Questions tagged [phrase-meaning]
The meaning of phrases.
1,091
questions
0
votes
0answers
40 views
What is “keep handy” in this context?
Joseph Conrad, "The Nigger Of The "Narcissus": A Tale Of The Forecastle":
The men, knitted together aft into a ready group by the first sharp order of an officer coming to take charge of the deck ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
The difference between two words
I need to know the difference between "to hear" and "to listen". Could you explain it to me, please? I'm not a native English speaker.
1
vote
2answers
17 views
The difference between two phrases [duplicate]
I need to know the difference between two phrases "learn by heart" and "learn by rote". I would be grateful if you could explain it to me. I'm not a native English speaker.
2
votes
1answer
65 views
How does “Your grace” mean what it means?
I know the meaning of this expression, but I want to know how it got what it means.
When we say "My lord", it's really obvious what we're talking about: somebody is my lord. I couldn't come up with a ...
3
votes
1answer
55 views
Does the phrase “engage with” imply anything about power differences?
I was under the impression that there was no implied power difference in the usage of the phrase. But I came across an answer here that mentioned that engaging with someone is taken to mean ...
2
votes
2answers
66 views
Where does the saying get a rope originate? [closed]
Is it truly a racial comment to lynching or is it a reference to wild west judgement with no jury?
0
votes
0answers
34 views
The meaning of “the luxury end of the market”?
Can you explain to me what the phrase "the luxury end of the market" in this sentence means?
This week I'm going to discuss the luxury end of the market.
0
votes
3answers
85 views
What's the meaning of “there's no stinkin' way” in this paragraph?
When I started explaining the project’s work scope to people in the school, I learned quickly that most believed the technology classes would be my biggest challenge. One special education teacher’s ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
What does it mean ((feeling flatter than a fritter))?
Please tell me the meaning of ((feeling flatter than a fritter)) in this paragraph:
It is different every day. My whole day’s plans might go out the window because a teacher’s lesson plans change. ...
0
votes
1answer
63 views
What's “watering place” in this case?
I'd like to ask about the sentence from The Adventure of the Dancing Men by Conan Doyle.
But we have several small watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers.
The sentence ...
-1
votes
2answers
34 views
Is there any other pharse i can use in the following context instead of pass through? [closed]
There's so many happy and bittersweet phases of us we have been passed through together.
I can't use have been/gone through as they refer to endure hardship.
0
votes
1answer
24 views
Can i use 'get+ past participle ' with gerund like the following context? Or it requires a preposition before gerund?
I Won't get lost searching myself.
Or
I Won't get lost in searching myself.
-2
votes
3answers
75 views
What does “tired of her ass” mean? [closed]
Does it mean tired of her or tired of having sex with her?
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Can't ask for or couldn’t ask for what to use in this following context? Is this phrase Couldn't ask for has any particular grammar rule? [duplicate]
I could not/ can not ask for more when i've been with my best buddy for such a long time.
0
votes
2answers
92 views
Could you please tell me which of the following two sentences is correct?
Having had the same best friend for more than 10 years who I'm so mentally connected to is very precious.
or
Having the same best friend for more than 10 years who I'm so mentally connected to is ...
1
vote
3answers
72 views
“wore at” vs “wore out”
Is the use of "wore at" vs "wore out" the same?
Few Google examples:
"She was tired of apologizing for the intractability of the land, its people, for the distances that wore at him, the endless ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
What does the phrase “Tubular Journey” mean here?
Please help me figure out the meaning of the phrase "tubular journey" that is used as a title of a running game's description.
I know the lexical meaning of the word "tubular", but it doesn't seem to ...
1
vote
1answer
40 views
what is the meaning of “it was to be”?
If you are writing in the past tense, does "it was to be" have a different meaning than "it was"?
e.g. "It was to be the first of many sleepless nights." vs "It was the first of many sleepless nights....
0
votes
0answers
40 views
Does the term “reduce” necessarily require the object being reduced to already exist?
I'm curious about the term "reduce" and whether it requires pre-existence. For example: If the government were to "reduce" arms sales, would that mean the government would decrease the amount of arms ...
2
votes
0answers
71 views
What does “work on my tan” mean?
Here is the context:
He
It's not gonna be easy
She
Well, I don't do easy. If I wanted that I'd move to Florida and work on my tan
0
votes
1answer
27 views
Can someone simplify the 2nd and 3rd point (from top) of the post given in image below?
I am confused about what the 2 paragraphs (specified in title) actually mean.
So far my brief understanding of:
Paragraph/point "2"→ Authors who refuse to write a story where they dont express their ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
What does the phrase “fire a long line” mean here? [closed]
Here is a sentence from an action game:
You need to grapple downward, then fire a long line through a gap.
I am not sure about the meaning of the phrase fire a long line. The preceding sentence ...
7
votes
4answers
339 views
How did “pissed” come to mean “drunk” or “angry”?
How did "pissed" come to mean "drunk" or "angry" in expressions such as: "I'm pissed" OR "I'm pissed off"?
All dictionaries I consulted just gave that definition.
So, does it have anything to do - ...
2
votes
2answers
60 views
What does the phrase “level them up” mean here?
Here is a sentence from a combat game:
If the player wins battles, she collects yellow slime which she can
dump on her favourite characters to level them up.
I am not sure about the meaning of ...
-2
votes
1answer
37 views
Meaning of “And that’s probably likely always to be the case” [closed]
I have trouble understanding two lines in an article in NYTimes.
Ever more so, it seems. The past few decades have seen “an amazing
array of experimental tests of general relativity, all of them ...
-2
votes
1answer
40 views
THIS DEPARTMENT HAS WORKED ____ DAYS WITHOUT A LOST TIME ACCIDENT [closed]
What does this sentence mean? Does it mean that no unfortunate event happened? What would that event mean? A fight?
1
vote
0answers
25 views
mocking someone ,mocking his social media [closed]
Help please with the right meaning of verb MOCK . In my sentence i have to write about bullying at school that a boy taking away cellphone from another boy and mocking his social media. But i'm afraid ...
1
vote
1answer
81 views
“I'm bound where my feet take me, and heart where my wills”
In Sandman #38, there is a moment when two strangers meet on a road and the following dialogue happens:
"Where are you bound, young peddler?" asks the man.
"I'm bound where my feet take me, ...
0
votes
2answers
55 views
“To make a lie” meaning
I'm reading a book and I bumped into this sentence:
He had aged well; his face was lined and wrinkled like every
other resident of Hilltop, but there was a youthfulness about
him, a certain ...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
Today, renewables work only with fossil-fuel backup or Today, renewables work only as fossil-fuel backup
I was reading an article from nytimes and had two doubts in this passage:
Where will this gargantuan amount of carbon-free energy come from? The
popular answer is renewables alone, but this is a ...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
'Sooner than' meaning in this construction?
I have never seen a construction beginning with 'Sooner than' as the following one:
Sooner than fix the broken screen, l would buy a new mobile phone.
I looked it up in a number of dictionaries ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
Meaning of this passage from nytimes [closed]
China has long prevented many American internet giants from providing
services within its borders, and it has placed tight strictures on how
other American technology firms can operate. The ...
-1
votes
1answer
56 views
Meaning of “ZTE, which competes with Huawei in telecom equipment, was determined to have sold American-origin goods to Iran” [closed]
What is the meaning of:
ZTE, which competes with Huawei in telecom equipment, was determined
to have sold American-origin goods to Iran.
Only thing that causes confusion is the part "have sold"? ...
-1
votes
1answer
183 views
What is being toasted by “Here's looking at you”?
Some time ago, a question has been asked here about the meaning of the famous toast from the movie Casablanca: ‘Here's looking at you, kid’. Several answers have been posted to it, including a very ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
What is the meaning of the term “town hottie”?
I know I heard this term several times before, but when I look it up, I can't find anything on it. Thanks in advance.
3
votes
1answer
160 views
What is the grammatical structure of the expression “F*** you!” and its derivatives?
I heard that expression along with its derivatives so many times, in movies or otherwise, but I can't get it grammatically, meaning, does it stand for a complete sentence like "I will fuck you!" or "I ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Meaning of phrase “rent full month”
What does "I only rent out full month" mean when said by a potential landlord?
At first I thought it means that the apartment can only be rented starting at the first day of a month, but now I think ...
1
vote
2answers
47 views
What kind of surfaces are semi-vitreous?
I read a post somewhere recommending a certain way to remove some kind of residue, but the post said it would only work for (at least) "semi-vitreous surfaces".
So, glass would fall under this ...
0
votes
2answers
42 views
Meaning of “to be” in this sentence
upstream binaries can starve downstream binaries by allocating all requests to be in experiments prior to the requests being sent downstream
I cannot understand the meaning of the phrase "to be" here,...
0
votes
1answer
27 views
Biospheric Superabundance: Subscending the Agri-Logistical. Epistemologically-Ontological Anthropocentris [closed]
I was just watching CBC. They had a rerun of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. I think the original aired Oct 30 2017. On the show, a lady is promoting a book entitled:
"Biospheric Superabundance: ...
2
votes
0answers
40 views
What does the phrase 'Throw your Cap on It' mean and where did it originate?
In watching a recent soccer match, the commentator stated that the goalkeeper should 'throw his cap on that'.
This was immediately preceded by a relatively comfortable save by the goalkeeper from a ...
0
votes
1answer
52 views
What's the meaning of bold part? [closed]
From this site
Together, we’ll be looking to build on early successes with our digital-first approach to campaigns including ‘Holly’s Must Haves’ and to better utilise data for ‘always on’ cross-...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
What does a “course of instruction” mean?
Googles definition of class says "course of instruction". Would that mean a class could be something taught to a single person over a period of time?
4
votes
1answer
113 views
Why is it called a boxing ring when the shape is a square?
Can someone please provide some history towards the usage of 'boxing ring'?
As we know, the boxing ring is in fact a square.
Just wondering does the ring date back to traditional battles in Ancient ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
What is the history of the phrase 'mother tongue'? [closed]
Where does the phrase 'mother tongue' originate from?
Based on this phrase, in a literal sense is a language deemed to be feminine?
0
votes
1answer
75 views
What is the meaning of the expression “loco for coco?” [closed]
I've seen the expression "loco for coco" a few times, but I don't really understand it.
Sometimes it refers to Coco, the animated film or just chocolate.
What is the original meaning of this ...
1
vote
1answer
672 views
“Last days of Rome” phrase, meaning with examples
I would be interested to know the origin and evolution of meaning, along with example usage, for the phrase "last days of Rome".
0
votes
1answer
29 views
What does these phrase “he is on the field” and “all layers of play shed off as…” mean in this sentence? [closed]
"Chanyeol is as intense when he kisses as he is on the field, all layers of play shed off as he just.. conquers."
I tried to look up the words in dictionary but still i couldnt get what it means.
...
0
votes
1answer
41 views
What is the meaning of the phrase 'all our'?
I read a sentence recently: 'May there be sweet-sour flavour in all our lives'. What is the meaning of the phrase 'all our'? Does it mean 'in the lives of all of us' or 'all through our lives'?
0
votes
1answer
110 views
From my early age vs From an early age
When I'm going to start a sentence with From my early age grammar checker shows an error. It's suggest me to use From an early age
Is there any major different with both of the term.
