All 46 Uses of
direct
in
Oliver Twist
- Susan, take Oliver and them two brats upstairs, and wash 'em directly.
Chpt 2 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- 'I'll fetch him directly,' said Mrs. Mann, leaving the room for that purpose.
Chpt 2 (definition 1)
- …permitted to listen to, and console his mind with, a general supplication of the boys, containing a special clause, therein inserted by authority of the board, in which they entreated to be made good, virtuous, contented, and obedient, and to be guarded from the sins and vices of Oliver Twist: whom the supplication distinctly set forth to be under the exclusive patronage and protection of the powers of wickedness, and an article direct from the manufactory of the very Devil himself.
Chpt 3 (definition 2)direct = straight (without going anywhere else first)
- 'I will, directly, sir,' replied Oliver: undoing the chain, and turning the key.
Chpt 5 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- The undertaker at once saw enough of what the room contained, to know it was the apartment to which he had been directed.
Chpt 5 (definition 3)directed = sent
- Thus directed, the bearers trotted on under their light burden; and the two mourners kept as near them, as they could.
Chpt 5 (definition 4) *directed = instructed
- And now, I come to a very important passage in Oliver's history; for I have to record an act, slight and unimportant perhaps in appearance, but which indirectly produced a material change in all his future prospects and proceedings.
Chpt 6 (definition 5) *indirectly = in a complicated, non-obvious mannerstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirectly means not and reverses the meaning of directly. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Run to Mr. Bumble, Noah, and tell him to come here directly, and not to lose a minute; never mind your cap!
Chpt 6 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- And please, sir, missis wants to know whether Mr. Bumble can spare time to step up there, directly, and flog him—'cause master's out.
Chpt 7 (definition 1)
- His way lay directly in front of the cottage.
Chpt 7 (definition 2) *directly = exactly
- They crossed from the Angel into St. John's Road; struck down the small street which terminates at Sadler's Wells Theatre; through Exmouth Street and Coppice Row; down the little court by the side of the workhouse; across the classic ground which once bore the name of Hockley-in-the-Hole; thence into Little Saffron Hill; and so into Saffron Hill the Great: along which the Dodger scudded at a rapid pace, directing Oliver to follow close at his heels.
Chpt 8 (definition 4)directing = instructing
- Oliver ate his share, and the Jew then mixed him a glass of hot gin-and-water: telling him he must drink it off directly, because another gentleman wanted the tumbler.
Chpt 8 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- This, it occurred to Oliver, must be French for going out; for directly afterwards, the Dodger, and Charley, and the two young ladies, went away together, having been kindly furnished by the amiable old Jew with money to spend.
Chpt 9 (definition 1)
- These things looked so bad, that Oliver was on the point of declaring his intention of seeking his way back, in the best way he could; when his thoughts were suddenly directed into another channel, by a very mysterious change of behaviour on the part of the Dodger.
Chpt 10 (definition 3)directed = focused
- Oliver looked from one to the other, with the greatest surprise; but he was not permitted to make any inquiries; for the two boys walked stealthily across the road, and slunk close behind the old gentleman towards whom his attention had been directed.
Chpt 10 (definition 3)
- 'Poor boy, poor boy!' said Mr. Brownlow, bending over him. 'Call a
coach, somebody, pray. Directly!'
Chpt 11 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- It is due to the young lady to say that she did not positively affirm that she would not, but that she merely expressed an emphatic and earnest desire to be 'blessed' if she would; a polite and delicate evasion of the request, which shows the young lady to have been possessed of that natural good breeding which cannot bear to inflict upon a fellow-creature, the pain of a direct and pointed refusal.
Chpt 13 (definition 5)direct = straightforward (open and honest even if it makes someone uncomfortable)
- A young woman stumbled over a bit last night, and fell against my garden-railings; directly she got up I saw her look towards his infernal red lamp with the pantomime-light.
Chpt 14 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- Come home directly, you cruel boy!
Chpt 15 (definition 1)
- Come home directly.
Chpt 15 (definition 1)
- 'Of course it couldn't,' replied Sikes; 'I know'd that, directly I see him coming through Clerkenwell, with the books under his arm.'
Chpt 16 (definition 1)
- All was so quick and hurried, that he had scarcely time to recollect where he was, or how he came there, when the carriage stopped at the house to which the Jew's steps had been directed on the previous evening.
Chpt 20 (definition 3)directed = aimed
- Sikes dismounted with great precipitation, holding Oliver by the hand all the while; and lifting him down directly, bestowed a furious look upon him, and rapped the side-pocket with his fist, in a significant manner.
Chpt 21 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- 'If you're going directly, I can,' replied the man, looking out of the pot.
Chpt 21 (definition 1)
- Sikes followed directly.
Chpt 22 (definition 1) *
- Directly I leave go of you, do your work.
Chpt 22 (definition 1)
- Mr. Giles directed an appealing glance at the tinker; but he had suddenly fallen asleep.
Chpt 28 (definition 3) *directed = pointed
- They set up a hue-and-cry, directly, and when they came to look about 'em, found that Conkey had hit the robber; for there was traces of blood, all the way to some palings a good distance off; and there they lost 'em.
Chpt 31 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- You will see them directly, and they will be overjoyed to find you safe and well.
Chpt 32 (definition 1)directly = in a short time
- Oliver glanced at it, and saw that it was directed to Harry Maylie, Esquire, at some great lord's house in the country; where, he could not make out.
Chpt 33 (definition 3)directed = addressed (written to)
- The clouds, which had been threatening all day, spread out in a dense and sluggish mass of vapour, already yielded large drops of rain, and seemed to presage a violent thunder-storm, when Mr. and Mrs. Bumble, turning out of the main street of the town, directed their course towards a scattered little colony of ruinous houses, distant from it some mile and a-half, or thereabouts, and erected on a low unwholesome swamp, bordering upon the river.
Chpt 38 (definition 3)directed = aimed
- 'Stand still, a minute,' cried the voice; 'I'll be with you directly.'
Chpt 38 (definition 1)directly = in a short time
- Mr. Bumble, who had not yet been admitted by his better half into any greater share of the secret than he had originally possessed, listened to this dialogue with outstretched neck and distended eyes: which he directed towards his wife and Monks, by turns, in undisguised astonishment; increased, if possible, when the latter sternly demanded, what sum was required for the disclosure.
Chpt 38 (definition 3)directed = pointed
- The sickly rays of the suspended lantern falling directly upon them, aggravated the paleness and anxiety of their countenances: which, encircled by the deepest gloom and darkness, looked ghastly in the extreme.
Chpt 38 (definition 2)directly = in an unobstructed manner (without anything in between)
- '—That Monks,' pursued the girl, 'had seen him accidently with two of our boys on the day we first lost him, and had known him directly to be the same child that he was watching for, though I couldn't make out why.'
Chpt 40 (definition 2)directly = personally (person-to-person)
- 'Look here,' said Oliver, opening a scrap of paper, 'here it is; here's where he lives—I'm going there directly!'
Chpt 41 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- I will take you there directly, without a minute's loss of time.
Chpt 41 (definition 1)
- 'Very good,' replied Mr. Brownlow, smiling; 'but no doubt they will bring that about for themselves in the fulness of time, and if we step in to forestall them, it seems to me that we shall be performing a very Quixotic act, in direct opposition to our own interest—or at least to Oliver's, which is the same thing.'
Chpt 41 (definition 5)direct = clear
- He was on the point of emerging from his hiding-place, and regaining the road above, when he heard the sound of footsteps, and directly afterwards of voices almost close at his ear.
Chpt 46 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- Towards him the old man sometimes directed his eyes for an instant, and then brought them back again to the candle; which with a long-burnt wick drooping almost double, and hot grease falling down in clots upon the table, plainly showed that his thoughts were busy elsewhere.
Chpt 47 (definition 3)directed = pointed
- Thither he directed his steps,—running sometimes, and sometimes, with a strange perversity, loitering at a snail's pace, or stopping altogether and idly breaking the hedges with a stick.
Chpt 48 (definition 3)directed = aimed
- There were two buyers directly, and more of the listeners plainly hesitated.
Chpt 48 (definition 1)directly = immediately
- There are fourteen water-mills, six steam-engines, and a galvanic battery, always a-working upon it, and they can't make it fast enough, though the men work so hard that they die off, and the widows is pensioned directly, with twenty pound a-year for each of the children, and a premium of fifty for twins.
Chpt 48 (definition 1)
- At this part of the recital Monks held his breath, and listened with a face of intense eagerness, though his eyes were not directed towards the speaker.
Chpt 49 (definition 3)directed = pointed
- Crackit intimated, by a motion of his hand as he left the room, that there was nothing to fear; and directly came back with Charley Bates behind him.
Chpt 50 (definition 1)directly = in a short time
- "Among the papers in his desk, were two, dated on the night his illness first came on, directed to yourself"; he addressed himself to Mr. Brownlow; "and enclosed in a few short lines to you, with an intimation on the cover of the package that it was not to be forwarded till after he was dead."
Chpt 51 (definition 3)directed = addressed (written to)
Definitions:
-
(1) (direct as in: depart directly) without delay, or in the quickest manner, or without going somewhere else firsteditor's notes: You may see the term direct flight used in a technical manner that is not as quick as a non-stop flight. In technical usage, a direct flight from Los Angeles to New York could stop at a city on the way, but you would not get off the plane during the stop.
-
(2) (direct as in: directly above; or buy direct from) straight (exactly where stated); or without involvement of anything in betweenThe exact meaning of this sense of direct is subject to its context. For example:
- "The road runs directly to Las Vegas." -- straight (without varying from a straight line)
- "It was a direct hit." -- exact
- "The plant is in direct sunlight." -- unobstructed (without anything in between)
- "She wants a direct meeting with him." -- personal (without other people in between)
- "She paid direct attention to what he was reading." -- close
- "a direct gaze" -- straight, steady, or focused--not a brief glance taken while generally looking at other things; not a sideways look
-
(3) (direct as in: directed her question to) to indicate direction; or to cause movement or focus in a direction or towards an objectThe exact meaning of this sense of direct is subject to its context. For example:
- "intentionally directed fire at unarmed civilians" -- aimed a gun
- "directed the question to her" -- aimed a question
- "directed her north" -- pointed in a particular direction
- "directed attention to the 3rd paragraph" -- focused attention on a particular object
- "The sound of her voice directed him to the kitchen." -- guided or gave directions to someone to help them move to a particular place
- "She directed him to the airport." -- gave directions to send someone to a particular place
- "She directed the boat north." -- steered it
- "directed the letter to" -- send a letter to a particular person by putting a name and address on it
-
(4) (direct as in: directed the jury to...) give instructions or commands
-
(5) (direct as in: was direct in my instructions) straightforward (uncomplicated or simple -- perhaps also indicating openness and honesty, or little concern for others' feelings)