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.
0
votes
0answers
25 views
What does the phrase “prod and poke” mean here?
Here is a sentence from a platform puzzle game:
This game is a joy to play, with smartly designed levels full of
things to prod and poke at.
Maybe the phrase is used as an idiom here. However, I ...
1
vote
0answers
20 views
What does 'jealous' mean in 'the Courts are bound to be jealous, lest they should turn contracts of service into contracts of slavery'?
Paul Davies. JC Smith's The Law of Contract (2018 2 ed). p. 454.
As this case was published in 1890, I don't know if Fry LJ were using an older meaning of 'jealous', let alone try to guess which ...
1
vote
0answers
24 views
What are the meanings of “devoted to” and “year of years” in the passage?
Even his artistic oeuvre, though sublime, is minute. Fewer than 20 finished works are generally attributed to da Vinci. He failed to complete some of his most important commissions such as the “...
0
votes
2answers
47 views
Meaning of a sentence from the novel The Invisible Man
She had cooked the ham and eggs, laid the table, and done everything, while Millie (help indeed!) had only succeeded in delaying the mustard. And him a new guest and wanting to stay! Then she filled ...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
Word for the river emptiyng into the ocean
In Portuguese we have the word "desaguar", which would roughly translate to "to release water" but is almost exclusively used to mean the offloading of water by a river into another body of water. We ...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
The meaning of Only more so
What is the exact meaning of only more so. A sentence I read in the book Then we bought a pizza and brought it back to his apartment,which was your standard Divorced Guy Pad,only more so. ...
0
votes
3answers
42 views
Meaning of 'fall foliage'? [closed]
There is the sentence in the book which includes words like fall foliage angle. What is the intention of the author in the highlighted sentence. What the author wants to convey in this line from Phil ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
The meaning of “definitively”
The meaning of definitively is "in a way that is not able to be changed or improved".
So, in the light of the definition of definitively, how is the following use of definitively supposed to be ...
0
votes
1answer
42 views
The correct meaning of “hoist” and “float” [on hold]
There is an excerpt from the book Shoe Dog by Phil Knight:
Woodell and his twenty frat brothers were hoisting a float down to the Millrace, a stream that wound through campus. They were trying to ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
What does “is its own” mean here?
In general I do not understand the usage of "is its own" in a sentence. A sentence containing "is its own" immediately becomes unclear to me. For example what does "is its own" mean in the following ...
0
votes
1answer
19 views
Made promises made [on hold]
I just found this article but I don't understand this sentence:
"He has made the theme of promises made, promises kept the anthem of his re-election effort."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/us/...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
What does the phrase “pin in” mean here? [closed]
Here is a sentence from a racer game:
You will need a sixth sense for knowing when to feather the throttle
and when to pin in.
Is it just about increasing or decreasing the speed of a car?
0
votes
0answers
45 views
“If it were a quote, it would be apposite.” what does “quote” mean here?
This line comes from That Mitchell and Webb Look:
You've come to the right place, this is a gift shop.
This is what I was thinking.
What were you looking for?
The sort of thing that, ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
Efficient way to describe someone employed but not at the place you're talking about [closed]
The context
I'm describing a particular type of school: privately-owned, a very specific subject taught, and along with the actual employees of the school, there are "coaches" who currently work ...
4
votes
2answers
895 views
What did Darwin mean by 'squib' here?
Some day after the publication of The Origin of Species, Darwin wrote to someone:
I have received in a Manchester newspaper rather a good squib, showing that I have proved might is right and ...
-2
votes
1answer
75 views
What is the meaning of "byzantine conduit? [closed]
This dialogue is from the movie: Waking Life (2001)
Creation seems to come out of imperfection. It seems to come out of a striving and a frustration. This is where, I think, language came from. I ...
0
votes
1answer
26 views
The difference of “stocking shelves with goods from far away” and “also shipped in from abroad” within the context?
I didn't quite understand the sentence below. This is from a piece on import being harmful for the economy of a country because it decreases the number of job opportunities. Isn't stocking shelves ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
What is the meaning of “it gives us nothing at all to say”? [closed]
Would you please help me with this sentence:
It gives us nothing at all to say when the object of potential regret is the decision not to have kids
What does "it gives us nothing at all to say" ...
2
votes
2answers
131 views
What does “spokes” mean in this context?
As far as I know and have checked a few dictionaries and done some research, spoke is either a verb, past tense of speak, or a noun which has a few meanings such as the metal bars on a bicycle wheel; ...
0
votes
3answers
36 views
Meaning in context of “belong”
While reading The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, I don't fully understand the meaning of "belong" in these lines:
The stranger had left his book behind. It lay under his rocking-chair:
a ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
“Available from” plus date meaning?
I am considering applying for a job, which is a one-year post. Contract duration in the Job announcement reads "available from September 2019 for 12 months". Does it mean that the candidate is ...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
What is the meaning of “wearing one's learning lightly”?
We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews
published in England between the turn of the 20th century and the eve
of World War II, at a time when newsprint was dirt-cheap and ...
1
vote
3answers
50 views
What is the meaning of DISTINGUISHED in a given context?
Excerpt from the book
"A friend of ours was talking to a theatrical agent who was not particularly distinguished for the range of choice of his vocabulary."
I have consulted the online Merriam ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
What does 'housing dedicated' mean in context of microprocessors?
So, recently I came across an article, which reads:
With the newer FPGAs housing dedicated processors, it
is worth exploring how applications currently implemented
solely on ECUs can be ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Reconcile - Is this the better word to use in a finance context? [on hold]
Let's reconcile these transactions
Reconcile, in the finance sector, is a pretty common term to describe:
Payment reconciliation is the process of checking your bank statements against your ...
0
votes
0answers
16 views
meaning of 'should be' depending on the context
In the conclusion of the paper I read,
I found the sentence like the below.
"In sum, a more cost-efficient regulatory approach to Chinese PE can be expected, which should be an important part of a ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views
What is the context of the word “order” in a title of a group? [closed]
I've been wondering what the context of the word "order" in say, Order of the Phoenix, The Order, Order of the Sightless Eye, etc. is? Is it order as in, command? Or.. as an opposite of chaos?
Thank ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
Meaning of “soft and warm” when refers to a person
I'm doing a translation from english and I'm struggling to understand the first part of the sentence:
"She’s soft and warm, unmistakably alive."
Context: her boyfriend thought she was dead, but it ...
27
votes
5answers
5k views
What is the word for reserving something for yourself before others do? [duplicate]
In English-speaking TV shows, characters sometimes say something similar to dips to say to other people they are taking something for themselves before others do.
Neither Google, Wiktionary or Urban ...
1
vote
1answer
42 views
Which words are modified by “so long forgotten” in this sentence?
In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another.
...
-1
votes
0answers
65 views
Do you have a quarter? (Cigarette)
I was watching a tv show and a guy asked another guy "Do you have a quarter?" which meant "Do you have a cigarette?"
Why was quarter used in the meaning of a cigarette?
0
votes
0answers
23 views
meaning of these 2 sentences
The context is:
“Planning, as alluded to earlier, came late to the adoption of formal
reasoning. Its heritage lay in architecture and surveying, which were craft
activities.”
As I have no ...
0
votes
1answer
14 views
Can someone elaborate the following sentence for me, specially the bold part?
Reactions to German Idealism, especially those of the neo-Kantians, logical positivists and Bertrand Russell, were also instrumental in the founding of analytic philosophy, which today reveals and ...
0
votes
2answers
50 views
What does “back up” mean in this dialog?
It's from a lecture.
Professor: So I wanted to discuss a few other terms here ... actually, some, uh, some ideas about how we manage our resources.
Let’s talk about what that …what that means. If we ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
The difference between “talk to” or “talk with ” [duplicate]
Could please help me to figure out the difference between talk to or talk with someone?
Thanks a lot for help))
0
votes
1answer
38 views
What does the word “reading” mean in the following sentence?
What does the word "reading" mean in the following sentence?
The book is not necessary reading, therefore, for those who already feel the full force of the modern demand for rationality, and are ...
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Meaning of a phrase “showed up on a white charger with a new moon” [migrated]
There is a fragment of a short story by Louce Baker.
Sladen Morris is the boy next door.
The girls all think he’s fascinating and tend to deify him now that he’s touched six feet on the wall where ...
0
votes
1answer
40 views
Can you help me in understanding the bold part of the text?
Philosophy involves the mind turning upon itself and becoming explicitly aware of the modes of its own action, which will have been in operation for some time before their philosophical ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
“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."
?
0
votes
1answer
32 views
Meaning of “approach” in context [closed]
I have read the book Uncle Tom's Cabin.
At the beginning of the book, I saw a confusing sentence:
... and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be
...
Can you explain the ...
-1
votes
0answers
16 views
What does it mean “and lies would cease to be effective” in the following sentence?
Kant offers telling the truth as an example of a perfect duty, because if lying were universalized then no one would ever expect anyone to be truthful, and lies would cease to be effective.
2
votes
3answers
166 views
What do you call someone who hates pictures?
What do you call a person who hates pictures, drawings, photos, and images of all kinds and finds them unnecessary and uninteresting. I found a word iconoclast to have a similar meaning, but it had a ...
-1
votes
1answer
63 views
What is the opposite of “artificial intelligence”? [closed]
If our perspective is imperfect, and we create an "intelligence" based on that flawed perspective, we create an imperfect copy of something that is imperfect (like a VHS tape copy).
If we go the ...
-1
votes
1answer
71 views
What is the meaning of “on an exceptional basis”?
I read an english version document, and there's some words i dont quite understand (since english is not my main language), especially the "on an exceptional basis" part, can you help me guys? Thanks ...
-1
votes
1answer
64 views
What « Super User » mean in the StackEchange network? [closed]
I recently browsed into the Stack Exhange page and saw a Community called « Super User » and even after looking for a definition online I found the following:
a consumer of electrical power.
Which ...
-1
votes
0answers
17 views
what does “even by star standards” mean in this context?
the beauty of the infinite cosmos palled after a while. It was fine to
start with, awe-inspiring and breath-taking and all the rest of it.
You could spend all the time you liked staring at it, ...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
What is meant by: “He felt something much more keenly”?
What is meant by: "He felt something much more keenly"?
Context(From Anne of Avonlea by L.M.Montgomery):
"Anne stood Morley on the platform for an hour and—which Morley felt
much more keenly—...
1
vote
1answer
39 views
When and why is the word “transnational” used instead of “international”?
US President Trump today referred to the need to take measures against "M-15" and other forms of "transnational crime."
Online search defines "transnational:"
trans·na·tion·al [tran(t)sˈnaSHnəl, ...
-2
votes
2answers
68 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
-2
votes
1answer
24 views
What does the term “supercharge” mean in the given sentence? [closed]
Here is a sentence from a game's description:
Supercharge your Friends of the Universe base.
It is the description of a combat game in which players can make teams to take on their rivals. The ...
