Questions tagged [meaning-in-context]
This tag is for questions about the meaning of a longer passage of English. A SPECIFIC CONCERN must be emphasized.
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Meaning of "teen" in Aeschylus's play "The Persians"
I came across the phrase "how shall I bear my teen?" in Aeschylus' play "The Persians". I also saw "the children of teen" in "Seven against Thebes". What ...
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What does "in her slow and classically enunciated French" mean? [closed]
This is taken from John le Carré's novel Smiley's People. The complete sentence is:
“I have the misfortune to suffer in my back, monsieur,” she confided to him finally, in her slow and classically ...
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What did Walt Whitman mean by "a pennant universal"? [migrated]
(Edit: This was closed because it was marked as "opinion based" and I was asked to edit the question so that it could be answered by facts and citations.
@Fumblefingers gave citations, ...
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Meaning of "Bellairs had the address, and I was the more deceived or Carthew would have news of him."
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIX, published 1892)
Passage 294
The conjunction of these planets seeming ominous, I drew near; but it seemed Bellairs had done ...
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What is the meaning of the word 'dish' in 'she has always been a dish'? [closed]
This is said by a man to a woman:
She may more classy than the girl next door, but she has always been a dish.
Is something sexual you say to a girl? Is it offensive if a man says this or is it a ...
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Meaning of. . . "it was hardly possible but what he should suspect"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIX, published 1892)
Passage 290
“Well, it's the other thing that has done that,” I replied. “It's all bygone now, all dead and ...
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What does 'haply' mean in Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale'?
The following line occurs in Keats's poem 'Ode to a Nightingale':
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne
It seems to me that 'haply' means either, as Merriam-Webster says, 'by chance', or, ...
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I know it was a liberty—I made it out you were no business man, only a stone-broke painter; that half the time you didn't know anything anyway
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVIII, published 1892)
Passage 287
“Jim,” I said, “you must speak right out. I've got all that I can carry.”
“Well,” he said—“I ...
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What does 'pards' mean in Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale'?
John Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale' contains the line "Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,".
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the ...
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What is the meaning of "burke a school" in Anticipations?
In Anticipations (1901), chapter 9, in the middle of a long passage, H. G. Wells wrote (referring to a personification of Jewish people):
... He is a remnant and legacy of mediævalism, a ...
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The difference between [migrated]
Is there a difference between
He walks so slow
And
He walks so slowly
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Can 'to wilt' be something positive? [closed]
I came across (a pretty sad) poem by Meggie Royer.
She writes:
I stood by as strangers stroked her muzzle and she wilted beneath their touch like she did once for mine.
For context: she writes about ...
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What is "Antipodean English"? [closed]
I was watching this video where the English gentleman asks the Scottish MP to speak in "Antipodean English". From what I know, 'Antipodes' refers to the southern hemisphere and I am unable ...
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Meaning of 'block' in "We attempted to block for local spatial variation..."
I am trying to translate a book from English and am confused about the meaning of the word "block" as it is used in this context.
We attempted to block for local spatial variation in the ...
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Meaning of “I didn't bring you ashore to sound my praises” [migrated]
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XV, published 1892)
Passage 241
“We've been pretty good friends, you and me, Mr. Dodd,” he resumed. “We've been going through ...
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'. . . there's always a fathom or two of slack hanging out of the other end'
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIV, published 1892)
Passage 227
“All very well,” said I. “That's your Hoyt, and a fine, tall copy. But what I want to know is, ...
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1
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Meaning of "be just a little too smart by ninety-nine and three-quarters"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIV, published 1892)
Passage 224
“Guess so,” he said. “You needn't fool with it. There's nothing else but a lead-pencil and a ...
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Problems with understanding a requirement in a technical document
I'm following the advice of a user who answered a question on StackOverflow.
Page 15 section 4.A.4 of NIST call for proposal (the 2016 one) says:
For the purpose of estimating security strengths, it ...
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Meaning of . . . "fill up on a clean break"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIII, published 1892)
Passage 210
Thence we turned our attention to the table, which stood spread, as if for a meal, with stout ...
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"my stomach told me" VS "my guts told me"
I'm an English learner and I came across this sentence:
My stomach told me that this was unprecedented.
Does this expression mean that I had a feeling or my instincts told me that something that had ...
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At this time tomorrow, I am playing cricket [closed]
I know that:
At this time tomorrow, I will be playing cricket.
is used since the so-called future continuous is used to talk about a continuous activity at a specific time in the future. Even ...
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Use of 'plain old' in: "The loudest, most obnoxious and aggressive voices telling us the world is about to end plain old don’t act like it."
Could it be that we are hearing the hysterical pleas of “environmental activists” to change our ways or face doom and noticing that not only are they not changing their ways, but that their ways are ...
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What do you call a person who talks bad about someone but still shows interest in that person?
For example: Sally Mae says she doesn’t like John because he’s ugly, but will go and act nice with him because others are watching.
What word would you use to describe Sally Mae?
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Meaning of . . . “you just meet me on the ballast, and we'll make it a barquentine.”
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XI, published 1892)
Passage 177
“I don't see it,” returned the captain drily. “One captain's enough for any ship that ever I ...
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102
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Meaning of . . . , "I'm laying a little dark"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XI; published 1892)
Passage 176
“Well,” returned Nares, with the same unamiable reserve, “for a reason, which I guess you know, ...
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Meaning of "bring them away" in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" (Act2, scene1)?
In act II, scene 1, of Measure for Measure, Elbow says:
Elbow. Come, bring them away: if these be good people in a Common-weale, that doe nothing but vse their abuses in common houses, I know no law :...
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Meaning of "low, cherry voices" in Stephen King's 'The Jaunt'
In Stephen King's The Jaunt, I found this sentence:
Five Jaunt attendants circulate, speaking in low, cherry voices and offering glasses of milk.
It's either a typo (was supposed to be 'cheery') or ...
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What's the difference between "period" and "time" ? Is it more correct to say it rained at the right time, or the rain happened during the right pd.? [closed]
What's the difference between "period" and "time"? Is it more correct to say "it rained at the right time" or "the rain happened during the right period"?
...
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What does it mean to be “cashiered?”
I was reading up on the Dirlewanger Brigade (a scummy bunch of Nazis even by Nazi standards) and came across this line:
“…cut-throats, renegades, sadistic morons, and cashiered rejects from other ...
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Meaning of "Bore many gentlemen" in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure"? [closed]
In act I, scene 5, of Measure for Measure, Lucio says:
Lucio. This is the point.
The Duke is very strangely gone from hence;
Bore many gentlemen (my selfe being one)
In hand, and hope of action: but ...
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What is difference between revered and venerated words? [closed]
English is a foreign language for me, so I have to use a Google Translate or similar services. They give same translation to my first language, and I feel some nuances are being lost.
Examples:
...
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Meaning of 'north' in "returns on invested capital north of 20 percent" [closed]
I'm reading The Little Book That Builds Wealth, and quote
The result was fat profit margins for Gentex for many years, and the company is still posting returns on invested capital north of 20 percent ...
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'No one she recognized'. A slightly strange sentence [duplicate]
Good afternoon!
Can you please tell me the meaning of the phrase:
"No one she recognized"
The context is as follows: a woman is watching from afar a stranger who is swimming in her pool. ...
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Does "freed doctors to perform abortions for any reason in the first trimester" mean that the law "allowed abortion up to the second trimester"? [closed]
For the past few years, I have had a long and arduous argument with my English teacher about an exam question she gave us, and I am curious what you all think about it. For context, I attend an ...
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Meaning of "to appeal to some law"
This Wikipedia's page says that:
David Hume's problem of induction demonstrates that one must appeal to the principle of the uniformity of nature if they seek to justify their implicit assumption ...
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What does "as fresh as paint" mean in this context?
I saw the following dialogues in the first episode of the Desperate Housewives tv show,
Andrew: I'm just saying, do you always have to serve cuisine? Can't we ever just have food?
Bree: Are you doing ...
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What meaning of "gay" is intended in "He was very gay and had already washed and was now on his feet"?
Yet when he opened the door of the guest room in the morning there was the young man. He was very gay and had already washed and was now on his feet. He had asked for a razor yesterday and had shaved ...
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The usage of "utterly mysterious" [closed]
"Philosophy, unlike most other subjects, does not try to extend our
knowledge by discovering new information about the world. Instead, it
tries to deepen our understanding through rumination on ...
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Is it Reunion after 50 years or 50 year Reunion?
We have recently conducted a reunion party after 50 years. The party was conducted by the old students of a Highschool. We thought of some titles for it:
50 year Reunion
50th Reunion
Reunion after 50 ...
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"Planned on system": meaning (G.M. Trevelyan, A Short History of England)
Their method of conquest was to make military roads, planned on system for the whole island, and to plant along them forts garrisoned by the regular troops.
I can't manage to explain this ...
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What might the term "B-I-T-sweetie" mean in the context of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's play "The Mule-Bone"?
I am currently reading through Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's 1931 play, The Mule-Bone, and I am rather puzzled by the term "B-I-T-sweetie," which shows up in this exchange in Act ...
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Does "Streamline the tone" make sense?
When using the same tense/style for all bullet points in a resume, can we say the following?
Let's streamline the tone for all bullet points.
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Differences in meaning and formality of "when/if + verb(ing)" and "when/if + one + verb(s)"
I searched but couldn't find an answer because I don't know the relevant grammatical terms, unfortunately. Sorry if it has already been answered.
I am wondering about the difference between the two ...
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Meaning of the term"Pitches the bouncing ponies"
From Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, Chapter 1:
[...] wrapped in the soft mesh of the grey-blue morning air, which, as the day wore on, would unwind them, and set down on their lawns and pitches the ...
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"The boil must be lanced if it is to heal"? [closed]
In Final Fantasy 16 (FFXVI), which has a medieval-ish setting, C says that "The boil must be lanced if it is to heal". I'm...not sure I understand the phrase.
For context, C is in a ...
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What is the definition of the word “spacell” from the novel Roadside Picnic?
I’m reading Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and translated by Olena Bormashenko.
In this book the word “spacell” is used and I cannot find a definition.
Heavy clouds were hanging over ...
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Of what chocolate-house does Swift write in "An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity"?
In An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity it is written:
Another advantage proposed by the abolishing of Christianity is the clear gain of one day in seven, which is now entirely lost, and ...
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What is meant by "to take the offence" in Act I, scene 1 of "Two Noble Kinsmen"?
In act I, scene 1, of The Two Noble Kinsmen, the first queen says:
1. Queen. We are 3. Queenes, whose Soveraignes fel before
The wrath of cruell Creon; who endured
The Beakes of Ravens, Tallents of ...
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What does 'lay'd-on' mean in Camillo's speech (scene 3, act 5 of "The Winter's Tale")?
In act V, scene 3, of The Winter's Tale, Hermione says:
Cam. My Lord, your Sorrow was too sore lay'd-on,
Which sixteene Winters cannot blow away,
So many Summers dry: scarce any Ioy
Did euer so long ...
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What is meant by "the crotchet of the law" in chapter VIII of Milton's "The Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce"?
In book one, chapter VIII, of The Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce, it is written:
Upon these principles I answer, that a right beleever ought to divorce an idolatrous heretick unlesse upon ...
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