OY: A break in the action. Contronyms. . .

[huskyd]

This has been fun, as intended, for participants and, I hope, for our indulgent viewers as well. Now I urge we cease posting in this fun thread by end of today (Thursday) so we can focus on our UConn Huskies.

PS I have new ideas -- more inclusive, I hope -- for the next "break in the action."

What "UConn Huskies"? Oy.

 

[Bigpetunia]

I used to do a lot of work with metallurgy, in the context of which the word "temper" was consistently used to harden, as in " let 's temper that stainless steel wire before we use it," while, conversely, one may "temper," or soften, or moderate one's feelings about a given subject.

 

[JRRRJ]

A couple more:

take. a) steal; b) earn. Did he take all the money? What was the take for last night?
handicap. a) advantage; b) disadvantage. What's your golf handicap? His limited mobility is a handicap.​

Have to disagree with the second, Kib. Your golf handicap is your average disadvantage vs. par, usually multiplied by a factor.

Oops! Sorry, UC.

 

[JRRRJ]

alarm: 1. warning, 2. surprise. Air-raid sirens used to be part of the early-warning alarm system. The crowd shrieked in alarm when the firecracker exploded.

 

[JRRRJ]

. . . are words that have two opposite meanings. Here are a few:

with. a) alongside; b) against. America fought with England against Germany. Germany fought with France.
.
.
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Now your turn. I challenge Boneyarders to respond by posting two contronyms, following the format I used, above. Better yet, police yourselves by commenting on submissions of others. And have fun, please.

GO!​

spike: a) send down b) send up; He spiked the ball into the ground after the touchdown. His temperature spiked to 102.

 

[Bestiarius]

Why are so many car wrecks caused by reckless people?

 

[Aluminny69]

In honor of UConn football:

Rent: To purchase use of something, or to sell use: Will you rent me your apartment? Yes, I will rent it to you.

 

[Kibitzer]

In honor of UConn football:

Rent: To purchase use of something, or to sell use: Will you rent me your apartment? Yes, I will rent it to you.

Good catch! I had a sneaky suspicion there was yet another meaning for rent (excuse the pun) so I confess -- I looked it up.

VOILA! "Rent" is also the past participle of the verb rend, which means to tear something apart, violently -- sort of like shredding on steroids.

"All the documents had been rent by vandals."

 

[Aluminny69]

In honor of UConn football:

Rent: To purchase use of something, or to sell use: Will you rent me your apartment? Yes, I will rent it to you.

Ugh! I don't like my example, let me try again: Tenant: Can I rent your apartment? Landlord: Yes, I will rent it to you. ( That sounds better.)

 

[Kibitzer]

Ugh! I don't like my example, let me try again: Tenant: Can I rent your apartment? Landlord: Yes, I will rent it to you. ( That sounds better.)

Yup, it does sound better, but to pick a nit, consider using rent once as a noun (i.e., "I paid the rent.") instead of twice as a verb. I promise -- no more quibbling by me.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Or:

Rent: a) to tear off clothes in anguish. The stricken Baylor coach rent her garments when the call went against her team. b) to put on clothes temporarily leased from another party. I rent a Scarlet Knights sweatshirt from a Rutgers fan to go with my Husky cap so I won't be knee-capped when I enter the RAC.

Also just read that clothes were a symbol of truth back in Biblical times, which is why the old time prophets rent their clothes as a symbol that the truth had been destroyed in their bad times, sort of like throwing a shoe nowadays. I guess they hadn't heard of the emperor's clothes kind of stuff way back then.

 

[JRRRJ]

Yup, it does sound better, but to pick a nit, consider using rent once as a noun (i.e., "I paid the rent.") instead of twice as a verb. I promise -- no more quibbling by me.

OK. As a noun.

rent a) income from use of an item b) payment for use of an item: The rent I get for the apartment pays the rent on my Tesla S.

I thought your original solicitation implied the part of speech should be the same for both meanings -- the meaning of "meaning" becomes fuzzy if that's not the case. Also note the meaning of the word "rent" is not actually different in the above -- the oppositeness of the direction of monetary flow is specified by the context.

 

[HuskyNan]

OK. As a noun.

rent a) income from use of an item b) payment for use of an item: The rent I get for the apartment pays the rent on my Tesla S.

I thought your original solicitation implied the part of speech should be the same for both meanings -- the meaning of "meaning" becomes fuzzy if that's not the case. Also note the meaning of the word "rent" is not actually different in the above -- the oppositeness of the direction of monetary flow is specified by the context.

"Those Kardashians, man, they're low rent"

As Samuel turned about to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his tunic, and it was torn off. And Samuel said unto him, Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from upon thee this day, and hath given it to thy companion. I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah hath rejected thee from being king over Israel (1 Sam. 15:26-28);

 

[Kibitzer]

OK. As a noun.

rent a) income from use of an item b) payment for use of an item: The rent I get for the apartment pays the rent on my Tesla S.

I thought your original solicitation implied the part of speech should be the same for both meanings -- the meaning of "meaning" becomes fuzzy if that's not the case. Also note the meaning of the word "rent" is not actually different in the above -- the oppositeness of the direction of monetary flow is specified by the context.

Point well made. Thanks. As you may recall, we started out seeking contronyms (i.e., words that have two meanings that are opposites). And we sailed along beautifully for quite a while, but this is the Boneyard, so once we got into the rent discussion we strayed off course a bit, climaxed by Nan's character assassination of a unique newsworthy family.

 

[Icebear]

Cleave.

 

[JRRRJ]

Sorry to resurrect a dead-ish thread, but I was out walking this morning and these popped into my head:

Normal 1) Departing from at a right angle 2) In the usual place: Jim Calhoun Way is normal to Hillside Road at Moriah's normal location.
Top 1) Reduce 2) Increase: Tommy topped 10 feet from the tree. Abby topped the old record by 10 seconds.