every important honor within their gift

[Osya Bender]

NOW
6. : at the time under consideration : at the time referred to
the people now proceeded to give him almost every important honor within their gift — E.M.Coulter

MW

1)Does every refer to people, or to honor ?
2)Does to give important honor within their gift mean "to give honor in such measure as the gift being given allows"?

Thanks.

 

[probus]

1. Every refers to honor.

2. "Within their gift" means "within their power to bestow." So in the UK for example, the elevation of persons to knighthood or to the peerage is within the gift of the sovereign only; in other words only the queen can currently bestow such honours.

 

[Osya Bender]

1. Every refers to honor.

In this case the sentence seems a bit strange to me.
Should I read it as: "the people proceeded to give him important honor, but there also were people who gave him not such important honor as most people did"? (or "there also was some honor, given by some people, that was not such important as the rest of the honor").

 

[probus]

Perhaps you are having trouble with the meaning of every.

"Every important honour" means the same as "all the important honours".

 

[BobK]

:up: Another possible problem word is 'honour' - which doesn't refer here to 'being recognized as virtuous/honourable' in the sense that one can speak of 'a family's honour' (meaning its good reputation. 'The honours mentioned are positions or reasons for wielding influence.

b

 

[SoothingDave]

This use of "gift" must be BrE only. I've never heard this.

 

[BobK]

This use of "gift" must be BrE only. I've never heard this.

'In my gift' is an easy one! You ain't heard nothin' yet. ;-) What about 'in my bailiwick'?

b

 

[5jj]

This use of "gift" must be BrE only. I've never heard this.

It seems so. There are only four relevant citations in COCA, and 22 in the (much smaller) BNC.

 

[SoothingDave]

'In my gift' is an easy one! You ain't heard nothin' yet. ;-) What about 'in my bailiwick'?

b

Now, that one I have heard. And used.

 

[Osya Bender]

Thanks all.
No, I'm afraid the problem is neither "every" nor "honour", but "almost". That's what I meant when posted #3:roll:. I still don't understand what the author meant by this word.

 

[5jj]

'Almost' means what it normally does.

They gave him almost every honour, but not actually every honour. Perhaps they gave him 95% of the honours that were in their gift.

 

[Osya Bender]

But what could be the reason for not giving every honour?
Each person gives one honour, right? So, 5% of the people didn't give the honour. Or I've misunderstood?

 

[5jj]

But what could be the reason for not giving every honour?

Perhaps one of the honours in their gift was reserved for women, or one-legged people, or for specific deeds of valour. Perhaps they didn't want to overdo things. You'd have to ask the people.

Each person gives one honour, right?

Wrong. The people as a whole awarded 95% of the honours available.

 

[Osya Bender]

Perhaps one of the honours in their gift was reserved for women, or one-legged people, or for specific deeds of valour. Perhaps they didn't want to overdo things. You'd have to ask the people.Wrong. The people as a whole awarded 95% of the honours available.

Maybe I really don't understand the meaning of the "honor"
So, I've seen in dictionaries this:

honour
RESPECT
1. uncountable
great respect and admiration for sb

Is that the same meaning as in the sentence?
But the honor in your explanation and in the original sentence looks like a countable noun. So I'm not sure I see correctly the meaning of it.

 

[SoothingDave]

In this case "honor" is not about the individual feelings of each person, but rather more tangible "honors" bestowed upon people.

They might throw him a parade, or a special banquet. Maybe the Queen knights him or the President gives him a medal. Maybe everyone in town lets him take 15 items through the "10 items or less" checkout at the supermarket.

When someone is "honored" like this it is not about how individual people feel. It is that the general appreciation society has is shown through things like I have mentioned.

 

[Esredux]

Maybe I really don't understand the meaning of the "honor"

Is that the same meaning as in the sentence?
But the honor in your explanation and in the original sentence looks like a countable noun. So I'm not sure I see correctly the meaning of it.

Would it help to say in your initial sentence the word 'honour' is more likely to be rendered into Russian as a plural noun?

 

[Jaskin]

hi,
Please note I'm not a teacher nor a native speaker;

I manage to dig out the wider context of that sentence. I hope it might help. link

Regards

 

[Osya Bender]

I hope I've understood it. But I'm not sure in the "dictionary meaning" of this word.
Am I right that the meaning of it is

RESPECT [uncountable] the respect that you, your family, your country etc receive from other people, which makes you feel proud

but this respect was expressed in "pleasant" things. E.g: people elected him governor (they gave what they could "within their gift") ?

 

[5jj]

I hope I've understood it. But I'm not sure in the "dictionary meaning" of this word.
Am I right that the meaning of it is

RESPECT [uncountable] the respect that you, your family, your country etc receive from other people, which makes you feel proud

but this respect was expressed in "pleasant" things. E.g: people elected him governor (they gave what they could "within their gift") ?

No

If you do not read and think about some of the responses you have received in this thread before you post your next question, I shall simply close the thread.

 

[Osya Bender]

No

If you do not read and think about some of the responses you have received in this thread before you post your next question, I shall simply close the thread.

Are you a teacher? So, I think, you should be patient with learners who proved not to be such "clever" ones as you expected. It's wrong to accuse me of not reading previous posts when I just have not understood something. Instead of accusing me you could just answer my question #18 (e.g. to show the relevant dictionary definition).