How many phraseological units do you know? Are their meanings clear and how many examples can you name?
There are more than one and a half thousand phraseological units in the Russian language. And these are only those that have been studied by linguists. Their diversity cannot be conveyed, because phraseological units are used in everyday situations, they denote character traits, weather conditions, and so on.
More often they use other terms to define this phenomenon - they are called idioms, which is partly true. An idiom is a kind of phraseological unit. This will be discussed a little later. Phraseologisms are often called winged expressions.
The well-known Russian literary critic Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky, who lived in the century before last, spoke about stable phrases. He called them the "physiognomy" of the Russian language. Also, in his understanding, phraseology is a speech tool that is unique.
In this article, you will add one more Russian set expression to your treasury of idioms - "a teaspoon per hour". We alsohave collected for you synonyms and antonyms of this phrase.
What is phraseologism?
So in linguistics they call stable expressions, the meaning of which is derived from the sum of all the words included in it. In other words, a phraseological unit conveys meaning only if its composition is not violated.
This phenomenon is different from simple phrases. Linguists identify a number of features by which they are usually distinguished. The most important is integrity. That very ability to function, i.e. to convey meaning in the language.
See for yourself with an example. In Russian, we know the idiom "hang your nose", which means "to be sad". He came to us from the world of music, where he was used in the direct meaning. "Hang your nose on a fifth" - that was the phrase. When playing, the violinists reached for the first string, fifth, nose, which created a sad look. Later, this statement turned into a phraseological unit, which acquired its current meaning on the basis of a metaphor. Its meaning is available to us from dictionaries, since the imagery has disappeared over time.
Types
It is customary to divide phraseological units into groups. There are rather fuzzy boundaries between these types, since this linguistic phenomenon is complex and inconsistent.
- The first group includes those very idioms in which the words are firmly "grown" to each other. They are called so - adhesions. An example of this type is "to beat the buckets".
- The second group has more free forms. Words are diluted with pronouns, adjectives, etc. From their fusiondistinguishes the presence of imagery. This type is called unities. An example of unity is the phrase "get into (someone's/your/fraudulent) networks".
- The third group contains free phraseological units. Their name is combinations. They contain words that behave freely and are subject to change. An example of this type of saying is "nemesis".
Meaning
Phraseologism "a teaspoon per hour" refers rather to unities. It has not lost its former imagery, so we don't even have to use a dictionary to roughly understand its meaning.
One of the meanings of phraseologism "a teaspoon per hour" is "act slowly". This is what mothers say to their children when they eat for a long time, get ready for school or do their homework.
Another meaning is "indecisively, with pauses". In this sense, the phrase is used when a person delays doing something for a long time.
And one more meaning of the phraseological unit "a teaspoon per hour" is an action performed with prescribed repetition. This phrase in this sense is appropriate to use if a person is forced to go to a specific authority, draw up documents, etc.
Origin
Phraseologism left the field of medicine and entered into speech with a different meaning, based on metaphor. Initially, they said, or rather, they wrote, "in an hour, a teaspoon." As you may have guessed, it was an ordinary prescription with indications for the use of the drug.
Here you get a prescription and you have to sit and watch the time. An hour seems like an eternity! It is precisely these sensations of the endlessness of a rather short period of time that formed the basis of the phraseological unit.
A teaspoon is also an element, thanks to which figurativeness is achieved. The thing is, this cutlery is small. An hour and a teaspoon together create the look of "doing a little bit and a long time".
Synonyms
"A teaspoon per hour" is not the only idiom that can be used to convey its meaning. Browse words and phrases with similar meanings and examples below.
Meaning "slow":
- "The dead hour". The most commonly used phraseological unit in this sense, which is associated with Russian clocks with a fight that appeared in the 16th century.
- "Turtle step". It means "a little bit" and is based on association (turtle - slowness). Example: "On vacation, time passed at a snail's pace."
- "Pull the wire". The last word was a thread made of metal, the manufacture of which was long and boring. Example: "Again you are pulling the wire! Finally do your homework and be free!"
- "How wet it burns." This rare phraseological unit best reveals its meaning in the context: "When I first came to the office, I tried to keep up with my colleagues, but in the end I did everything slowly, like a wet fire."
In the meaning of "repetition of action":
"To hit one spot". The expression is similar in meaning, but has a different connotation. Its meaning is "to repeat one action several times"
Antonyms
"A teaspoon per hour" in the meaning of "slowly" implies lexical units that are opposite in meaning. Check out some of them:
- "Headbreak". A well-known expression, because it is used most often. Derived from the Russian word "daredevil", which was used to call the brave.
- "At the speed of sound/light." It's also a very popular expression. Based on association (speed of sound/light - speed).
- "At full speed." The last word is a derivative of the adjective "nimble", which means "quick".
- "You won't even blink an eye/and look back".
- "By leaps and bounds". This is an interesting phraseological unit, directly opposed to the expression "a teaspoon per hour." In one word, you can convey the meaning like this: "super-fast".
Examples of usage
Phraseological units of the Russian language are inextricably linked with the culture of the people, including literature. Look through the quotes of different authors and try to trace the functioning of the phraseological unit:
- "The European market accepts it [Russian literature] a teaspoon per hour." The proposal is taken from the detective novel by V. RybakovGravilet Tsesarevich. This implies a long "acceptance" of Russian culture by Europeans in small portions.
- "Water flows through the pipes at the rate of a teaspoon per hour." From the work "New World" by S. Zalygin. The meaning of the phraseological unit "a teaspoon per hour" in this case is slowly. In this case, the action is not repeated, but proceeds without pauses.
- "Sun only in snatches per hour for a teaspoon." And here the action is repetitive. Meaning - a slow process that is reproduced at some intervals. The phrase sounds in the work of G. Alexandrov "The Age and Cinema".
