about the present participle

[Yoshihiro_1]

a dancing girl
1. a girl who dances (as an occupation)
2. a girl who is dancing
What does a dancing girl mean?

a running man
1. a man who runs (as an occupation)
2. a man who is running.
What does a running man mean?

a barking dog
1. a dog which (often) barks
2. a dog which is barking

a sleeping baby
1. a baby who sleeps (a lot)
2. a baby who is sleeping
What does a sleeping baby mean?

What does the Laughing Philosopher mean?

Thanks.

 

[5jj]

For the first four questions, the second response is the most likely, though only full context will make this certain.

For the laughing philosopher, see Democritus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[spongie]

...the second response is the mret likely...

What does this word mean?

 

[bhaisahab]

What does this word mean?

It's a typo.

 

[5jj]

It's a typo.

I coudl have sowrn I chcked that. ;-)

 

[Tdol]

Where more than one meaning is possible, context is the key.