Tagged Questions
3
votes
2answers
117 views
Is it possible to “defy the laws of physics”?
Assuming that it's impossible to circumvent the laws of physics, is it possible to defy them?
That is, in order to defy something, do you necessarily have to have some success in resisting it, or ...
6
votes
1answer
116 views
'Remit' an antonym of itself?
Perhaps I don't fully understand the word, but it always confuses me.
When talking about money:
The money was remitted.
Which means that the money was transmitted/transferred successfully.
But ...
2
votes
4answers
74 views
“Implicate” vs. “incriminate”
I am exploring possible differences in the meanings of 'implicate/incriminate' from using different direct objects. Assume the context is police interrogation:
He implicated/incriminated his ...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
What does “lit” mean, in The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat, by Dr Seuss contains the following:
I do not like this said the fish as he lit. I do not like it, not
one little bit.
What on earth does lit mean in this context?
A guess ...
0
votes
2answers
58 views
What is the meaning of “contribute” in the following context [closed]
What is the meaning of contribute here?
Plug-ins can contribute actionSets extensions that define actions with an
ID, a label, an icon, and a class that implements the interface IActionDelegate.
...
2
votes
2answers
140 views
whale as a verb
This post uses the expression:
These days forcing everything in 3D is no particular advantage. Graphics card can whale on 2D problems just as efficiently as 3D ones. It's just a question of ...
3
votes
4answers
526 views
What does “plenaried” mean in this phrase?
A recently-asked question, since deleted by its author, prompts the following question.
In a 12 March 2013 New York Times column called The Axis of Ennui, David Brooks concluded with:
What are ...
0
votes
2answers
165 views
“Let him wait” or “Keep him waiting” or “Make him wait” [closed]
There is someone I do not want to see. What can I say to my assistant:
Let him wait.
Keep him waiting.
Make him wait.
What is the difference among these?
-3
votes
2answers
86 views
Meaning of “threaten”
According to Merriam-Webster, threaten has the following four meanings:
1: to utter threats against
2a: to give signs or warning of
2b: to hang over dangerously
3: to announce as ...
2
votes
1answer
84 views
What is the meaning of “to tween”?
I recently stumbled upon the word tween but neither in the meaning as a contraction of between nor as little child. It seems to be similar to to tweak.
I found it in the context of programming like ...
0
votes
2answers
70 views
“Roll” vs. “roll up” [closed]
Are these two verbs the same? According to Longman, they are the same.
Here are some made up sentences:
I rolled this (up) into a ball.
Let's roll (up) our sleeves.
(I made up these ...
4
votes
2answers
115 views
Is it a standard usage of ‘blue’ to be used as a verb to mean ‘being deflated / become pessimistic’?
I was interested in the usage of ‘blue’ as a verb in the headline of New Yorker’s article, “Bibi Netanyahu’s election blues,” followed by the following lead copy:
“The center-left, which had ...
0
votes
2answers
64 views
Does “unfold with something” mean “unfold like something”?
Here's a sentence I don't completely understand.
The story leaps back and forth in time with crisp juxtaposing of scenes set in disparate places. The production nevertheless unfolds with the ...
1
vote
3answers
183 views
What does “Alice started to her feet” mean?
In the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, what does “Alice started to her feet” mean?
... But when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then ...
4
votes
2answers
64 views
Meaning of “stands there” in “[The word] stands there, easily repeated back”
I do not understand the "stands there" part related to the word:
It is much harder to deny having said an angry
word. It stands there, easily repeated back, hard to disavow
totally.
What ...
2
votes
4answers
120 views
Connotations of “anoint someone” as successor
I saw this headline on the BBC today:
China anoints Xi as new leader
There is one entry in the definition at Google's dictionary which exactly corresponds to the case in use:
Nominate or ...
0
votes
2answers
139 views
“chance” as a verb in context [closed]
In the following text, is "chance" a verb or a noun?
Very few did better than chance in spotting which was which.
Could I replace it with "guess"?
2
votes
5answers
207 views
Slight difference in the meaning I cannot understand
I am working on a text regarding quality of computational systems. I am following an ISO standard where I found:
Verification Process is to confirm that each software work product
and/or service ...
0
votes
5answers
85 views
Meaning of “running off” in this context [closed]
I do not understand the use of "run off" in the following sentence. Neither was I able to find any explanation so I guess it is not a phrase?
If your generator (software) was running off a ...
1
vote
2answers
316 views
What does “delineate” mean in this context?
I was reading a Scientific American story, “Controversial Spewed Iron Experiment Succeeds as Carbon Sink” by David Biello, when I came across this sentence:
The problem for scientists is that ...
6
votes
2answers
166 views
What does “Watch the plain clothes” account for in terms of “Cheap liquor nationalism”?
International Herald Tribune (September 30) introduced a commentary of Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami who is regarded as a favorite for this year’s Nobel Prize in literature on Japan’s dispute ...
0
votes
1answer
118 views
What does “back-slap” mean? [closed]
What does back-slap mean in this sentence?
Back-slap someone in Korea and they will be offended.
1
vote
4answers
127 views
Is “amend XX” a commonly understood English term to express “add something to XX” or “modify XX”?
In our company, we've recently had a discussion about the usage of the verb amend in the context of a screen in our software user interface, where a button reads amend set (meaning add something to ...
2
votes
3answers
173 views
Meaning of “classes meet at their regular times”
Classes meet at their regular times, and we're able to attend as many (or as few) as we want. — Source
Does classes in this sentence refer to groups of students or different lessons such as art ...
1
vote
2answers
179 views
What's the meaning of “gas” here?
Todays Alpha males are MMA/Jits fighters not meatheads who gas 15-30 seconds after raising their heart rate. This aint the 80/90s bro.
Is this some kind of thing bodybuilders inhale? How does it ...
-1
votes
3answers
138 views
Meaning of “put on” in “the accuser can be put on the defensive”
Reading a text about liars and their behaviour, I encountered the following sentences:
It is hard to prove there was a harsh tone or angry expression. The
accuser can be put on the defensive. ...
8
votes
5answers
4k views
Is this an example of extrapolation?
I saw a joke on facebook today where professor cat states:
There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate
from incomplete data
My brother thinks that this really isn't ...
-1
votes
3answers
147 views
What's the meaning of “root” in “you root for the favorite”? [closed]
What's the meaning of root in this context?
You root for the favorite. You cry when they go away.
4
votes
4answers
263 views
“To go” in the meaning of “to poop”
Here is a quote from article:
The largest animals ever to have lived on Earth, blue whales are colossal in every respect — including, it must be said, the scatological. When a blue whale goes, it ...
1
vote
1answer
104 views
When to use “ordain” over “order”?
In the book Dune Messiah, I read:
"The Emperor has said I must die if I set foot on Dune," she said, making a last desperate effort. "You spoke of this yourself. You are condemning me if you take ...
7
votes
6answers
582 views
Isn’t it rare to use ‘rare’ as a verb as in “Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts.”?
I found the word, ‘rare’ being used as a verb in the headline of today’s New York Times article – “An often procrastinating Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts.”
It is followed by this ...
1
vote
1answer
560 views
What's the use of 'with' here? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Usage of the verb “provide”
Is the sentence “It provides people an easy way to communicate.” grammatically correct?
Can you provide me a mouse pad?
and
...
9
votes
3answers
749 views
Meaning of “scan” in “that doesn't scan in English”
In an answer to another question this sentence was proposed:
Was it specifically mentioned as part of their teaching, or they just happened not to have killed anyone?
In comment, another user ...
-1
votes
1answer
132 views
Is “leaning” not a verb? [closed]
Please see the following sentence:
Detaching itself from the main body of traffic, a lone auto-rickshaw drew up near Porus, the driver leaning out expectantly.
Looking at http://tfd.com/leaning ...
2
votes
3answers
331 views
What does “work it” mean?
This is quoted from an U.S. TV series.
Warden: Brad.
Brad (Captain): Any updates?
Warden: None. They were last seen at that cemetery in Oswego.
Brad: They'll get them. They'll get them.
Warden: ...
2
votes
1answer
243 views
How should I understand “She cracked open a door”?
I learned the following sentence from 100 Greatest Science Discoveries of All Time by Kendall Haven:
Marie Curie's studies rank as one of the great turning points of science. Physics after Curie ...
1
vote
3answers
203 views
Meaning of “just about everybody else has” in this context
— I ever tell you how much she depends on you?
— I ever tell you what an asshole you are?
— Nah. But that's okay, just about everybody else has.
They both laughed.
Is it "...everybody else ...
2
votes
4answers
711 views
What is the meaning of “ought not”?
Consider this example:
A few strong branches over water reach for what they ought not reach.
Which of the meanings comes closest to “ought not” in this sentence?
Is it “doesn't have to”, “should ...
1
vote
2answers
126 views
Is this usage of “know to be” correct — “They want to eat food they know to be good for them”?
In the following sentence, is the construction know + to + infinitive grammatical?
They want to eat food they know to be good for them.
The dictionary says that "know to do something" is a ...
2
votes
2answers
303 views
What does “better-tailor” mean, used as a verb?
I'm a bit flummoxed as to a usage of "better-tailor", apparently used as a compound verb. It was used in this sentence I saw:
But just like with the White House "We the People" thing, they will ...
5
votes
2answers
645 views
Difference between “he said something” and “he mentioned something”
(a) What is the difference between he said something and he mentioned something? Can they be used interchangeably?
(b) Is it proper to respond to Did I tell you X? with Yes, you mentioned it?
1
vote
1answer
373 views
Is the expression, “the difficulty Perry has had planting doubts” about Romney right?
There was the following sentence in the New York Times (September 24) article, titled “Perry and Romney set clear lines of attack”:
“His (Rick Perry’s) shaky debate performance Thursday night in ...
12
votes
4answers
109 views
“Her mind was less difficult to develop” — Jane Austen
A line from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice confuses me:
Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had ...
4
votes
2answers
257 views
Why is she saying “bang him on the counter” when he is a small living thing?
It says on a dictionary that ‘bang’ means to hit violently or noisily. However, I think the following bang means merely put or place because the object is a rat and because Ron ‘placed him’ after the ...
5
votes
2answers
373 views
Meaning of “break over”
I read this in Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address,
The fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, ...
32
votes
7answers
59k views
“The Dude abides” — what does “abide” mean in that context?
I'm unfamilar with the word "abide" which is famously used the the movie quote "The Dude abides" (The Big Lebowski).
Looking it up in a German/English dictionary makes me believe it's "The Dude lives ...
2
votes
2answers
429 views
What's the meaning of “delivering up” here?
Context (Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address),
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution ...
2
votes
1answer
267 views
Meaning of “press upon”
In Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address,
I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that ...
0
votes
3answers
107 views
Meaning of “unbundling”
In New York Times,
The first hint of television’s unbundling actually came back in the 1980s, when viewers snapped up videocassette recorders.
I found defintions of unbundle in the dictionaries ...
0
votes
1answer
214 views
What’s the meaning of ‘we will emerge’?
One of ‘we’ is under his Invisibility Cloak, not both of them. It seems I can’t see the meaning of ‘emerge’. Or is it ‘we’? I’d like to know the meaning of ‘we will emerge’ in the following context. ...
