Questions tagged [phrase-meaning]
The meaning of phrases.
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Is the meaning of "Either latitude or longitude need to be provided!" exclusive or inclusive?
The error for a computer dialog box reads:
Either latitude or longitude need to be provided!
Does this insinuates only one of the fields latitude and longitude should be provided? After reading Use ...
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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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What is the origin and meaning of the term "rack rent"? [closed]
I think that "rack rent" a term that's defined in case law but it doesn't seem to have much other/colloquial usage.
What is the origin and meaning of this term?
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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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a bad feeling/bad feelings
What is the difference between "I have a bad feeling about it" and "I have bad feelings about it"? Also, is it correct to say "I have a sense of foreboding"? I appreciate ...
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What is the meaning of the expression "sling a yarn"?
I am quoting from The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Black Peter:
See here, mister, said he, I make no complaint of being man-handled in this fashion, but I would have you call things by their right ...
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In "Pygmalion", what does Eliza Doolittle mean by "they'll take away my character?"
In Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion", Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl, is worried that Higgins, whom she sees making notes and mistakes for a plain-clothed cop, will "take away her character&...
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Contextual meaning of 'sought to legitimize the city's social strivings by evoking a history the city did not truly posses' [closed]
This sentence below was a GRE question and the two italics and bold words are the actual answers to the text completion. Still, I do not understand what the sentence is trying to say. My understanding ...
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He was drunk, and the people give back for him... - give back for him?
I am reading a story by Robert E. Howard, which contains the following line:
Drunk was John Kulrek, and the people gave back for him, murder in
their souls; so he came and laughed at Moll Farrell ...
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Meaning of 'it does not deny ambiguity', 'truth may bear all lights', 'of divine ends'? [closed]
From the passage:
Great comic art is never otherworldly, it does not seek to mystify us, and it does not deny ambiguity by branding as evil whatever differs from good. Great comic artists assume that ...
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What does “fresno” from Caro’s “The Path to Power” mean?
In Robert Caro’s book The Path to Power is the following passage (emphasis mine):
Road-building - fresno and mule-team road-building - was a rough business in Texas then[.]
Later on the page is this ...
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Howked up meaning
I'm reading a book which has the following quote
I have notions of reading the whole of Corpus Juris and Pandects in
no time at all; but these are getting dim as the Cambridge scheme
has been howked ...
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The difference between "add up" and "lump"
Do these two sentences mean the same thing: "lump all the lodging charges" vs "add up all the lodging charges"? Generally, is the latter used more?
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I have a question about a phrase I often hear but think it is not being used correctly [duplicate]
Has the original meaning of "begging the question" changed?
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Expression meaning - Trying to dig out from minus a million points [closed]
What does this expression mean?
"Trying to dig out from minus a million points"
As far as I understand, "to dig out" means to find, to unearth.
A point means, e.g., a credit card ...
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What does the phrase "I could care less," really mean? [duplicate]
What does the phrase "I could care less," really mean? When I look at it I think that it refers to an expression of indifference, but many people use it when they're implying that they don't ...
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What does Dickens' phrase "told forth" mean?
Charles Dickens Little Dorrit Chapter 25
When he had thus disposed of his cards, all being done very quietly and in a suppressed tone, Mr Pancks puffed his way into his own breast-pocket and tugged ...
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He is not the best student in this class
If you say, "He is not the best student in this class," do you mean "he is maybe the second or the third best student in this class" or " he is the worst student in this class&...
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Encroach on/upon, encroach into
I was wondering if someone could explain the difference between "encroach on/upon" and "encroach into". I cannot figure out the clear difference between them. Here are two sample ...
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How does "I'll have your job!" translate to getting someone fired?
Maybe it's reading a story on reddit about an entitled Karen, or maybe it's talking to an upset customer that starts to threaten you, or maybe you're expressing frustration at someone else not doing ...
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Question regarding the usage of 'As in'
'The multi-storey pagoda came to Japan from China in the sixth century. As in China, they were first introduced with Buddhism and were attached to important temples.'
I initially thought this meant ...
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Why never enter a man’s room in months ending in ‘R’?
In the movie, An Affair to Remember, Deborah Kerr says:
My mother told me never to enter a man’s room in months ending in ‘R’.
What does it mean?
Why must not she enter a man’s room in months ending ...
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Usage of " at the expense of"
I am reading the poem The Latest Decalogue by Arthur Hugh Clough.
I can't understand the meaning of this line:
Thou shalt have one God only; who / Would be at the expense of two?
Is he saying that ...
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What's the meaning of “lead to target” in this context'? [closed]
Giroir reportedly told Trump that the United States should put “lead to target” to stop illegal drugs from coming across the U.S.-Mexico border.
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How we use "on a more negative note"?
In writing when you want to discuss a subject's advantages and disadvantages and sometimes based on these you should express your own opinion(your agreement or disagreement), I saw two uses of
on a ...
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What does the phrase "About one stone" in response to the question "How have you changed over the years" mean?
Googling it didn't seem to lend any results except the unrelated killing two birds, etc, stuff.
Edit: In Berkshire Hathaway's 1995 annual meeting at 1:04:54 (or second occurence of the word "...
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What is the etymology of the phrase "see what one had for breakfast"?
This phrase is usually referred to women who (accidentally?) reveals more than intended because of such as wearing a short skirt or falling over and having their clothes flip over and thus reveal ...
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Had rather; grammar explanation
In the Iliad (translated by Samuel Butler) I have lit upon the phrase had rather here:
But the son of Peleus again began railing at the son of Atreus, for he was still in a rage. "Wine-bibber,&...
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What Summer Does the “Summer of Xy Year” Refer To?
If someone says "the summer of senior year", are they referring to the summer before senior year, where the student was a rising senior, or are they referring to the summer after graduation, ...
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What is the meaning of "As bare as a bird’s tail?"
I initially found it in a 17th century [English-Dutch Dictionary][1], page 37
I then found it in https://www.bartleby.com/
As bare as a bird’s tail. 1361
Twelve Mery Gestys of the Widow Edyth, 1525, ...
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A word for “the piece that was missing.”
I’m looking for a word or short phrase in any language that means the piece that was missing, or the thing that was missing. Like, feeling whole. If you have a recipe and it’s missing one thing. Or a ...
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What is the meaning of "unpopular opinion"? [closed]
Please make me understand in easy words that what is the exact meaning of "unpopular opinion". Provide sone example please.
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True Meaning of "Positive change is but a thought away."
I would like to know what the following sentence means.
Positive change is but a thought away.
I know that the sentence is the same as "Positive change is only a thought away." However, I ...
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What's the Meaning of the Aphorism "Contemporaries live from second hand to mouth"?
What's the meaning of the following aphorism by Karl Kraus:
Contemporaries live from second hand to mouth.
Source: Half-Truths and One-and-a-Half Truths
Just to clarify, I know the meaning of "...
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What does "what man soever offendeth" mean?
What does the following sentence mean?
He shall be punished, what man soever offendeth.
(It is from the Internet site The Forest of Rhetoric silva rhetoricae.)
I have a feeling that this means "...
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Meaning of the phrase “not this little black duck”?
What does the phrase “not this little black duck” mean? I know it’s common among Australian people but I am not sure what does it mean.
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come a long way
I understand the phrase "come a long way" to mean to make a lot of improvement, but in this context, what does it mean?
69' The hosts are putting a bit of pressure on. Another deep free-...
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Too many engineers in the caboose
One of my bosses mentioned this phrase the other day:
Too many engineers in the caboose
I discovered the meaning of caboose today (Fourgon-frein), but for some reason searching for the phrase on ...
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What is the meaning for the sentence: "I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite variety"?
I did understand the words word by word but how do they make up a meaningful sentence is too much for me. I am quoting from the Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Empty House, by Arthur Conan Doyle:
I ...
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What does "rule" mean in "the rule of law"?
What does rule mean in the rule of law? I understand the concept of it, but not the grammar. Does "rule" mean "control"/"domination"? Or does it mean "rule" as ...
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How does "on one's case" get its meaning?
I just met this sentence "Your brother is constantly on your case for being clumsy, so when he knocks down a table filled with glassware, you revel in it".
I don't know why the phrase means &...
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Meaning of "The press of duties"
What's the meaning of the phrase "The press of his duties meant"?
Though he was an occasional participant in the PDB sessions with President Lincoln, the press of his duties meant that ...
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Name for purposefully bad gifts [duplicate]
Is there a name or phrase for a purposefully bad/evil gift? I can think of white elephant or gag gifts but I don't think either of these quite work. For example, you purposely purchased a CD of an ...
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