Questions tagged [phrase-meaning]
This tag is for questions related to the meanings of phrases, particularly their definitions and nuances.
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What's meant by ". . . he went the pace extraordinary"? (go the pace ?) [migrated]
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XX, published 1892)
Passage 319
But before he was out of long clothes, the cloven foot began to show; he proved to be no ...
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What does the phrase, 'as thus construed', mean? [closed]
What is the meaning of the phrase, 'as thus construed'?
I was writing an essay and felt that phrase was appropriate, but I looked it up with quotes on google and found only references in some legal ...
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Origin of the expression “turn the card” meaning to pass on an opportunity
I recently dropped the phrase “turn the card” meaning to pass on an opportunity in an answer of a sister site. While not a common expression, I would have expected most people that I converse with in ...
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Meaning of "not without parts" [closed]
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIX, published 1892)
Passage 298
Such was our first interview, the first of many; and in all he showed the same attractive ...
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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 is the meaning of "as per history's mandate" [closed]
What is the meaning of the phrase "as per history's mandate"?
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with a conscience
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 252
Then I remembered that I had a friend on board, and stepped to the companion.
“Gentlemen,” ...
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What is the difference between "Chinese-Canadian" and "Canadian-Chinese"?
What is the difference between a "Chinese-Canadian" and a "Canadian-Chinese"?
Do I understand correctly that the first part of such phrases will show the origin of a person, and ...
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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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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 ...
- 219
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1
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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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1920s postcard joke meaning? Cut some ice
Can anyone explain the meaning of this 1920’s postcard?
The text reads:
“I should worry like the iceman and cut some ice.”
Next to this is a cartoon of a little boy with an axe chopping a large block ...
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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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Meaning of "get out" in "He gets out when he can" [closed]
In his famous hit Working Class Man, Jimmy Barnes sings:
He believes in God and Elvis
He gets out when he can
He did his time in Vietnam
Still mad at Uncle Sam
I can't make sense of the second line. ...
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What does "on the trot" mean in tennis?
Watching the pre-game broadcast for the Djokovic/Medvedev 2023 US Open men's singles championship match, I heard analyst Brad Gilbert say that Coco Gauff had won 12 in a row "on the trot" ...
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“holding a mirror up to the inequalities across the nation”
The excerpt below is taken from an article in The Guardian, published in October 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still in its peak. The author is Richard Horton, a doctor and editor-in-chief of ...
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Meaning of "retiring" in "free admission with retiring donations"
We recently attended a concert in a protestant church in England that was advertised as "free admission with retiring donations". The concert was indeed free with a voluntary (optional) ...
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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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What is the real-time elimination of improbable meanings called in the linguistic literature?
He brought some food to eat on the road.
He found some beer to drink in the fridge.
Is it only reality and sanity that keep us from taking the beer example to mean he would be squashed in the fridge ...
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What does "chamber sculpture" mean?
What does the term "chamber sculpture" mean?
I haven't found it in Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries, but Google provides plenty of hits (~45k) for this expression. I am not sure whether it ...
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Is objectual a word?
Is objectual a word? I could not find it in Merriam Webster.
I am trying to use it in a sentence like this:
A phrase signifies the objectual nature of thing in question.
Would I be stretching the ...
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What does this mean: "Summer unofficially begins once the calendar is on point"
The phrase on point has several well-documented meanings (some of which have already been discussed on EL&U, here). But none of them seem to fit the usage in a headline of a recent article in the '...
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What's the meaning of "tidy limbs" as a descriptor? [closed]
I am currently reading The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women. Near the start of chapter six it describes an individual as tidy limbed, what is the meaning of this phase?
...
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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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Meaning of "shall cause" in an association bylaws
A HOA Bylaw states that
The Treasurers shall cause an annual review of HOA books to be made at completion of each fiscal year.
It doesn't say by whom the review should be made, or does it assume the ...
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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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Usage of "as much ... as"
Consumers spend three times as much paying rent as buying books.
How can I understand this sentence?
I believe "three times as much + noun + as" and "spend + noun + doing" are ...
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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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Is this an ambiguous use of "prior to" to convey logical precedence? [closed]
Consider the following sentence:
Volcanic eruptions could not account for the high rate of the global collapse of ecosystems prior to the K-T extinction event.
The usage of "prior to" is ...
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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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How to Translate the "Killing" in this Context?
This is a clipping from a director's memoir(source: A Life: An Autobiography by Elia Kazan) which I once cited in another question, recording an actor's affair.
When we got back to Munich for the ...
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852
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What does "work away" mean? [closed]
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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Is the phrase 'screw up' or 'screwed up' considered profanity/too harsh for young children? [duplicate]
I heard a character in a children's cartoon use it and was a bit shocked given that it was like a PG/Y7 rated show and I have thought of the word as a vulgar phrase, albeit a mild one.
That being said,...
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Meaning of '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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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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What is "and therefore profits"?
I have read an article called "Stocks have shrugged off the banking turmoil. Haven’t they?" in The Economist newspaper, but I find it hard to understand the meaning of a sentence.
The ...
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Put someone on the same pedestal as another
I have recently got into a heated argument where I was told that I put them onto the same pedestal as another who had more experience in the field. It was clear from the context that they meant that ...
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What does "wife on the crupper" mean in Hunchback of Notre Dame?
Comrades! Master Simon Sanguin, the Elector of Picardy, with his wife on the crupper!
Chapter 1 of Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (AmazonClassics Edition) (p. 25). AmazonClassics. Kindle ...
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What is the meaning of, “The like say”? [closed]
The like say - the ultimate sanction in matters of large importance - has not been given to the Trustees alone.
From an essay “Twelve Concepts for World Service”, written in 1962 by Bill W., founder ...
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Is the meaning of "Either latitude or longitude needs to be provided!" exclusive or inclusive?
The error message for a computer dialogue box reads as follows:
Either latitude or longitude need to be provided!
(mistakenly using the incorrect need in the plural for singular needs)
Does this ...
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What does it mean "to drive something into a ditch"?
I got an email from an English native speaker.
The context is that a known situation is not going as expected.
The problem is ongoing, and at some point, the person responsible (P1) says to the people ...
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Is "turn comments" or "turning comments" an idiomatic way of responding to feedback?
I have a coworker who consistently says they are "turning comments" to mean "responding to feedback." In particular, it comes up in code review. Someone makes a comment, and the ...
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What does "the fitness of things" mean?
I'm struggling to understand what it means, from this sentence:
In science, we sometimes have convictions which we cherish but cannot justify; we
are influenced by some innate sense of the fitness of ...
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I may go to the party - permission or possibility? Or both? [duplicate]
Hope you can help me to answer this tricky question. I´m posting here as I got the impression that it needs a linguist or at least a native to answer it.
When you say: I may go to the party. Does this ...
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What does 'picket fence' mean here? [closed]
Today I was listening to a song from Fall Out boy called Miss missing you.
At one point in the song, they sing the line: "Baby you were my picket fence".
I know what a picket fence is, but I ...
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What does saying "without the service" mean when paying the bill at a restaurant?
I just heard an actor in a movie say "without the service" when paying the bill at a restaurant. (The movie was The Strays, from 2023 - navigate to 08:19 mins from start).
I assume it's ...
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Does anyone know what the word "Some" means here? [closed]
Just to context:
I've playing a gang context game and after a funeral the rival gang drives by shooting and then the characters that were at the funeral have the car blown up and then they have to run ...
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Does “at the borders of” mean “out of” in this text?
Does “at the borders of” means “out of” in this text? If not, what is its precise meaning?
In such ways, theology became as yet marginalised, or even banned from
the university as no longer deserving ...
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What is the difference between "climb on" and "climb to"? [closed]
What is the difference between "climb on" and "climb to"? As a pilot, there may be such minor differences in our aviation charts. But I can't quite understand the difference.
I am ...
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