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.
4,666
questions
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What's the meaning of “make much of the ways” in context?
I'm reading the book "Rethinking International Relations" by Irishman Fred Halliday.
Right in the first paragraphs of the introduction, he complains that in the previous decades (writing in ...
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0answers
30 views
Is it grammatically correct to ask a service provider “What is your charge rate ?” [closed]
Is it grammatically correct to ask a service provider "What is your charge rate ?" or "Please let me know your charge rate?"
1
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1answer
71 views
What does “old man's milk” mean in this quote?
I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial.— Thomas Jefferson
What does he mean by "old man's milk"?
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0answers
27 views
Does “trap” make sense in this context? [migrated]
The non native speaker does not want to fall into the trap of using a foreign strange word.
Does the word trap in the above sentence make sense in context?
3
votes
1answer
130 views
What is ridin in “We're ridin' with Biden”? [closed]
What is ridin in "We're ridin' with Biden"?
Source: [Dantri.com]
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0answers
18 views
Whats the meaning of “By the light of a flare which crackled and smoked up above” [closed]
I need to know what is the sentence trying to say .
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1answer
90 views
How can I figure out this grammatical mistake?
I am not an english speaker and I need some help with a grammar mistake that has up to now costed -4 reputation to me (I am this user posted this question as guest by mistake and cannot actually find ...
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0answers
23 views
What does the phrase “culturally coherent” mean in the following statement? [closed]
New York is a culturally coherent region
1
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1answer
51 views
Need help deciphering the meaning behind a phrase spoken in 1893
While trying to find a word that describes someone as having a fondness/interest in microbes, I stumbled across this Nature news article in 1893 that utilized the word, "bacillophil" seen ...
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1answer
39 views
‘Gen’ as a synonym for Atty?
The Words With Friends dictionary tells me that ‘Gen’ means attorney,
Is this a general term for lawyers?
Does it have any special connotations?
Is it office slang?
How is it pronounced; like gin?
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2answers
141 views
How can I interpret “typical both of a particular class”?
We were, I think, typical both of a particular class of pre-war
Germans and, by contrast, of the post-war country at large. On both
sides our family was old, well established and, notwithstanding the
...
4
votes
2answers
539 views
What does “vital” in 'vital wheat gluten' mean? [closed]
I am wondering why it is called vital wheat gluten. How is it vital?
I first heard it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gysghjYejHw
And then I tried to look it up, but nowhere did I find any ...
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2answers
2k views
Underpants on the outside
A news article today says
The force’s rural crime team lambasted the owners of more than 200 cars who drove to the top of Snake Pass, a trans-Pennine road between Sheffield and Manchester on Saturday,...
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2answers
41 views
“Cutting” meaning?
What does "cutting" mean in the following context?
From the day that Michael Codron became interested in producing the show, I felt the cutting take root.
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1answer
24 views
What is the correct usage “Last time/The last time”
Can you please clarify the meaning of the following sentences and the correct way to use them.
We have been to a shop many times in the past and the last time I went with my brother.
Would "Last ...
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votes
1answer
37 views
What does “spare” mean in the context below? [closed]
Yes, thank you," she said. "Swinburne fails, when all is said, because he is, well, indelicate. There are many of his poems that should never be read. Every line of the really great poets is ...
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2answers
305 views
Does the Word “laden” Carry a Negative Connotation?
So normally one could use the word "laden" to say,
The trees are laden with ripe fruit. ;
This sentence doesn't have any negative emotion linked to it.
But when used with other sentences, ...
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2answers
48 views
What does “otherwise than” mean in this context
“The library, which I had never seen otherwise than wide open, was tight shut.”
1
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1answer
64 views
Abnormal usage of “whose”
Aside from the normal uses of whose, i.e. for people, animals, or inanimate objects, can it also be used in regard to a motive, reasoning, or any other intangible attribute/characteristic of an action ...
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1answer
32 views
Meaning of “Thank you for entertaining my application”?
I found this line at the end of an application. What does it mean actually? When to use it?
Thank you for entertaining my application.
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1answer
38 views
What is the meaning of “work behinds off”? [closed]
The following sentence is an excerpt from a video uploaded by the magazine TIME on YouTube, whose title is “TIME Person Of The Year: Joe Biden And Kamala Harris.” The sentence mentioned below focuses ...
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0answers
13 views
How do English speaker know if a sentence is ideal? [migrated]
For example,
"Because the parents didn't have spend money on a lot of children, the parents could spend more on fewer children."
I think the ideal sentence should be
"Since the parents ...
1
vote
1answer
40 views
What does “rigor of Silver’s hand-tuned models” mean in this extract?
As Election Day loomed in 2012, traffic at the New York Times website spiked, as is normal during moments of national importance. But this time, something was different. A wildly disproportionate ...
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0answers
8 views
using the prefix “Self” [migrated]
I came up with the following structure , trying to say that everyone should take their own precautionary measures.
The structure:
Every one should take a self-precautionary measures.
My question: is ...
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0answers
19 views
What does “the sources of instruction on the manly character” mean in this text?
I don't fully understand the part in italics. What does "being a source of instruction on something" mean? I'd appreciate an explanation on this.
Mid-Victorian doctrines of manliness ...
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1answer
25 views
What does “practiced just as radical a form of sublimation” mean in this text?
I don't understand the part in italics. I'd appreciate an explanation. What does "practicing sublimation" refer to?
Many of these heroes are extremely aggressive in bourgeois economic terms....
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2answers
77 views
On Passage, Objections to the Contrary Notwithstanding
What does the following mean? There seem to be a lot of double negatives in here, so I'd like to understand this better.
On passage, objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding
This ...
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1answer
32 views
Is there a difference between “outdoor” and “open” spaces? [closed]
I am trying to describe public and private spaces in a city that encompass spaces such as balconies, courtyards, streets, and parks. Meaning, they are outside buildings' shells. Does "open" ...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
Usage of Distribution and alternatives/synonyms
I want to use the word Distribution as it is used normally in the English language in a text where Distribution refers (also?) to the technical (Statistical) term. How can I do so while also marking ...
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0answers
32 views
“I'd be in the House of Yes” - Meaning
I've been wondering about the meaning of the phrase I'd be in House of Yes. Help would be much appreciated.
Here is the context.
"I'm running a marathon on January 1st. You know, start a year ...
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0answers
29 views
Meaning of “Lift” in “International sanctions lifted” [duplicate]
I want to know is it correct that "Lift" sometimes means to be "stop" as Wendy Sherman claimed in 2016 about the usage of that word in "International sanctions lifted"?
...
7
votes
1answer
357 views
What's the meaning of “thin blood” in this context?
I don’t understand the meaning of this expression that I found in a novel I’m reading. A woman who lives in a hot country is speaking with a girl living in England. It’s summer, the girl is warm, the ...
1
vote
1answer
120 views
Why are both the zero and definite articles used with these phrases?
How can the same noun take/miss a "the" in the following sentences.
(A) The Food and Drug Administration intends to authorize emergency
use of the vaccine on Friday.
(B) The country is ...
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0answers
31 views
What does “thereby effectively allowed to stand” mean in this extract? [migrated]
Please explain the meaning of the phrase "thereby effectively allowed to stand" as said in the below paragraph.
“If these election irregularities are not fully investigated prior to
...
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1answer
54 views
What does the expression “the school first XI rugger team” mean? [closed]
I found this sentence in a novel set in Cornwall. The complete sentence is:
Daddy is very proud that you have made the school first XI rugger team.
The boy in the team il 16 y.o. and he lives in the ...
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1answer
28 views
Comparison of meaning: Should vs Need [closed]
I recently saw the following sentence in a recruitment ad:
'9-to-5 employees' need not apply
It's important to say that English is not my mother tongue, and maybe that's why something in the ...
0
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1answer
44 views
Are “Yet” and “However” synonymous?
It is quite common to use "yet" and "however" in contrastive constructions, but l am not certain if they have the same sense.
John failed. Yet, he's tried his best.
John failed. ...
3
votes
2answers
63 views
How to understand this teddy bear metaphor?
In this video How Long Do Koalas Really Sleep In A Day?, it states that
Scientists have long believed that this [1] may be due to [koala's] position as nature's own teddy bear, but recent studies ...
0
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1answer
38 views
stands for an escape from the zero-sum game of Victorian social codes, at the price of such amenities of civilization [closed]
I don't understand the part in italics. I have no idea what message the writer is trying to convey. I'd appreciate an explanation on this.
Another important metaphor for Maggie is the
gypsy queen, a ...
0
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3answers
56 views
What does “Still, you weren't eleven every day” mean in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? [closed]
The context:
Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday—and you
could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of
television—then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry’s ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views
What does “resignation” mean in this extract?
What does "resignation" mean in the text below?
There were many others who were alarmed by the drive to
self-fulfillment Jane exhibited; The Spectator in April 1860 deplored
the "pale, ...
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2answers
29 views
What does “circle each other” mean?
I read this in an article
Two people meet, retreat and then circle each other, all while talking and talking.
What does "circle each other" mean?
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0answers
18 views
What does “subject” means in “subject (a place, text, etc.) to a thorough search in order to locate something.”
I read the sentence "subject (a place, text, etc.) to a thorough search in order to locate something." from the definition of "scour". I want to know the meaning of "subject&...
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2answers
41 views
convention of memory [closed]
What is the exact meaning of "convention of memory" in the following passage?
In remembering the 1978–9 Revolution, there is a scholarly convention of memory capturing our imagination. A ...
1
vote
1answer
24 views
What could “touch the incongruous” mean? (from an old story)
Reading an old story by A. Blackwood, I stumbled upon the following sentence (for the context, the woman is said to have some kind of second sight):
And the idea of this motherly, sedate, and ...
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0answers
15 views
“existing+ Noun” vs “Noun+ existing” [duplicate]
I'm confused what structure should I go with and why ???
1- I think the existing rules in Africa should be changed.
2- I think the rules existing in Africa should be changed.
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1answer
48 views
Meaning of 'rut' in 'Rut he will not, nor will you.' [closed]
There is a piece from Maurice by E M Forster where I can not quite get the usage of 'rut'. What is it there for?
"Rubbish?" He questioned Maurice, who, when he grasped the point, was ...
2
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1answer
66 views
Meaning of “skim” here [closed]
I was watching the movie "Kajillionaire" and heard this quote:
Once your face is in the system, they got you. Fines, 401k, home equity. But maybe you want all of that, I don't know. Me? I ...
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0answers
72 views
Is there such expression as “Charlie someone out”?
There is the following exchange in Deadwood series season 1 episode 3
...
Johnny: Al?
Al: Yeah.
Johnny: That cherry New York dude is downstairs askin’ for ya.
Al: No good. Charlie him the fuck out.
(...
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2answers
52 views
What does “Tree someone's or their game” means?
As contextually hinted here in the sentence "1838 – "Instead of having treed their game....", the meaning of possibly rarely-known phrase "tree his/her/someone's/their game" ...
