New answers tagged meaning-in-context
3
That's a common phrase in football. The meaning might not be obvious at first, but once you understand it it's actually quite a literal description. It describes a type of pass typically played towards a team mate who is already running.
Instead of being passed directly towards the player's feet, the ball is passed into empty space ahead of the player, at ...
0
In general the metaphors they use are not extremely well thought out, so it is pretty hard to decipher an exact meaning from them. That is mostly due to their conversation being live and unscripted but... As a native speaker, here is my interpretation:
For more context, the section of the video the speakers are discussing how they think so much of a ...
2
"Earliest" means the most early, hence would refer to the first of your paintings.
"Earlier" means the early ones, without a specific timestamp, so it would refer to any of your previous paintings.
Hence, earliest would describe those paintings perfectly, without any doubt of the time-of-their-making in the audience's mind.
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Usually, "Holding on" means being mentally in-control, or for dealing with difficult situation.
But, as Marling is using it for photography, it might mean that, through the photos, people tend to capture the moment, and try to grasp (hold) it forever, as now it will be with them forever.
Now they will always be able to hold onto the memory that they were ...
1
"Staying closer to home" is simply what you do when not going away for a holiday/vacation, but still taking the time off from school/work. It does not imply that the person is at home the whole time, or even in their neighborhood the whole time.
It is an extremely relative term and can change meaning based on the context:
A mom saying "stay close to home"...
1
The idea is probably that they were petty criminals, with low rank and status within whatever formal or informal criminal hierarchy existed locally. (That hierarchy would be the "team" that the metaphor implies.) The author might also be implying that their direct involvement in serious criminal activity (beyond illegal gambling and the like) was only ...
1
This is not really about English, but rather more about how the role of women has been historically perceived in certain European societies. There is a kind of romantic notion of certain women who acted as as healers by collecting natural remedies and dispensing advice, in order to minister to the sick and injured who would otherwise have had no access to ...
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What the author actually said was, "the persecution and massacre of women who were healers". If he had meant to characterize all women as "healers", he likely would have used the present tense, "women, who are healers."
I think he is referring to a specific subset of women who were engaged literally in healing diseases. When he mentions the "persecution and ...
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I believe it means that so-called "wise-women" or "herb-women" who offered herbal mixtures for various diseases were thought less of than formally qualified doctors (more often male), and in some places were legally prohibited, with a requirement for a medical license to offer treatment to others. mid-wives who were not formally qualified had similar legal ...
2
In this context slightly offset means slightly to one side as opposed to directly behind.
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To say that one "can't help" doing something means that she can't not do it – that is, she has to do it or must do it. Here, that expression is used in a rhetorical question. "How could one help agreeing?" means "how could one disagree?," with the implication that one couldn't possibly disagree (because the logic underlying Stolkin's assertion is irrefutable)...
1
No, it doesn't mean if you omit good things. The hint of what she means is earlier in the story, when she says:
"So many people visited, and the fireplace made all of them
want to tell amazing stories; the child who happened to be standing on the right corner when the door of the ice cream truck came open and hundreds of popsicles crashed out; he man ...
1
"Any life will seem dramatic if you omit mention of most of it."
She actually means: All lives have dramatic moments, leave out the boring parts.
The author is using irony, a typical literary device.
most of it=most of any life.
Merriam Webster definition of irony:
Irony | Definition of Irony by Merriam-Webster
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/...
1
It seems like "give/grant eligibility" is what is confusing you.
eligibility (n): the fact of being allowed to do or receive something because you satisfy certain conditions:
A "grants eligibility" for B, if A satisfies the conditions for B.
"Granting eligibility to apply" is a participle phrase that modified the noun "degree". It is the same grammar ...
0
1A. Some people value the beliefs in respect.
1B. Some people value respect beliefs
Neither of these is correct, adn i am not at all sure what the intended meaning is. It might be:
Some people value respecting the beliefs of others.
2A. The president gave him an approval to the policy.
2B. The president gave him a policy approval
2A is ...
1
The term "homology" is not at all common, but its definition is based on common Greek roots. It is the noun form of the slightly more common term "homologous":
homologous (adj): having the same position, value, structure, etc.," 1650s, from Latinized form of Greek homologos "agreeing, of one mind," from homos "same" + logos "relation, reasoning, ...
2
(This answer describes British usage: American usage may be different).
For collectives generally, if what you are saying is true of the collective as a whole, then use the singular: The infantry is made up of many separate units.
If what you are saying is true of the individuals in the collective, then British usage prefers a plural: The infantry are ...
1
Yes, you are correct that the passage means, "one bit [of the sand] was glinting (sparkling) more than the rest [of the sand]", and of course that bit was the diamond, not sand.
But the specific phrase, "one bit glinting more than the rest", is just a literal description of the way the event happened. The story, taken as a whole, is about the extra meaning ...
0
First of all, "Dahl" is Roald Dahl and this refers to his story "Lamb to the Slaughter", included in Tales of the Unexpected. (I recognized it just from what was included in the question.)
In a literary context an "offering" is a published work by an author, the metaphor is that it is being offered to the public or to an audience. This word is usually used ...
0
The quote indeed does not have a verb, but there is an implied "This is a" and so "is" would be the verb. The sentence before this is:
Wife kills husband with leg of lamb, then disposes of the weapon by feeding it to the cops
The first clause also has deleted "the" from in front of "wife" and "husband", as well as "a" in front of leg of lamb.
This ...
2
From Merriam-Webster:
b. computers : to cause (something, such as a file or picture) to appear on a computer screen.
Both bring up and pull up are frequently used in this context.
For example, from a blog post about using the Microsoft Windows on-screen keyboard:
On Windows 10 and 8, there are actually two on-screen keyboards: the basic ...
2
Although there are numerous possibly meanings for "charge", the meaning in both of your example sentences is the same, "to ask/demand someone to pay money for some service".
In the first sentence, when private banks borrow money from the Federal Reserve Bank (which is more or less the National Bank of the United States), the Fed charges them some interest ...
0
Make sure you are on solid ground with your argument / view-point, before challenging someone elses, otherwise you will both be incorrect.
Basically - make sure that you are not also a fool - otherwise you will be two fools arguing with each other!
3
The first meaning perfectly fits, as you've already deducted.
Waits muttered the joke on Norman Lear’s television show Fernwood 2 Night in 1977, but he didn’t come up with it.
This simply means that even though the joke in question was mentioned on the show by Waits, it was not his own creation, i.e., Waits did not think of the joke, someone else did. He ...
0
Would you like to make an appointment with Dr Smith on the first of February?
"No that doesn't work ... how about ~~"
saying "that's not fine" here would be inappropriate. It would give the impression that you think the speaker is trying to force you to have an appointment on February 1st against your will.
I forgot your note book today. I will bring ...
3
Pomo is an informal abbreviation here for post-modern or post-modernist. Postmodernism is a highly flexible and widely misused term that refers to various trends in criticism, philosophy, the arts, and other areas of culture rejecting objectivity and universalism in notions of beauty, truth, morality, progress, and so on, in a rejection of modernism.
The ...
1
The ODE gives the meaning of threaten as state one’s intention to take hostile action against someone in retribution for something done or not done. In this case, President Trump has indicated that tariffs will be imposed on Mexico if the Mexican government does not take appropriate and effective steps to reduce migrant transit of Mexico to the US ...
0
These are NOT two versions of the same thing.
The first emphasises that the person couldn't possibly be an better (at a particular thing)
The second is much more metaphorical. It can be used in so many situations, but I'm struggling to come up with a good example.
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The phrase is being used to set up a quote. It tells the reader in advance who heard the quote, when and where it was said, who said it, what/who it was about, and then finally what the actual quote is.
Speaking to a group of donors and lobbyists in Washington on Monday night,
Informs us who the quote was said to, when, and where.
Joe Biden said this
...
1
I graduated with a degree in Spanish Education in October. I started classes in December.
I have devised a new structure for computer training. I started classes in December.
In both cases the context makes it clear that the speaker is teaching classes, not taking them. But in the absence of such context "I started classes" usually means taking them, ...
2
In the example sentence, "forever" modifies "changed".
If the word "forever" were omitted, it would be likely that subsequent change(s) (after 1926) might undo the change:
In 1926, the human conception of the universe changed.
With the word "forever", the sentence claims that no subsequent change(s) will ever undo the change. The sentence implies that ...
0
"Ebbs and flows" are the tides, which were known to follow the moon.
The last part "And deal in her command without her power" is cryptic to a modern reader. An analysis suggests that "her" refers to the moon (not the witch) and it means that the witch could control the tides, even without the authority from the moon.
However few modern speakers will be ...
2
I lived here for two years.
Means you lived there in the past and do not anymore.
I had lived here for two years...
You are right that this could indicate you still live there. If you said "I had lived here for two years when my brother came to visit", you are talking about how long you had been there up until a fixed point in time. You may still live ...
0
"Ebbs and flow is an idiom which means : "to decrease and then increase, as with tides"
One of the main reasons of translation is usually to make the text easily understandable by the reader, hence they used the explanation rather than the exact phrase.
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"It" is "A small group of citizens". After "has" could be "changed the world".
An expanded form of the sentence would read:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world; indeed, a small group of thoughtful citizens is the only thing that ever has changed the world."
Neat quote. Why is it not expanded? For redundancy, and ...
1
To "weigh [something] down" means to put a weight on top of it to push it down.
In your game, if a spear is triggered by the weight being applied to a "pressure plate" on the floor, then having a weight on it continuously could prevent a spear being triggered when the player walks across it.
0
It's the simple meanings of the words.
If they "reduce the importance" of something it used to be important, and now it is less so.
2
The key phrase is "health and science" rather than "AP's health". From the context, the Associated Press produces content related to health and science, which the article is calling "health and science reporting." So, from the context, the author is disclosing a possible conflict of interest: Someone receives money from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in ...
0
It's a bit weird that you would pull out those three words and as how to parse them. The phrase "eager to appear popular" is an attributive adjective phrase that modifies "teens". "accept" is a verb that has "teens eager to appear popular" as its subject and "friends" as its object. "that they don't really know" is then a subordinate clause that modifies "...
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You are parsing it incorrectly.
The relevant phrase is not popular accept friends but eager to appear popular.
Look at it this way:
The danger comes when teens eager to appear popular accept friends that they don’t really know and post too much information thinking that only their friends will see their page.
The sentence could be rephrased in a couple ...
1
"the fabric of space/time" is a very grand thing. Perhaps, the grandest thing in physics as it is about things being held together in the universe. One cannot actually "insult" the fabric of space/time.
Here, the author is using hyperbole (exaggeration).a common literary device, to make his point.
The character was "missing meetings and deadlines" as if ...
1
This a rather hyperbolic use of a metaphor. One meaning of [insult](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insult} is "injury to the body or one of its parts". This meaning is normally confined to medical contexts. Here it is first being extended to a very general context, and then used in a figurative way. The suggestion seems to be that "meetings and ...
1
CED
Stuff:
informal a substance, especially when you do not know or say exactly what it is:
There's sticky stuff all over the chair.
What's this black stuff?
He drinks gallons of tea - he loves the stuff.
informal things that someone says or does, when you are referring to them in a general ...
-2
What follows "where" is a description of the actual look, what he saw when he looked at her.
If you say "when" you are describing the actions leading up to a new look that happened after they had taken place. For example "Sometimes his wife got this look of anger when she pinched her brows together and bit her lower lip and stared down at something.
The ...
1
Seconds later, or so it seemed to Harry...
is equivalent to:
Seconds later, according to Harry's perceptions...
or:
It seemed to Harry that seconds later...
0
I think, from the context, that this does means literally, as opposed to being an idiom:
Throw (propel (something) with force through the air by a movement of the arm and hand) a pallet (a flat wooden structure that heavy goods are put onto so that they can be moved using a fork-lift truck) at Jean Clark.
CED
Do you have the source? The final line ...
2
Both are correct. It depends on what you are trying to say.
"The other" implies that there are already exactly 23 other speeches prepared.
"Another" implies that there could be any number more speeches and you are prepared to listed to only (or up to) 23 more.
Please also note that your title and main text do not align.
We are prepared to hear ...
1
I think the issue here is the punctuation.
The danger comes when teens, eager to appear popular, accept friends that they don’t really know and post too much information thinking that only their friends will see their page.
I.e. you can remove the following phrase and it should now make more sense:
The danger comes when teens accept friends that they ...
1
Your understanding of the sentence is correct as is your reasoning!
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To short circuit here is something like 'to zero out', to vanish - by analogy with electricity, where voltage turns into zero at short circuiting. The other phrase has its literal meaning.
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