue, titled “Brazil’s War on Big Oil,” reporting the oil-spill accident which took place in the sea 230 ...
7
votes
2answers
285 views
Why is the answer “Again with the string?” funny when you pulled the string of a talking doll of your mother?
I know it’s boorish and unsophisticated to ask why it is funny on a joke, but I venture to ask.
New York Times’ theater review (May 20) of “Old Jews telling jokes” carried the following Jewish jokes;
...
3
votes
4answers
831 views
What does the phrase “switched on” mean in this context?
Recently a colleague of mine said to me that the "Guys who are switched on really annoy me?". Since I am not a native speaker, I do not know what he meant by "switched on". Can you fine folks shed ...
3
votes
2answers
161 views
What does the phrase “Follow that!” mean?
I've heard that nice phrase and assume it is kind of an idiom.
The possible usage I can recall:
Follow that! I just did [insert something here].
Is that true and if so what does it mean?
1
vote
5answers
294 views
Meaning of “I would venture” [closed]
On page 6 of The Remains of the Day, I read:
...my new employer in several other instances had had occasion to call upon such qualities as it may be my good fortune to possess and found them to ...
3
votes
2answers
281 views
Is “put together” an adjectival phrase?
When someone says "He is smarter than I and she put together," what is the function of the phrase "put together"? Is it considered an adjective?
1
vote
2answers
151 views
What do the President Obama is “smooth without big handles,” and he “got his mojo back”?
There were two “fancy” phrases –“he is smooth without big handles” and “he is getting his mojo back” in describing recent images of President Obama’s in New York Times’ (April 14) article titled “Come ...
1
vote
2answers
5k views
What does “you blue blistering barnacles” or “Billions of blue blistering barnacles” mean? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does “Thundering typhoons” mean?
What does "you blue blistering barnacles" or "Billions of blue blistering barnacles" mean?
15
votes
3answers
548 views
Where does “patching through” come from?
Where does "patching through" come from?
And what did it originally mean?
Usage: "I'm patching through a call from Mr. X"
3
votes
1answer
1k views
What does “Thundering typhoons” mean?
What does "Thundering typhoons" mean?
Actually it was in the 2011 movie The Adventures of Tintin.
-1
votes
2answers
127 views
Is “for what” a phrase? [closed]
I am not able to find the meaning of "for what" (eg "for what is he..."). To me it sounds like if something is worse than it appears. In a movie I saw
To look life in the face, always, to look ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
Origin and exact meaning of “taken to the cleaners”
I know the meaning of this phrase by context, but the German analogs are no literal translations of this phrase and very dissimilar metaphors, meaning roughly:
being tricked into something being ...
2
votes
3answers
281 views
Does the phrase “out of one's mind” mean beyond one's average level in this sentence?
A sentence I read this morning,
The reason the running back got his new monster contract in the first place is that he was performing out of his mind – and was bound, therefore, to fall back to ...
3
votes
2answers
3k views
What does ‘play a blinder’ mean? Is it a popular phrase?
I came across the phrase ‘played a blinder’ in the following paragraph of the New York Times’ December 12 article, titled “British Euro Farce,” dealing with British Prime Minister David Cameron’s veto ...
4
votes
3answers
764 views
Meaning of “to charm the skin off a snake”
This is a phrase originated from Dead Run by Erica Spindler. Hereunder is the context in the book that I googled.
Rick’s Island Hideaway was the quintessential Key West bar: Jimmy Buffet on the ...
2
votes
4answers
234 views
Isn’t something missing in the sentence, “Best for a mom with years of child rearing ahead to cut her losses now.”?
The latter half of the following sentence of Time magazine’s article, “Playing Favorites” (October 3), which deals with the commonly observed favoritism of parents to one particular child, is puzzling ...
1
vote
2answers
194 views
Differences between “stupid to the last drop” and “stupid”
My colleague was screaming You are stupid to the last drop at another colleague who accidentally formatted her hard disk.
Is there such an expression as stupid to the last drop? Are there ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Meaning of the phrase “take a pass on yelling uncle”
I have heard that phrase recently on this YouTube video "Why We Row (Inspirational)" and I can assume what it means, but I just don't understand it on the context of the speech.
... don't be ...
5
votes
1answer
5k views
What does “Easy peasy japanesey” mean?
What does this sentence mean?
Easy peasy japanesey!
Especially "japanesey", why Japan?
It was in the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption.
3
votes
2answers
203 views
Meaning of “move out of a walk”
In George Orwell's 1984, Part 3, Chapter 4:
He attempted more elaborate exercises, and was astonished and
humiliated to find what things he could not do. He could not move
out of a walk, ...
...
0
votes
2answers
349 views
What's the meaning of “to hold it up against” here?
Here I got this comment :
I've really grown to like how the NLT can help in understanding the
original meaning behind a verse. I still like to hold it up against
literal translations (as you ...
7
votes
2answers
285 views
In what senses are 'at' and 'all' used in the phrase “at all”?
I understand that the phrase at all means in any way or in the slightest, e.g. What is the opposite of “to stink” (v)? Is there one at all?, or Not bad at all
I don't understand how the individual ...
0
votes
1answer
304 views
Does “end up with something” always mean possession? (Harry Potter spoilers)
Does "end up with an object" always mean possession? Can it possibly mean destruction?
Here is the context.
Source: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K.Rowling.
Characters: Harry ...
8
votes
4answers
451 views
“Back up data” or “back data up”?
Which is correct?
To back up data.
To back data up.
The context is the following:
He was careful enough to perform tests and [back up data | back data up] to avoid any problems.
1
vote
4answers
2k views
Is “I don’t suppose you could lend me a pound?” a well-used expression when you ask someone to lend money?
I came across the phrase, "I don’t suppose you could lend me a pound?" in the short story titled "Chalk and Cheese," contained in "To Cut a Long Story Short" by Jeffrey Archer.
The phrase appears in ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
What does the phrase “putting them in time out” mean?
I have a sentence, but there is an expression I can't understand. Could someone explain it to me? Here it is:
"You should treat your employees like adults instead of putting them in time out like ...
3
votes
2answers
145 views
Meaning of “sweaty pastries”
In the New York Times,
An adjacent lounge, called Collage, looks like a modern airport bistro. It serves breakfast by day (a continental spread of sweaty pastries), and drinks and bar food by ...
4
votes
3answers
895 views
Meaning of “one order of magnitude improvement”
There is no single development, in either technology or management
technique, which by itself promises even one order of magnitude
improvement in productivity, in reliability, in ...
7
votes
6answers
691 views
What is meant by “a carriage that returns”?
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/big-picture.html#faq-6.17:
And '\r' is the carriage return, even though your computer might not
have a carriage that returns.
I know that he is trying to ...
