Questions tagged [meaning]
This tag is for questions related to definitions and nuances of meaning of a word or phrase.
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Rules Clarification
Finally, a Starship of Colossal or larger size can gain Emplacement Points by removing Escape Pods, gaining 1 Emplacement Point per 10% of the Escape Pods removed. However, doing this is illegal on ...
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Where does the term ‘Messers’ come from in reference to a group of people? [closed]
I’ve heard this term used in films and by British politicians
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have its moments vs. have its iPhone moment [closed]
Per Cambridge Dictionary, have your/its moments means to be sometimes good or successful.
Collins Dictionary says that if you say that someone or something has their moments, you are indicating that ...
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What does 'treasure is tickle' mean in Philotimus?
In Philotimus (1583), the following passage appears on page 38:
Among all forts of conceyted fellowes, I reuerence the Esseni∣ans, as most cōtinent in pleasures, & contented wt nifles, for they ...
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Meaning of "That which starts sweet ends bitter, and that which starts bitter ends sweet." [closed]
What does this quote mean?
That which starts sweet ends bitter, and that which starts bitter ends sweet.
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Grammatical name it is a highly organized capital market [closed]
It is a highly organized capital market Grammatical name
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What do 'fain' and 'unfained' mean in this paragraph from Milton's "The Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce"?
In book one, chapter VI, of The Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce, it is written:
Fourthly, Mariage is a cov’nant the very beeing wherof consists, not in a forc’t cohabitation, and counterfet ...
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"bet against" in a comment [closed]
I would like to understand what is implied in a comment using "bet against".
A famous CEO of the world leading company was asked in an interview which of three companies(Airbnb, Uber, Google)...
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Meaning of “intense and provocative idea” from Synthesizing Gravity: Selected Prose by Kay Ryan [closed]
Memory is only necessary for those who insist upon novelty, I wrote on
a small piece of paper as a note to myself some weeks ago, beginning
to think about the danger of notebooks. Now I don’t quite ...
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Meaning of "hooked for life" [closed]
I was reading a book, the author described the scenery of a certain place, and then said: "You're hooked for life." The search engine told me it means, you have been fascinated by this ...
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Making clear the meaning of “Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise.” [closed]
Which of these two interpretations is correct about the following quote?
“Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise.” by Horace
If you want to become a wise person, do these three things: Begin, be ...
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Meaning of "cored down"
“The guy was a fruit, but he wasn’t hurting anyone,” Boutillier said. “So hi-ho-the-dairy-o, along come these three pusholes in their engineer boots and they steal his life. I’m going to put them in ...
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What is the meaning of "take something out of the trunk"? [closed]
He claimed to find the atmosphere vital and creatively invigorating. Perhaps there was something to this: he had taken his languishing novel out of the trunk for the first time in nearly a year.
It by ...
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"in the Hebrew it ..." vs "in Hebrew it ..." - what is the difference of meaning in this paragraph of Milton and in general?
In book one of The Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce, it is written:
The cause of divorce mention’d in the Law is translated some uncleannesse, but in the Hebrew it sounds nakednes of ought, or ...
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"Export settings" disambiguation and meaning
"Export settings" disambiguation and meaning.
The aforementioned quotation is ambiguous. As I see it, it could mean either of the following:
Export (verb) settings ---> Action of ...
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What is a "Big Wheel" in Animorphs 8: The Alien? [closed]
For context, Marco is bringing Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, an alien, to visit his house for the first time. Looking around the suburban US neighbourhood, Ax notices something, and the following ...
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Meaning of " in the wings " [closed]
The following passage is from the book The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren:
Yet, when you have a case
involving fire; the teleportation of
anvils, doors, and radiator ...
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What's the meaning of "hardly seem more implausible"?
In the following text, what does "the latter scenario could hardly seem more implausible" mean?
The result suggests one of two scenarios. One is that arctic foxes
gave rise to swift foxes, ...
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"What's it worth"? [duplicate]
Recently I encountered the sentence "What's it worth?" in a book.
I cannot understand the structure of this sentence.
From my perspective, "worth" means "value" in this ...
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Are the following sentences possible to use (and also grammatically correct) and what meaning do they have? [duplicate]
I.
I thought he was swimming - I thought he swam for a while but found out it was a lie
I thought he is swimming - I thought he was swimming now, but he's not.
I thought he swam - I thought he once ...
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Can you paraphrase "How long do we give it" in the excerpt below? [migrated]
I'm still developing my English so it's great if you answer my question in a very short and direct way; the shorter it is, the better.
I don't get the meaning of "HOW LONG DO WE GIVE IT" in ...
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What does "work away" mean?
What does "work away" in the fourth paragraph mean? At first I thought it meant "be away from home for work", but it also seems to mean "to put forth a persistent, diligent, ...
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Why does 'notion' mean 'sewing-related thing'
As eg from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notions_(sewing)
The term is chiefly in American English... was also formerly used in the phrase "Yankee notions", meaning American ...
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Mother tongue vs vernacular
Having been a non- native speaker, several times I had been asked to write my name IN VERNACULAR or IN MOTHER TONGUE during my college days. I couldn't tell apart the subtle difference and thought of ...
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When "play" has a sexual connotation, what type of sex does it refer to? [closed]
Urban Dictionary includes one explanation of "play" :
Anything to do with sexual relations: fooling around, making out, oral sex or having intercourse.
However, most of the formal-language ...
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Meaning of "die words of Deuteronomy" [closed]
The following passage is from the book The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren:
Sharon Beckford had reacted on a
more personal level. Why was this
violence, destruction, ...
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Why does it ... vs Why it does ...? [duplicate]
So, I asked GPT-4 this question:
Do these both have the same meaning?
Why does it matter to the world?
Why it does matter to the world?
Both initially came back with yes answers.
But then I followed ...
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What is the meaning of the word 'veritical'?
What is the meaning of the word 'veritical'?
I've heard intellectuals use this word, it seems to mean truth, like it's derived from veritas- but I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm not spelling it ...
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Malady vs Disease
How does the word malady differ from disease? Also,in what contexts can the word malady be used?
Below are my findings / details I have collected about the two:
Many dictionaries list the word ...
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What exactly does ethos mean in rhetoric?
Ethos literally means "ethics", so it would seem that it would be used to describe appeals to one's ethics, morals, or "right vs wrong". However, it seems that it is also used to ...
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"In their own gesture of preparation" meaning? [closed]
The following passage is from this book :
" The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren "
The morning of the day had come.
In their own gesture of preparation, the
...
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"This spray zhuzhes". What does "the zhuzh" mean in cosmetics?
I watched an interview with Keira Knightly and she used this word when they were talking about her beauty bag.
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What is the difference between 'can', 'could' and 'would you mind' in asking questions? [closed]
For me these 3 have the same meaning, but i just could not differentiate what the subtle difference between them, maybe 'would you mind' is more polite then the other two?
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Do I say "Hear the voice of reason" or "Listen to the voice of reason" or either? [duplicate]
Although I say "Listen to reason," if I insert "voice of," do I use "Listen to the voice of reason" or "Hear the voice of reason," or can I use either? The ...
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Has the word “supposably” really been added to the Oxford Dictionary? [closed]
I used to always correct my illiterate friends whenever they would say the word “supposably” instead of supposedly, by snarkingly saying, “There’s no B in suposeDly!” Then I read that one of the big ...
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Intellectual Vertigo
I'd never come across the phrase 'intellectual vertigo' until reading an article in The Economist about AI. The sentence goes,
By working in the most human of mediums, conversation, ChatGPT is now ...
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What is the meaning of the "classical-esque term"?
So what does the phrase, "classical-esque" really mean? Is it like a style that was used in classical ages or what? Is it something related to the Latin language? What exactly does "...
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Meaning of SoA in a review of an academic paper
The reviewer of my paper said:
It is not clear what is the main contribution regarding to SoA
And in another question he said:
The SoA should be improved
What is the meaning of SoA here?
(For ...
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Difference between "bizarre" and "eccentric"
In google translate, the word "bizarre" means "very strange or unusual, especially so as to cause interest or amusement.". But I believe that this description is more suited for &...
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Royal "we" meaning? [closed]
I heard the royals used 'we' instead of 'I'.
The royals makes impressed food.
So we are gonna roll out the red carpet and spare no expense.
Word 'We' means 'I' in this sentence?
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What does "first cut" mean?
In software engineering, I sometimes see "first cut" in a context where it could mean "first version".
Is it some idiom? Where does it come from? Does it mean literally "first ...
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What does Thoreau mean by "horizontal body" in this paragraph from "The Last Days of John Brown"? [closed]
In The Last Days of John Brown, Thoreau writes:
“He nothing common did or mean Upon that memorable scene, Nor called the gods with vulgar spite, To vindicate his helpless right; But bowed his comely ...
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Is "Earth is full! Go Home!" an example of sarcasm? If so, why?
Is "Earth is full! Go Home!" an example of sarcasm?
If it is, I'd really like someone to explain why this is sarcastic. From all the definitions I've seen for sarcasm, I've gathered that ...
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What is the meaning (and origin) of the word 'peck' in the expression 'bomb peck' (BrE)?
Someone used the words 'bomb peck' in conversation to me yesterday and I queried what they meant. I have found the expression being used colloquially online but with no explanation of what 'peck' ...
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What does "for a mile" mean in this sentence of Thoreau?
In Slavery in Massachusetts, Thoreau writes:
But it chanced the other day that I scented a white water-lily,
and a season I had waited for had arrived. It is the emblem of purity.
It bursts up so ...
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What is the meaning of, “…a man who had no truck with looking back..”? [duplicate]
What is the AMERICAN meaning of, “…a man who had no truck with looking back..”? I understand the meaning of a man in a truck looking back, but “who had no truck with looking back” eludes me. ...
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What is the meaning of bounded in this sentence: The dogs bounded past their leader [closed]
I came across this sentence:
The dogs bounded past their leader.
What does "bounded past" mean? I know the past tense of bind is bound. But here the verb "bounded" is used. Is ...
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Middle alternation with stative verbs
Is there any semantic difference between the following sentences?
I frighten easily.
I'm easily frightened.
Do they mean the same? Or sentence 1 means that I cause myself to be frightened and ...
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Could “doesn't mess around” mean “being serious about” sometimes? [closed]
She doesn't mess around when it comes to playing cards.
In this sentence, “doesn't mess around” means “she's taking this seriously”?
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Is "Fair Witness" an adequate alternative term for "whistle blower" in academia?
It was suggested to me to use the term "fair witness" instead of "whistle blower" (when proposing to design a university course about such topic, and potentially an academic study ...
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