Questions tagged [phrase-meaning]
Use this tag for questions about the meaning and usage of a particular phrase, for which a dictionary cannot answer.
0
votes
1answer
15 views
It's permissible VS It's permitted
Do the phrases
It's permissible
It's permitted
mean exactly the same?
It is permissible to edit the source code
It is permitted to edit the source code
Do the two phrases above ...
2
votes
1answer
28 views
What does “have a shifty at” mean?
‘Well, Molly, I'm pretty sure this is a boggart,’ said Sirius, peering through the keyhole, ‘but perhaps we ought to let Mad-Eye have a shifty at it before we let it out — knowing my mother, it could ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
What does “go down on the price” mean?
See this conversation:
B: This t.v is $2500.
A: You can't be serious.
B: That's how much this t.v costs.
A: That's too expensive for me.
B: This television is of very high ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Meaning of “He could always use a bit of extra money” in the context below
Phoebus started walking toward the bridge
where he planned to meet Esmeralda. Soon he
noticed a dark figure creeping behind him in
the shadows.
“Who’s there?” he called.
Claude Frollo, his ...
1
vote
1answer
20 views
itself vs very [difference]
Below are two variants of a conversation about e.g. some rule:
Initial statement:
His understanding of the rule is wrong.
Reply 1:
Not just his understanding, but the rule itself is wrong.
...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
meaning of “the scale still hunched and human” and 3 other phrases
I am reading the book "Aloft" By ChangeRae Lee, and I have the questions of the following 3 phrases.
be exactly in your own skin
the scale still hunched and human
putting on a serious buzz
in a rope ...
2
votes
1answer
22 views
What does the speaker imply in “piecrust collar” and “smell of horse”?
I could not understand the implication in this sentence, especially the "piecrust collars and smell of horse". I am totally lost! Could anyone help please?
The context is :
Will (a quadriplegic in ...
0
votes
1answer
15 views
What's the meaning of keep up-to-date in context?
The point is that debt payments — interest and repayments of the
original loan — are easier to keep up-to-date for borrowers with a
rising income.
Source: BBC
My problem is with the phrase "keep ...
1
vote
1answer
24 views
What is the meaning of “co-opted” in this sentence?
I am reading Anthology for Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, and on page 173 I get stuck in understanding this sentence:
In some cases national and political connotations were an ...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
Is “I grant you” more condescending than “I give you”?
I wonder if, for American native English speakers, it is more condescending to use "I grant you" than "I give you"? (I raised my question this way just to make it specific; I do not have a ...
1
vote
1answer
17 views
How to understand “you've had it bad” in this context?
‘Personally, I'd have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, ...
0
votes
1answer
32 views
Meaning of “ Welcome to it” in this context
But then he smiled and stood up. “Wait! I
forgot about our custom! We never hang a
man until the women have been given a
chance to marry him. This way, ladies! A
husband for free! Who wants ...
0
votes
2answers
20 views
Where are you flying vs flying to
Can someone help me understand the correct grammar please?
Where are you flying or where are you flying to?
0
votes
0answers
24 views
The symbol is a weak symbol that has not been specifically tagged as a weak object symbol
What does the sentence
The symbol is a weak symbol that has not been specifically tagged as a weak object symbol.
mean? What is the purpose of "specifically" here?
This is from nm's ...
1
vote
2answers
35 views
Meaning of “Out for revenge”
Claude Frollo had always stayed away from
women. But now he seemed to hate them—
especially gypsy women. He had asked the
bishop to forbid gypsies from dancing in the
square. He was outraged ...
0
votes
1answer
19 views
Meaning of the sentence in bold
Claude threw himself into caring for little
Jehan. He was more than a brother to the
baby—he was the child’s mother and father!
He had been taking care of Jehan for about
a year when he heard ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
Meaning of phrase “the day it is due”
You should probably start writing your essay on "To Kill a Mockingbird" sometime before the bus ride to school the day it is due.
I can't understand the last part of sentence "the day it is due"
...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
“Love for rent” does this phrase have two meanings?
"Love for rent" could mean two things:
That love is available for rent.
The love for renting things.
Am I right with my interpretation? Which interpretation is more likely to be chosen?
2
votes
1answer
26 views
What does “by some margin” mean?
I found this.
China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner by some margin.
That means the trading amount is nearly 0?
1
vote
1answer
27 views
Meaning of screaming bundle
Indeed, it was not a newborn baby. It was
a twitching mass of humanity in a canvas bag.
The head peeping out was very disfigured!
There was a forest of red hair, one eye, a
mouth, and a few ...
1
vote
2answers
39 views
I want to know the meaning of “Anyone who chose to could take them away”
Some 16 years before Esmeralda married
Gringoire, a child had been left at Notre
Dame Cathedral. To the left of the great
church’s front door was a wooden bed sealed
in the pavement. It was ...
1
vote
1answer
26 views
Best X and Y vs. Best X and Best Y
Came across a place with the name Best Bagel and Coffee. This naturally brought up a debate on the following, does "Best X and Y" mean:
We have the best X AND best Y
We have the best X, and also we ...
0
votes
2answers
27 views
How to understand “got a good bit of use out of them”
‘Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see,’ said Ron. ‘They're really useful.’
‘Extendable—?’
‘Ears, yeah. Only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum
found out and went ...
0
votes
2answers
30 views
meaning of “all got in on the fun”
At last the play began again, but the
audience had lost interest. One man shouted,
“People of Paris! This play is not amusing.
Nothing happens! I thought we were going to
select the Pope of ...
2
votes
1answer
37 views
What does “white and pink” mean?
What does “white and pink” mean here? Is it like “black and white” as in “I have a cat. Its color is black and white” or are they actually two colors?
0
votes
3answers
37 views
“First page” or “Page one” for SEO ranking?
SEO is Search Engine Optimization.
I want to ask a simple question from this domain.
My website is "First Page" on Google.
Or
My website is "Page One" on Google.
Which one of these is right?
1
vote
1answer
33 views
What does “stand up to” mean in this sentence?
I don't quite understand the meaning of "stand up to" in this passage:
Still others, Horn says, insist the saying is a melding of "spirit and image," as in "he's the very spirit and image of his ...
6
votes
1answer
590 views
How to parse “As for the philosophical content explicitly picks over in the film’s dialogue”?
I can't parse the first clause of this sentence.
As for the philosophical content explicitly picks over in the film’s dialogue, it’s something for the viewer to digest, but it all seems a little ...
1
vote
2answers
29 views
What does the two “have had it”s mean respectively in this context?
‘You heard me—OUT!’ Uncle Vernon bellowed, and even Aunt Petunia and Dudley jumped. ‘OUT! OUT! I should've done this years ago! Owls treating the place like a rest home, puddings exploding, half the ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
What's the difference between “keeping hope” and “keeping good hope”?
What's the difference between "keeping hope" and "keeping good hope"? I heard both, but unlike in case of the difference between "faith" and "good faith", the latter of which doesn't even imply faith, ...
0
votes
1answer
18 views
Is the phrase “to do a surgery on” feasible?
I would like to ask if saying (figuratively) something like "We can do a surgery on this object so that ...". My question is about the phrase "to do a surgery on"; does that make sense to American ...
2
votes
1answer
24 views
Meaning of “… those who call the time to them or other things connected therewith?” [closed]
We will not [says Socrates] then allow our charges, whom we expect to prove good men, being men, to play the parts of women and imitate a woman young or old wrangling with her husband, defying heaven, ...
4
votes
1answer
572 views
Meaning of “for while knowledge”
We will not [says Socrates] then allow our charges, whom we
expect to prove good men, being men, to play the parts of
women and imitate a woman young or old wrangling with
her husband, defying ...
1
vote
2answers
33 views
Meaning of the sentence in bold is unclear to me
We will not [says Socrates] then allow our charges, whom we
expect to prove good men, being men, to play the parts of
women and imitate a woman young or old wrangling with
her husband, defying ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
“Get out of that one” meaning in this context?
The Dursleys goggled at him for a few seconds, then Aunt Petunia said, ‘You're a nasty little liar. What are all those—’ she, too, lowered her voice so that Harry had to lip-read the next word, ‘—owls ...
3
votes
1answer
208 views
Meaning of “classic condemnation” [closed]
One trouble with pretending to be someone or something
else is that there is no stopping it. For Plato, the act of pretending
rapidly runs down through a sexist chain of being from
men to women ...
1
vote
1answer
25 views
“ten minutes out”
There is a scene in the movie Drinking Buddies where Gene and Luke are talking in a bar.
Gene: I've been ten minutes out since I got here. I had one of these, and then I said, "I'm gonna have one ...
2
votes
2answers
30 views
A boy didn't read every book
In my opinion, "A boy didn't read every book"is ambiguous, it can express"a boy didn't read any book" or "Not every book were read by the boy".Am I right?
2
votes
2answers
330 views
Meaning of “is at two removes”
In the Republic, poetry is condemned and the poets exiled just
because poetry is a successful “imitation.” Imitation is bad for
two reasons. For one thing, it is secondary, derived, not the
real ...
0
votes
2answers
22 views
What does “bleached out” mean in this context?
Against a blue background the white fairytale castle logo of Walt Disney Pictures. The castle is bleached out by a white flash, and an arc of light encircles it. (source)
This is a line from a ...
1
vote
2answers
28 views
Meaning of “referral for treatment”
From a description of a clinical study:
Of the 12 patients with CFD, 10 showed improvement after referral for treatment with folinic acid (1-2 mg/kg/day) for at least 6 weeks (range, 6-79 weeks) ...
2
votes
1answer
24 views
How to understand “survive contact with” in this context?
As the closest bead of light moved nearer to Harry's wand tip, the wood beneath his fingers grew so hot he feared it would burst into flame. The closer that bead moved, the harder Harry's wand ...
1
vote
1answer
28 views
How to understand “Answer on your first guess” in this context
“You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me.”
“So…so will you move, please?” said Harry, knowing what the answer was
going to be.
“No,” she said, continuing to pace. “Not ...
2
votes
1answer
49 views
The phrase “regular of bowel”?
I unintentionally noticed that, in a TV sitcom series, the phrase "regular of bowel" was used. According to the translation subtitles, it means something like having a kind heart or willing to help. ...
1
vote
1answer
20 views
“on a simplistic level” meaning
Can anybody help me with meaning of "on a simplistic level", for example in:
People travel more. What are the causes?
The reasons are many and varied. On a simplistic level, there are a larger ...
1
vote
1answer
20 views
What does “crank me up to nine” mean in this Seinfeld monologue?
"crank me up to nine" is around 18~19s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aiFh4VR448
Full script:
The cosmetic surgery procedures
that are available to people
today--
Liposuction,
are you ...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
What does “precious cache” mean?
This is the sentence before the one that I am asking about:
If we broke open all their newest phones, which are just a fraction of the total that’ve been built, and split them into their component ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
“that's the case”, “that's the fact” and 'that's the truth".
A: I am sure we didn't make a mistake at all ,dealing with the complaining customer.
B: Well, if that's the case and why are we being warned about this?
Q: In the above sentence, What' the ...
-2
votes
2answers
76 views
Meaning of “Russian tradition” [closed]
James's prefaces to the New York edition of his work (1907-9) offer plain-speech terms like "picture," "scene," and "center of consciousness" to describe the compositional effects he most valued. This ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
What does “half glance” mean in this context?
The grin vanished from Fred's face. Harry saw George half glance at Fred, before smiling at Ron.
I'm not sure what "half glance" means exactly. I guess it just means to take a very quick glance. Is ...
