| / English Dictionary |
SURVEYING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The practice of measuring angles and distances on the ground so that they can be accurately plotted on a map
Example:
he studied surveying at college
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("surveying" is a kind of...):
measure; measurement; measuring; mensuration (the act or process of assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "surveying"):
triangulation (a method of surveying; the area is divided into triangles and the length of one side and its angles with the other two are measured, then the lengths of the other sides can be calculated)
Derivation:
survey (plot a map of (land))
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb survey
Context examples:
He entered the room with a look of self-consequence, slightly bowed to the ladies, without speaking a word, and, after briefly surveying them and their apartments, took up a newspaper from the table, and continued to read it as long as he staid.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Mrs. Rushworth submitted; and the question of surveying the grounds, with the who and the how, was likely to be more fully agitated, and Mrs. Norris was beginning to arrange by what junction of carriages and horses most could be done, when the young people, meeting with an outward door, temptingly open on a flight of steps which led immediately to turf and shrubs, and all the sweets of pleasure-grounds, as by one impulse, one wish for air and liberty, all walked out.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
As they were surveying the last, the general, after slightly naming a few of the distinguished characters by whom they had at times been honoured, turned with a smiling countenance to Catherine, and ventured to hope that henceforward some of their earliest tenants might be our friends from Fullerton.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
She came out from behind it, with her work in her hand, and joined him in surveying me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
If I only had a classical nose and mouth I should be perfectly happy, she said, surveying herself with a critical eye and a candle in each hand.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I was yet enjoying the calm prospect and pleasant fresh air, yet listening with delight to the cawing of the rooks, yet surveying the wide, hoary front of the hall, and thinking what a great place it was for one lonely little dame like Mrs. Fairfax to inhabit, when that lady appeared at the door.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“And since I've took to general reading, you've took to general writing, eh, sir?” said Mr. Omer, surveying me admiringly.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
"Hush, he's in the garden! I forgot the confounded jelly, but it can't be helped now," said John, surveying the prospect with an anxious eye.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Grizzled old sailors were among the people, shaking their heads, as they looked from water to sky, and muttering to one another; ship-owners, excited and uneasy; children, huddling together, and peering into older faces; even stout mariners, disturbed and anxious, levelling their glasses at the sea from behind places of shelter, as if they were surveying an enemy.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
"What makes my legs go, Dranpa?" asked the young philosopher, surveying those active portions of his frame with a meditative air, while resting after a go-to-bed frolic one night.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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