"to arch (one's back)" has two opposite meanings?

Forums: English, Grammar, Esl, English Vocabulary
Email this Topic • Print this Page

I found at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/arch these definitions of the verb "to arch":

"3. To bend backward: The dancers alternately arched and hunched their backs."

If standing, "to hunch" means to bend forward at the waist, bringing one's back convex upward, no argument there. So, "to arch", to be "alternate" to "to hunch", must mean to bend one's back convex downward.

and

"6. to form or cause to form an arch or a curve resembling that of an arch: the cat arched its back."

Put a dog and a cat together and the cat's back will go convex upward.

To use precise anatomical nomenclature, the dancers are doing vertebral extensions when they're arching their backs; the cat is doing a vertebral flexion when it's arching its back: exactly opposite directions!

Is it generally known that "to arch" has two opposite meanings, and people just "know" which meaning is intended? I think this kind of word is called a contronym, but I couldn't find it in any lists of contronyms.

Alan

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 5 • Views: 6,596 • Replies: 18

No top replies

@agoodeno,

Thank you Ag for that breakdown, one I'd never considered or encountered after a lifetime in the field of journ. It's not everyday…..

0 Replies

This has nothing to do with the DIRECTION of the arch. It is only to mean that there is some kind of bending motion.
.

1 Reply

@PUNKEY,

Quote:

This has nothing to do with the DIRECTION of the arch. It is only to mean that there is some kind of bending motion.

Technically, Pun k, you're probably right. Ah but Ag must have a valid point. I've always thought of arching as the back way

0 Replies

Believe me, when a cat arches its back, it isn't curling up.

2 Replies

@roger,

Quote:

Believe me, when a cat arches its back, it isn't curling up.

Point well taken, Rog

0 Replies

@roger,

If he had known you were going to show up, Roger, he likely wouldn't have used "precise anatomical nomenclature".

0 Replies

I wonder what would happen if you asked a few people to arch their backs. Would they confidently bend forward, backward, or ask, "Which way?". Would it make a difference if they're standing or on all fours?

How this came about was I was taking swimming (front crawl) lessons, and the instructor kept saying to arch our backs to get our legs up to the surface. I took the word to mean the way I was taught it, which is the geometrical definition: a curve in a vertical plane and convex upward. I was very confused and as a result I suck at swimming.

Alan

1 Reply

@agoodeno,

How old were you when this happened, Alan? One would think that you could ask a question or that the instructor might note you were doing it wrong.

I know not of these specific terms. But an arch is an arch, is it not, even if it is pointing to the side.

0 Replies

JTT: I'm 58 now. This happened a few months back. For some reason no one ever noticed or I didn't "arch" very much; I guess the shift in body position can be subtle. In swimming sometimes very slight changes in position can make a huge difference in performance and effort expended; I haven't found them yet.

Alan

1 Reply

@agoodeno,

You were taking swimming lessons a few months ago, Alan?

If so, 58 seems to me a little late to be learning perfect swimming form. Swimming to me is being able to spend considerable time in the water without ever getting tired. Going repeatedly down to 20, 30, or more feet to discover the beauty found in rivers and lakes.

Have you ever snorkelled?

0 Replies

They say the best time to learn to swim is long ago. The second best time is right now. And the worst time is never.

By the way, April is Adult Learn-to-Swim Month: check out http://www.usms.org/articles/articledisplay.php?aid=2853

It's stupid things like misunderstanding "arch" that's making learning to swim the hardest thing I've ever done, and that includes getting a university degree in mathematics.

Enough about my swimming prowess; can we get back to how people think they know what "arch" means? Everyone, please tell me which way you arch your back?

Alan

1 Reply

@agoodeno,

VERB:
tr.
To provide with an arch: arch a passageway.
To cause to form an arch or similar curve.
To bend backward: The dancers alternately arched and hunched their backs.
To span: "the rude bridge that arched the flood" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
VERB:
intr.
To form an arch or archlike curve: The high fly ball arched toward the stands.

---------------------------------------------

Quote:

It's stupid things like misunderstanding "arch" that's making learning to swim the hardest thing I've ever done, and that includes getting a university degree in mathematics.

Enough about my swimming prowess; can we get back to how people think they know what "arch" means? Everyone, please tell me which way you arch your back?

I agree that there seems to be a misunderstanding because a certain discipline, mathematics, has a specific meaning. In math can an arch extend to the right or left?

0 Replies

@agoodeno,

Quote:

Is it generally known that "to arch" has two opposite meanings, and people just "know" which meaning is intended? I think this kind of word is called a contronym, but I couldn't find it in any lists of contronyms.

Alan

Well I never.

0 Replies

Quote:

It's not everyday…..

Quote:

Well I never.

Is my discovery so mind-blowing that people can't even finish their sentences?

Alan

1 Reply

Quote:

Have you ever snorkelled?

A little, in the pool, to take breathing out of the equation while working on other aspects of my stroke. Not in open water, though.

Quote:

In math can an arch extend to the right or left?

No, upward only, same as the architectural definition.

Alan

1 Reply

@agoodeno,

Quote:

No, upward only, same as the architectural definition.

As is the case with many words, real life English doesn't and needn't follow the strict usages found in jargon.

If a cat was hung upside down and a dog was introduced the cat wouldn't reverse its arching manner to conform with the math or architectural definitions.

0 Replies

@agoodeno,

Quote:
It's not everyday…..

Quote:
Well I never.

Quote:

Is my discovery so mind-blowing that people can't even finish their sentences?

Al I'm wondering whether you might be esl, as these two expressions are very very common. The first means for instance "Something unusual has happened or "It's not every day I learn something new" and the second, "That's very surprising," or "I have never before felt so insulted" while in most every case the exact application is pretty obvious

I'd agree that the latter, Mac's response, is open to interpretation but obviously it's facetious. To spell it out would be to deprive it of its force

However Al your posting emphasizes a phenom I've noted after some time participating in a2k, and that is, the esl very often expects a literal interpretation; which of course is okay although we don't always step in as I'm doing here in an attempt to clarify

0 Replies

No, I'm not ESL, I just noticed a pattern and thought I'd mention it.

JTT, please perform your upside-down cat with dog experiment and let me know your up-close observations.

Alan

0 Replies

"to arch (one's back)" has two opposite meanings?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know