Questions tagged [idiom-meaning]
An idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.
401
questions
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1answer
23 views
The core difference between phonetics and phonology [closed]
What are the differences between phonetics and phonology?
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0answers
25 views
The core difference between [closed]
What are the core differences between phrasal verbs (e.g. look up) and prepositional verbs (e.g. look at).
4
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1answer
103 views
What is the meaning of the sentence “I'll serve you out” from Dickens' Great Expectations?
In Chapter 18, Mr Wopsle is at the Three Jolly Bargemen, giving his audience a theatrical rendition of a murder case as reported in the newspaper:
The victim faintly moaned, "I'm done for," and the ...
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1answer
47 views
What is the meaning of "bail on his life and set up shop in someone else's.” in the first episode of Rick&Morty?
Friends. I started watching Rick and Morty with English subtitles, but English is not my first language, and I have a problem in understanding the meaning of this Dialogue. Beth says it to his father ...
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1answer
35 views
What is meaning of “bad pitch” and “grab him and stuff under a mattress…” in the first episode of Rick&Morty?
I started watching Rick and Morty with English subtitles but English is not my first language, and I have a problem in understanding the exact meaning of some dialog;This Dialog is between Jerry and ...
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2answers
63 views
What's the meaning of the expressions “break my chops” and “take it on the arches”?
I was watching the movie "Taxi Driver", which is an okay movie. However its dialogue is just annoying because it's just laden with slang and expressions of all types including some pretty uncommon ...
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2answers
34 views
“get out and about” meaning
I have encountered the term "get out and about", in one of Oxford's books. It seems to be quite a problem to conclude what exactly it means. I have not found this phrase neither in my national ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
On the go - can it refer to something being consumed?
Dictionaries define 'on the go'
mostly as:
very busy (Cambridge)
very busy or active (Macmillan)
very active or busy (Oxford)
to be very active and busy (Oxford Learner's)
constantly or restlessly ...
3
votes
2answers
126 views
“Politics stops at water’s edge” — meaning
I read the following phrase in the topic of foreign policies of a country,
"It stops at water's edge."
What does "politics stops at water’s edge" mean?
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1answer
71 views
what is the exact meaning of “delicate female organs” in this paragraph?
what is the exact meaning of "delicate female organs" in this paragraph?
what is the true explain of this sentence: "of which the delicate female organs would seem incapable."?
The sounds came ...
0
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0answers
50 views
what is the meaning of this sentence? “Oh, Lord, still the tumult of the people!”
what is the meaning of this sentence? "Oh, Lord, still the tumult of the people!"
These were not long in coming, and they broke out in Irving's own
church. It was in July, 1831, that it was rumoured ...
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1answer
42 views
What is the true meaning of “since his time” and “since his day”?
What is the true meaning of "since his time" and "since his day"?
Here are examples of them in use:
We have to face the fact that in the
main the spiritual observations which he made have been ...
2
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1answer
56 views
Meaning and origin of the phrase “slips don't count”
I ran across this expression recently in some Popeye cartoon [EDIT: it was Never Sock a Baby, 1939], but it seems to have been a recognized slang expression with maybe even a bit of old-timey flavor ...
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2answers
147 views
A young woman's old husband is taken away by a crocodile
A young woman 's going for an ablution in the Ganges with her fellow women resulted in her old husband being taken away by a crocodile
Telugu: Satt varito sariganga snanalu chestunte ,...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
Medicating Uvula resulted in making the tongue fall out [duplicate]
Medicating Uvula resulted in making the tongue fall out
The proverb means sometimes remedying a simple problem may turn out to be a different problem of great magnitude
I ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
What is the meaning of “on the edge”
What is the meaning of on the edge in following sentence:
His openness and celebration of sexuality, and not just heterosexual
sex, but sex on the edges-- masturbation, voyeurism, oral sex.
2
votes
2answers
149 views
Throwing a pot of water out looking at the clouds
It is like an old woman throwing a pot of water out looking at the water in the clouds
The above is an Indian proverb meaning some innocent people foolishly forego what is ...
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4answers
135 views
I have really scratched my head with fire by asking the question!
It is like scratching one's head with fire
I have really scratched my head with fire by asking this question
I have really put my foot in it by asking the question
If ...
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vote
2answers
139 views
The dog started barking after the thief had left the place six months ago [duplicate]
It is like a dog barking six months after the thief left.
This is an Indian Idiom and is used when someone fails to do their duty at the right time and makes unnecessary fuss very late after the ...
0
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1answer
131 views
Does the barking of a dog diminish the value of a priest? [duplicate]
Does a barking of a dog diminish the value of a priest?
The above is an Idiom from Indian languages.A dog stands metophorically for the inferior people.The priest stands for ...
20
votes
9answers
7k views
Washing the skin of a dead rat
There is an idiom in Indian languages :
There is no use washing the skin of a dead rat for even a year
The idiom means a foolish person or thing can not become useful even if ...
1
vote
0answers
79 views
What does slipped over sausage mean?
I was watching "Dad's army" trailer/teaser and at 0:58 one of the actresses says something like
I saw that you just slipped over sausage(s)
What actually this means? Is it like other "slipped over"...
3
votes
4answers
362 views
Does this vulgar expression necessarily imply a certain body part?
My question is about the expression "suck on it."
Background (you can skip this paragraph if you want): at Spanish SE we were doing some back-translating of a game we were playing in Spanish. When ...
1
vote
2answers
110 views
Clean Words for the Money? [closed]
There is a discussion concerning how to translate the Norwegian expression ''Rene ord for Pengene" to English. The expression has the meaning that one has been quite forthright. Is it reasonable in ...
0
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1answer
53 views
What's the meaning of clearing up [closed]
Trying to understand the meaning of "clearing up".
One of the meanings I see at Collins Dictionary is
When you clear up or clear a place up, you make things neat and put
them away.
Here's some ...
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0answers
136 views
Meaning of “bear and forbear”
It's a idiom and i couldn't find the definition. It isn't even in a sentence so i'm really confused now..
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2answers
75 views
idiom - come to a rumbling halt [closed]
I would like ask you foe help with meaning for "come to rumbling halt".
Is the same meaning as "to come to a grinding halt"?
The context is that the pumps stopped working - and the full sentence is -...
2
votes
1answer
59 views
What does it mean for something other than food to be “deep fried”?
A meme was described to be "deep fried". I think it might have meant that its message was maybe an exaggeration of facts?
https://www.reddit.com/r/antinatalism/comments/cxs224/...
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1answer
115 views
Meaning and etymology of “twirling waxed mustaches”
Today, the New York Times online edition reviews a documentary film. The review contains the following sentence:
The filmmakers don’t villainize anyone, though a few participants come awfully close ...
0
votes
1answer
42 views
What does “in the phrase of the period” mean?
From Charlie Chaplin biography book by Peter Ackroyd (page 3),
He confided on occasions to his friends that he was not sure of the identity of his biological father; nevertheless he took the name ...
4
votes
2answers
159 views
I can't understand this sentence. It's from a video game Baldur's Gate
I don't speak English well. Please understand my bad grammar.
I'm not a native English speaker.
Recently I am playing a video game Baldur's Gate in English.
And I found this from the game.
...
0
votes
1answer
291 views
What does “courting the paps” mean?
What does "courting the paps" mean?
As in:
Paul Hollywood accuses Summer, 24, of ‘courting the paps’ and says he prefers a ‘quiet life’ after their split.
[The Sun]
3
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2answers
128 views
meaning of melon headed
I know what Melon heads is and I also know that what is Home Run in the context of baseball, but it doesn't help me to understand this sentence: "or the gargantuan power of suddenly melon-headed home-...
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2answers
130 views
Nobody's idea of [closed]
"Yet the Tories have gambled, choosing a populist leader who is nobody’s idea of a safe pair of hands."
What does it mean by saying "nobody's idea of sth?"
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2answers
31 views
The difference between two phrases [duplicate]
I need to know the difference between two phrases "learn by heart" and "learn by rote". I would be grateful if you could explain it to me. I'm not a native English speaker.
4
votes
2answers
188 views
Britishism: see you fast
In Season Two Episode One of Happy Valley, the mentor constable explains to the new recruit how helpful it is to have a good relationship with the receptionist, Joyce:
Oh, and get well in with ...
0
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1answer
52 views
Idiomatic usage of “wanting to sit” vs. “taking/having a seat”
In the following examples:
"When my dad turned 70, he often felt like wanting to sit"
Vs.
"When my dad turned 70, he felt like taking/having a seat."
Which expression sounds more natural and ...
3
votes
1answer
17k views
What is the meaning of 'lean all in my bladder'?
This verse comes from the song 'Old town roads' and I've never heard it before, can't find a definition/explanation online either.
Thank you !
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votes
1answer
119 views
How come? and How is it that? [closed]
I use the set of words,not very often-"How come?" and "How is it that?" Can both the set of words be used to express same meaning?
Phrase and idiom meaning of the two sentences are nearly same. ...
1
vote
1answer
35 views
Turn and Talk Meaning [closed]
What is the idiomatic meaning of turn and talk? For example:
I turn and talk like a man leaving charges before a journey.
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votes
1answer
75 views
Top dog v Dark horse meaning difference [closed]
Could someone explain the difference between these 2 above please? Upon its win does a dark horse then become a top dog?
Would a dark horse be more similar to an underdog?
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2answers
120 views
What does “that ship never left the port” mean?
I've heard this used in Britain (specifically England).
Could someone explain to me what its meaning is?
0
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1answer
162 views
What is the meaning of the phrase 'all our'?
I read a sentence recently:
May there be sweet-sour flavour in all our lives.
What is the meaning of the phrase "all our"?
Does it mean "in the lives of all of us" or "all through our lives"?
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0answers
158 views
Explanation of idiom “Can't sit on one's hair”
Reading a book by Salman Rushdie ("Shame") and there's such an expression, I guess it should be an idiom, but I can't find its explanation.
So, the author describes his younger sister.
...Who is ...
0
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1answer
111 views
What does it mean “to have claim over something”?
This is a sentence from the book Everything I Know About Love:
I thought we had claim over each other’s twenties before we’d inevitably have to give the other one up.
0
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1answer
66 views
What do these uncommon expressions mean?
I'm a non-native English speaker and I've heard and read a lot of expressions that I believe are supposed to mean "Goodbye"; however, I don't really know what they mean (in a literal sense) and how I'...
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1answer
137 views
Meaning of “to gird up one's loins” (King James English) [closed]
What is the meaning of [to] "gird up [one's] loins"?
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1answer
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“Failed of late” meaning? [closed]
What is meant by "failed of late" in the following:
"How is your mother, Diana? Dear me, but she has
failed of late. She looks terrible run down."
?
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2answers
777 views
What does “bc same” mean? [closed]
What does “bc same” mean after a question?
Sth like:
Have you ever done that? Bc same.
Thanks
-1
votes
1answer
38 views
What does “apathy on matters African” mean?
"America’s apathy on matters African is one reason such initiatives have slowed of late." What does "apathy on matters African" mean?
