3
votes
Accepted
with all its pastures worn out
It means 1 - the pastures would no longer support a useful growth.
See soil exhaustion :
soil exhaustion
3
votes
Accepted
Keep on eye vs Keep an eye on
"Keep on eye on" is not correct. It's a typo, either for "keep an eye on" or possibly "keep one eye on".
3
votes
Accepted
What does "put on" mean in this context?
That's correct. 'organize' is what this would mean in this context.
3
votes
Accepted
complaining to anyone who would listen OF the monstrous injustice
You're parsing the sentence incorrectly.
Mr. Jones is complaining of the monstrous injustice.
Who is he complaining to? to anyone who would listen.
The phrasing of the sentence is a little confusing ...
2
votes
"Move up, John, and let her sit down." (What's the meaning of 'up'?)
"Up" doesn't always mean upwards, ie to a higher altitude. We commonly use "up" to mean "forwards", and also to mean "north".
For example, when travelling ...
1
vote
Accepted
Clarity on the use and meaning of kick in
As you've already found out, the definition of "kicked in" doesn't make sense in that sentence, but there is some old slang that might explain why the author used it:
kick in
Contribute ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
Related Tags
phrasal-verbs × 966prepositions × 124
difference × 93
meaning × 91
meaning-in-context × 89
phrase-meaning × 68
word-usage × 67
verbs × 65
word-choice × 50
phrase-usage × 50
idioms × 34
grammar × 33
word-meaning × 26
vocabulary × 24
adverbs × 22
phrases × 20
sentence-construction × 19
word-request × 18
sentence-meaning × 17
phrase-request × 17
phrase-choice × 17
usage × 16
word-order × 16
prepositional-phrases × 16
expressions × 12