Per hour per teaspoon: the meaning of phraseology and examples of use

Do you know many phraseological units? Are their meanings clear and how many examples can you name?

Phraseologisms in the Russian language more than one and a half thousand. And these are only those that are studied by linguists. Their diversity cannot be conveyed, because phraseological units are used in everyday situations, they denote character traits, weather conditions and so on.

Often use other terms to define this phenomenon - they are called idioms, which is partially true. An idiom is a type of idiom. This will be discussed later. Phraseologisms are often called winged expressions.

The famous Russian literary critic Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky, who lived in the century before last, spoke out about persistent phrases. He called them the "physiognomy" of the Russian language. Also in his understanding, phraseologism is a speech tool that is unique.

In this article, you will add another Russian stable expression to your piggy bank of phraseological units - “an hour per teaspoon”. We have also collected synonyms and antonyms for this phrase for you.

What is phraseologism?

So in linguistics they call stable expressions, the meaning of which is derived from the sum of all the words included in it. In other words, phraseologism conveys meaning only if its composition is not violated.

This phenomenon is different from simple phrases. Linguists identify a number of signs by which they are usually distinguished. The most important is integrity. The very ability to function, that is, to convey meaning in the language.

See for yourself with an example. In Russian, we know the phraseology "hang your nose", which means "grieve." He came to us from the world of music, where he was used literally. "Hang your nose on the fifth," was the phrase. When playing the violinists were drawn to the first string, fifth, nose, which created a sad look. Later this statement turned into phraseologism, which acquired its current meaning on the basis of metaphor. Its meaning is available to us from dictionaries, since imagery has disappeared with time.

Types

It is customary to divide phraseologisms into groups. There are rather fuzzy boundaries between these types, since this linguistic phenomenon is complex and inconsistent.

• The first group includes those same idioms in which words to each other are firmly “stuck”. They are called - mergers. An example of this type is “breaking the buck.”
• The second group has more free forms. Words are diluted with pronouns, adjectives, etc. The presence of imagery distinguishes them from splices. This type is called unity. An example of unity is the phrase "get into (someone / your / fraudulent) networks."
• In the third group, free phraseological units. Their name is combinations. They include words that behave freely and are subject to change. An example of this type of utterance is "sworn enemy".

Value

Phraseologism "per hour on a teaspoon" refers, rather, to unity. It has not lost its former imagery, so we may not even use the dictionary to approximately understand its meaning.

One of the meanings of phraseology “per teaspoon per hour” is “to act slowly”. This is what mothers say to their children when they eat for a long time, get ready for school, or do homework.

Another meaning is "hesitantly, with pauses." In this sense, the phrase is used when a person pulls for a long time with the performance of some business.

And one more meaning of phraseologism “per hour on a teaspoon” is an action performed with the prescribed repetition. In this sense, this phrase is appropriate to use if a person is forced to go to a specific authority, draw up documents, etc.

Origin

Phraseologism has gone out of the field of medicine and entered into speech with a different meaning based on metaphor. Initially they said, or rather, wrote, "an hour later, a teaspoon." As you might have guessed, it was an ordinary prescription with indications for the use of the medicine.

Here you are prescribed a prescription and you are forced to sit and look at the time. The hour seems like an eternity! These very feelings of the endlessness of a rather short period of time formed the basis of phraseologism.

A teaspoon is also an element through which imagery is achieved. The fact is that this cutlery is small in volume. An hour and a teaspoon together create the image of "doing a long time and a little bit."

Synonyms

“An hour per teaspoon” is not the only phraseology that can be used to convey its meanings. Browse through words and phraseologisms with similar meanings and examples below.

In the meaning of "slow":

• "Broken hour." The most used phraseology in this sense, which is associated with Russian watches with a fight that appeared in the 16th century.
• "Turtle stride." It matters "a little bit" and is based on association (tortoise - slowness). Example: "On vacation time went at a snail's pace."
• "Pull the gimp." The last word was called a metal thread, the manufacture of which was long and boring. Example: "Again you are pulling a gimp! Do your homework at last and be free!"
• "How wet it burns." This rare phraseologism best reveals its meaning in the context: "When I first came to the office, I tried to keep up with my colleagues, but in the end I did everything slowly, like a wet one."

In the meaning of "repeat action":

• "Beat at one point." The expression is similar in meaning, but has a different connotation. Its meaning is "repeat one action several times."

Antonyms

"An hour per teaspoon" in the meaning of "slowly" means the opposite in meaning lexical units. Check out some of them:

• "Breaking the head." The expression known to all, because it is used most often. It came from the Russian word "daredevil", which was called the brave.
• "At the speed of sound / light." Also a very popular expression. Based on association (speed of sound / light - speed).

• "Full speed." The last word is a derivative of the adjective "quick", which means "fast."
• "You do not have time to blink an eye / and look back."
• "Leaps and bounds." This is an interesting phraseologism, directly opposed to the expression "an hour per teaspoon." In a word, one can convey the meaning like this: "superfast."

Examples of use

The phraseological units of the Russian language are inextricably linked with the culture of the people, including literature. Browse quotes from various authors and try to trace the functioning of phraseology:

1. "The European market and takes it [Russian literature] per hour on a teaspoon." The proposal is taken from the detective novel by V. Rybakov "Gravity Tsesarevich". This implies a long "acceptance" by small portions of Russian culture by Europeans.
2. "Water flows through the pipes per hour on a teaspoon." From the work "New World" S. Zalygin. The value of phraseology "per teaspoon per hour" in this case is slow. In this case, the action is not repeated, but proceeds without pauses.
3. "The sun only snatches per hour on a teaspoon." And here the action is repeated. Meaning is a slow process that reproduces at some intervals. The phrase sounds in the work of G. Alexandrov, "The Age and the Cinema."