Questions tagged [phrase-meaning]
The meaning of phrases.
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Translation or interpretation
"The man who assaulted her late daughter."
How can we translate "late daughter"?
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1answer
24 views
What is the passage of time?
Regarding the term/phrase the passage of time: Is it simply referring to time passing (i.e. moving forward / passing by)? A metaphor to invoke imagery of a passageway (path, tunnel, channel, corridor, ...
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1answer
30 views
What does “media time” mean here?
"He has offered to hold elections, but the demonstrators want a fairer election law and more media time for the opposition."
What does "media time" mean here?
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0answers
40 views
What does “drop off the edge” mean here?
In the British film 'About a boy' I saw the expression 'If only two people someone drops off the edge'. what does it mean?
He said 'Suddenly I realized, two people isnt enough. You need to back ...
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1answer
39 views
What does “run the place” mean here? [on hold]
"Virginia's state government seemed unable to find anyone to run the place who has not either applied boot polish to his face while at college or been accused of sexual assault. "
What do "run the ...
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5answers
8k views
“What would you with the king?” -From the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”
In the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves, in order to show how punctuation changes meaning and can be used for jokes, it says:
Instead of “What would you with the king?” you can have someone say in ...
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0answers
19 views
We don't know and love
In the sentence: "And all the ones we don't know and love, this is for them to." "Don't" appleis to both verbs "to know" and "to love", or only to "to know"? I mean, they are dedicating (sentence is ...
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1answer
37 views
What does it mean that a certain building is “architecture become mathematics”?
I read about the Citigroup Center in NYC in a travel guide, and one sentence said that this building, designed as a graph-paper, is "architecture become mathematics". What does it mean?
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1answer
26 views
'I didn't know I needed' meaning [on hold]
I have seen this phrase in youtube comments:
the *sth* I didn't know I needed
Could you please explain what does it mean and in which cases should I use it?
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2answers
3k views
What is the meaning of “his downfall was a mistletoe”?
While listening to the song Death of the God of Light, I noticed the following sentence.
His downfall was a mistletoe
Now I only know a mistletoe as the plant/Christmas decoration, which does not ...
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2answers
42 views
What does “that would be a mistake” mean here?
"The situation is a test of President Donald Trump and his foreign-policy team, including the hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton. This week Mr Bolton hinted at the use of American troops. ...
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1answer
16 views
As for a purpose
What is the meaning of this phrase: as for a purpose. I found it in the following sentence:
He is robbing me of my fruitful energy as for a purpose.
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1answer
65 views
Token funeral is held [closed]
Recently I have come across a sentence: “A token funeral is held. There is nothing to bury.” I couldn’t find an explanation what a token funeral is.
This is all the context that there is about the “...
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0answers
17 views
The meaning of “сome + noun/gerund” [duplicate]
What is the meaning of this construction in the following sentence heard in this video?
DA's office is pursuing this as a capital case, which means that come
sentencing it will be up to the jury ...
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0answers
24 views
When is “Mike mistook Mr. Daniels for Jack” appropriate, and when is “Mike mistook Mr. Daniels as Jack” appropriate?
in the following sentence:
Mike mistook Mr. Daniels [as or for] Jack.
which word am I supposed to use—"for" or "as"?
In everyday spoken English, I hear both, which is quite confusing, so I am ...
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1answer
41 views
Making out the meaning of words
I am listening to a story that has no transcript. So I can’t make out some phrases and therefore the meaning of some sentences. I would really appreciate if you could help me out;) thanks in advance!
...
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0answers
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Grammar of “Way Up High” [closed]
I get the general meaning of this phrase but I don't understand it from a grammatical angle. Appreciate the help.
Thanks a lot.
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1answer
32 views
Meaning of “feet to the flames”
Nia Warfield, "Crude oil is on track for its best January ever," CNBC:
Kelly also noted that investors are now holding oil companies' "feet to the flames" to increase cash flow amid the surge ...
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1answer
86 views
Meaning and usage of “There is a lock for every key”
The other day I was watching a television series called The Big Bang Theory on Netflix, and in season 5, episode 6, which is entitled The Rhinitis Revelation Mary Cooper said the following:
Now you ...
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3answers
88 views
What is the meaning of “make all the lights”?
What is the meaning of "make all the lights" here?
A: Do you think I will take more than 10 minutes going to the train station?
B:Well, if you want to get there in ten, you will have to make all ...
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3answers
136 views
Relation between “trivial”, “more than trivial”, and “less than trivial”
I am a non-native speaker who thought understood the meaning of 'less than trivial' to mean more complicated than trivial. My intuition came from assuming that given an adjective then 'less than' ...
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0answers
15 views
In What Circumstance Should I Use I “Remain Hopeful”?
I am writing to the admission office of schools I am applying to and I want to express my will of joining them next year at the end of my letter. Can I say "I remain hopeful that I will be able to ...
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1answer
128 views
“The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you.” - what does that mean?
What does "would like to be remembered to you" mean in the statement: ""The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you." ?
This was later released by the Royal Household to a ...
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1answer
26 views
What does “break out the layer cake” mean?
In this sentence:
For taxi drivers staring down an even bleaker future of driverless
cars at a moment when Washington considers a weekly paycheck bump of
$1.50 an occasion to break out the ...
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0answers
31 views
Why do we say 'our sister______'? [duplicate]
Why do we refer to something related as
our sister_______?
For example:
Please visit our sister hotel
You can find that on our sister site
Why don't we use brother? Is it wrong to use ...
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1answer
46 views
What's the difference between “seem” and “seem as if”?
What is the difference between following sentences:
The children seemed tired
The children seemed as if they were tired.
Does the second sentence indicate an imaginary situation?
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1answer
15 views
Is the choice of words appropriate ? Is the grammar right in the following statement? [closed]
I hope you dont think any less of me because of this
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1answer
59 views
What does “a cross between the Parthenon and the Reichstag” mean?
In Gerard Durrell's The Whispering Land I ran into the sentence below:
At that precise moment we were heading towards the massive building that looked like a cross between the Parthenon and the ...
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5answers
68 views
What does “standing on someone’s shoulders” really mean?
I'm translating the following passage, which is said by a black woman living in America:
But the doctor was right: I was depressed. Like most people in my
community, I had the misconception ...
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1answer
86 views
What does the phrase “achingly beautiful” mean? [closed]
Can someone explain the phrase "achingly beautiful"? I often find myself reaching for it, while being unsure how to break down the meaning of it.
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1answer
45 views
Meaning of English phrase - “right on the water” [closed]
Does the phrase "right on the water" have a different meaning in the below dialogue?
Man: Who hasn't dreamed of living right on the water?
Woman: Oh, it's so pretty.
Man: You are right on the ...
22
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3answers
4k views
What is the meaning of “candy striper” in the following paragraph?
What is the meaning of "candy striper" in the following paragraph?
Samuel Beckett gets all the credit for being the darkest playwright — fail, fail again, etc. — but compared to Edward Albee, ...
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1answer
70 views
“I don't know how to work people.”
I am looking for a precise meaning of this expression "to work people".
I feel like it is similar to "to be friendly to people", "to handle people with tact", "to be good at conversing with people", ...
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1answer
46 views
Conformation of a simile
निगाह-ए-गुल से बुलबुल यूँ गिरी है गिरे जिस तरह तिनका आशियां से
Literal English translation
The nightingale's fallen from the flower's view as a twig falls from nest
I think it's a simile. ...
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2answers
62 views
It is supposed that
Could someone say if I understand the phrase "it is supposed that" right?
For example:
It is supposed that tigers don't like swimming in water.
I understand this sentence like there's some random ...
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1answer
21 views
What kind of emotion does a phrase “lotsa luck” convey?
In Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction movie the phrase conveys rather sarcastic emotion:
I'm here to help. If my help's not appreciated, lotsa luck, gentlemen.
Can I use lotsa luck to convey ...
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1answer
171 views
What does “Step up the two of us” mean? [closed]
Can anyone explain to me, what does "step up" mean in the song Imagine by Ariana Grande, which she says at the beginning:
"Step up the two of us, nobody knows us
get in the car like skrrt"
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4answers
67 views
What does it mean by “in their thousands”?
"SpaceX and OneWeb, a communications firm, plan to launch satellites in their thousands, not hundreds."
What does it mean by "in their thousands"?
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1answer
94 views
meaning of the phrase “we almost had a moment there”
in the first episode of "True detective" series there's a scene (38:30) when two officers interrogate another retired officer about one of his past case and in the middle of conversation he asks one ...
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1answer
14 views
What does it mean by “a hotspot for anti-microbial resistance”?
"Widespread dumping of antibiotics in rivers has made the country a hotspot for anti-microbial resistance. "
What does it mean by "a hotspot for anti-microbial resistance"?
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1answer
48 views
“to become the wall off which”
What does the highlighted part of the sentence mean? It doesn't parse for me:
This "primal You" becomes the wall off which the ball can
bounce, the subject to which paired qualities can stick, ...
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2answers
15 views
Conveying a message in a club advertisement
There has been a dispute between my colleague and I between the use of a phrase in our club advertisement. We are a chemistry interest group and sometimes, I feel that new students may feel that the ...
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1answer
17 views
What does it mean by “made a national champion of”?
"Although the chip battle may have pre-dated Mr Trump, his presidency has intensified it. He has made a national champion of Qualcomm, blocking a bid for it from a Singaporean firm for fear of Chinese ...
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1answer
20 views
Correct usage/distinction in these examples [closed]
The score has a real unique sound with interesting vocals; the score is also well produced and professional.
Our law firm is one of the Internet's most prolific copyright experts: firms that catch ...
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2answers
67 views
Is this a saying? “I am here to [show/tell/…] you …”
I am not a native English speaker, but I translate English texts into my native language, Danish.
I sometimes come across phrases like "Many believe that (x) but I am here to show you that (y)."
I ...
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1answer
40 views
What is “discount for validation”
I just read this comic in which one person says:
"And no discount for validation"
I understand each single word in that sentence, but the meaning itself is unclear. A discount is a reduction in ...
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2answers
38 views
MEANING OF A SENTENCE IN A E-MAIL [closed]
I want to know meaning of a sentence.the sentence meaning which I want to know is
"there is no action from your side".
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2answers
41 views
What is the meaning of the last phrase in this sentence?
I found the following sentence in a students' book for learning business English: "Their shares will yield a decent dividend, given past form". The sentence is NOT in a context, it is just an example ...
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3answers
69 views
Meaning of “For Brokes”
I want to know if the use of "For Brokes" mean what I think because I'm not a native person.
If I want to sell things to people withouth money (broke person), the things that I sell are really cheap ...
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1answer
227 views
What does 'six-month filing' mean in this video?
The inspector in this YouTube video says (03:59) "...the city will offer a six month filing...". What does 'six month filing' mean? What significance does it have to the defendant, if any?
