flinch, unflinching, chaffinch, methane, thousands upon thousands, with head high

Art and Design

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  Alabama Sculpture Park Aims to Look at Slavery Without Flinching

• Tanya Chutkan, an Unflinching Judge in the Trump Jan. 6 Trial

  Judge Chutkan grew up in a prominent Jamaican family and has extensive trial experience. Now in the limelight, she shows no sign of being intimidated.

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• Joan Semmel Takes an Unflinching View of Her Own Body

In the past five years, three million of Venezuela’s thirty-two million people have fled the country. More than half of all Venezuelans lack enough food to meet their daily needs.


NEWYORKER.COM


An Unflinching View of Venezuela in Crisis

National Gallery

Happy Easter! In Jan van Huysum’s 'Flowers in a Terracotta Vase', tiny speckled chaffinch eggs feature in a nest at the base of a vase of flowers. The painting represents the cycle of life. The eggs and open walnut, both at the base of the painting, represent the beginning of life, and the different stages of the flowers – from bud to full bloom and eventual wilting – take the viewer through its cycle:http://bit.ly/1SY7YXb

Kelly, Flinching a Bit, Looks Back With Head High

By MICHAEL POWELL and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

As Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly steps down, a look back at his 14-year career as the head of New York City's Police Department.

 

 

Patricia Cornwell: By the Book

The author of the Scarpetta novels, most recently "Dust," plans to write her memoirs, but not anytime soon: "I will want my story told with glaring, unflinching honesty."

thousands upon thousands people...


Her memoir of that experience,“Mockingbird Years: A Life In and Out of Therapy,” published in 2000, was praised by critics and won her fans for its unflinching honesty and aseptic prose, free from the maudlin melodrama that has suffused so many recent memoirs.

Life Out There

Methane-Sniffing Mars Rover to Seek Clues of Life

By KENNETH CHANG

The Mars Science Laboratory, to be launched on Saturday, will seek to confirm claims that the Martian atmosphere contains methane, one of the building blocks of life.

methane[meth・ane]

• 発音記号[méθein | míːθ-]

methane 甲烷,沼氣資料來源 [名][U]《化学》メタン.

on
prep.

1. 1. Used to indicate position above and supported by or in contact with: The vase is on the table. We rested on our hands and knees.
   2. Used to indicate contact with or extent over (a surface) regardless of position: a picture on the wall; a rash on my back.
   3. Used to indicate location at or along: the pasture on the south side of the river; a house on the highway.
   4. Used to indicate proximity: a town on the border.
   5. Used to indicate attachment to or suspension from: beads on a string.
   6. Used to indicate figurative or abstract position: on the young side, but experienced; on her third beer; stopped on chapter two.
2. 1. Used to indicate actual motion toward, against, or onto: jumped on the table; the march on Washington.
   2. Used to indicate figurative or abstract motion toward, against, or onto: going on six o'clock; came on the answer by accident.
3. 1. Used to indicate occurrence at a given time: on July third; every hour on the hour.
   2. Used to indicate the particular occasion or circumstance: On entering the room, she saw him.
4. 1. Used to indicate the object affected by actual, perceptible action: The spotlight fell on the actress. He knocked on the door.
   2. Used to indicate the object affected by a figurative action: Have pity on them.
   3. Used to indicate the object of an action directed, tending, or moving against it: an attack on the fortress.
   4. Used to indicate the object of perception or thought: gazed on the vista; meditated on his actions.
5. Used to indicate the agent or agency of a specified action: cut his foot on the broken glass; talked on the telephone.
6. 1. Used to indicate a medicine or other corrective taken or undertaken routinely: went on a strict diet.
   2. Used to indicate a substance that is the cause of an addiction, a habit, or an altered state of consciousness: high on dope.
7. 1. Used to indicate a source or basis: "We will reach our judgments not on intentions or on promises but on deeds and on results" (Margaret Thatcher).
   2. Used to indicate a source of power or energy: The car runs on methane.
8. 1. Used to indicate the state or process of: on leave; on fire; on the way.
   2. Used to indicate the purpose of: travel on business.
   3. Used to indicate a means of conveyance: ride on a train.
   4. Used to indicate availability by means of: beer on tap; a physician on call.
9. Used to indicate belonging to: a nurse on the hospital staff.
10. Used to indicate addition or repetition: heaped error on error.
11. 1. Concerning; about: a book on astronomy.
    2. Concerning and to the disadvantage of: We have some evidence on him.
12. Informal. In one's possession; with: I haven't a cent on me.
13. At the expense of; compliments of: drinks on the house.

adv.

1. In or into a position or condition of being supported by or in contact with something: Put the coffee on.
2. In or into a position of being attached to or covering something: Put your clothes on.
3. In the direction of something: He looked on while the ship docked.
4. 1. Toward or at a point lying ahead in space or time; forward: The play moved on to the next city.
   2. At or to a more distant point in time or space: I'll do it later on.
5. In a continuous course: He worked on quietly.
6. 1. In or into performance or operation: Turn on the radio.
   2. In progress or action; in a state of activity: The show must go on.
7. In or at the present position or condition: stay on; hang on.
8. In a condition of being scheduled for or decided upon: There is a party on tonight.

adj.

1. Being in operation: The television is on.
2. 1. Engaged in a given function or activity, such as a vocal or dramatic role: You're on in five minutes!
   2. Under or behaving as if under observation: A minister is always on.
3. Informal. Functioning or performing at a high degree of competence or energy: The goalie is really on.
4. 1. Planned; intended: We have nothing much on for this weekend.
   2. Happening; taking place: The parade is on.
5. Baseball. Having reached base safely; on base: Two runners are on.

idioms:
be on to Slang.

1. To be aware of or have information about: You'll never deceive us again; we're on to you.

on and off

1. Intermittently.

on and on

1. Without stopping; continuously.

[Middle English, from Old English an, on.]

USAGE NOTE To indicate motion toward a position, both on and onto can be used: The cat jumped on the table. The cat jumped onto the table. Onto is more specific, however, in indicating that the motion was initiated from an outside point. He wandered onto the battlefield means that he began his wandering at some point off the battlefield. He wandered on the battlefield may mean that his wandering began on the battlefield. • In constructions where on is an adverb attached to a verb, it should not be joined with to to form the single word onto: move on to (not onto) new subjects; hold on to (not onto) our gains. • In their uses to indicate spatial relations, on and upon are often interchangeable: It was resting on (or upon) two supports. We saw a finch light on (or upon) a bough. To indicate a relation between two things, however, instead of between an action and an end point, upon cannot always be used: Hand me the book on (not upon) the table. It was the only town on (not upon) the main line. Similarly, upon cannot always be used in place of on when the relation is not spatial: He wrote a book on (not upon) alchemy. She will be here on (not upon) Tuesday.

flinch

Pronunciation: /ˈflɪn(t)ʃ/

Translate flinch | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

Definition of flinch

verb

[no object]

• make a quick, nervous movement of the face or body as an instinctive reaction to fear or pain:she flinched at the acidity in his voice he had faced death without flinching
• (flinch from) avoid doing or becoming involved in (something) through fear or anxiety:I rarely flinch from a fight when I’m sure of myself

noun

[in singular]

• an act of flinching: ‘Don’t call me that,’ he said with a flinch

Derivatives

flincher

noun

flinching

adjective

flinchingly

adverb

unflinching

Pronunciation: /ʌnˈflɪn(t)ʃɪŋ/

Translate unflinching | into German | into Italian

Definition of unflinching

adjective

• not showing fear or hesitation in the face of danger or difficulty:he has shown unflinching determination throughout the campaign
   He held a silent combat with his inward agony, defying, meanwhile, my sympathy with an unflinching, ferocious stare.

Derivatives

unflinchingly

adverb

Definition of finch

noun

• a seed-eating songbird that typically has a stout bill and colourful plumage.
  

  • The true finches belong to the family Fringillidae (the finch family), which includes chaffinches, canaries, linnets, crossbills, etc. Many other finches belong to the bunting, waxbill, or sparrow families

Origin:

Old English finc, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vink and German Fink

chaffinch 

Pronunciation: /ˈtʃafɪn(t)ʃ/ 

NOUN

A Eurasian and North African finch, typically with a bluish top to the head and dark wings and tail.

• Genus Fringilla, family Fringillidae: two species, in particular the F. coelebs, which (in the male of thetypical European form) has a pinkish face and breast

Example sentences

Origin

Old English ceaffinc 'chaff finch' (because it forages around barns, picking seeds out of the chaff).