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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
To miss the boat
Hello,
I was confused by the different definitions of this idiom 'To miss the boat.' Each definition
has examples, but I was still confused because I thougt that sometimes one sentence with this idiom can be understood in different ways.
Eg., 'I believe that people who think this issue is simply going to disappear
have missed the boat.'- the dictionary says that it's meaning is 'to not understand the
importance of something' but can this definition; Fig. to have made an error; to be wrong also suit this sentence above? Or it only seems to me so?
Or here; 1. Lit. to miss out (on something); to be ignorant (of
something). Pay attention, John, or you'll miss the boat and not learn
algebra. Tom really missed the boat when it came to making friends. Does
this definition 'to not understand the importance of something' suit
these sentences?
Thanks
I was confused by the different definitions of this idiom 'To miss the boat.' Each definition
has examples, but I was still confused because I thougt that sometimes one sentence with this idiom can be understood in different ways.
Eg., 'I believe that people who think this issue is simply going to disappear
have missed the boat.'- the dictionary says that it's meaning is 'to not understand the
importance of something' but can this definition; Fig. to have made an error; to be wrong also suit this sentence above? Or it only seems to me so?
Or here; 1. Lit. to miss out (on something); to be ignorant (of
something). Pay attention, John, or you'll miss the boat and not learn
algebra. Tom really missed the boat when it came to making friends. Does
this definition 'to not understand the importance of something' suit
these sentences?
Thanks
Top answer
Hi, The main idea is 'to miss an opportunity by being late'. The undelying image to remember is this. You arrive at the dock in a taxi, and find the boat has already sailed away without you.
- Hi, The main idea is 'to miss an opportunity by being late'.
- The undelying image to remember is this.
- You arrive at the dock in a taxi, and find the boat has already sailed away without you.
- eg I could have bought theatre tickets yesterday, but I decied to wait until today and see if the price went down.
- Now there are none left.
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4 Answers
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Hi,
The main idea is 'to miss an opportunity by being late'.
The undelying image to remember is this. You arrive at the dock in a taxi, and find the boat has already sailed away without you.
eg I could have bough
The main idea is 'to miss an opportunity by being late'.
The undelying image to remember is this. You arrive at the dock in a taxi, and find the boat has already sailed away without you.
eg I could have bough
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Thank you so much! It's from a dictionary 
could you please suggest some good online dictionaries? This is not the first time that te
could you please suggest some good online dictionaries? This is not the first time that te00
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