All 19 Uses of
direct
in
Franny and Zooey
- She looked at Lane more directly than she had in several minutes.†
Chpt 1.2
- In all that follows, only the two youngest of the seven children will be directly seen or heard.†
Chpt 2.1
- That is, although he looked into the mirror while he lathered, he didn't watch where his brush was moving but, instead, looked directly into his own eyes, as though his eyes were neutral territory, a no man's land in a private war against narcissism he had been fighting since he was seven or eight years old.†
Chpt 2.2 (definition 1)
- Her usual seating accommodation was directly at Zooey's left.†
Chpt 2.2 *
- Mrs. Glass directed a long and oddly comprehensive look at his profile.†
Chpt 2.2
- Even if a resolute and unusually stout-hearted team of painters had been able to deal with the bookcases, the walls themselves, directly behind them, might well have made any self-respecting artisan turn in his union card.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 1)
- There, in almost incestuously close juxtaposition, seven scrap-books of newspaper and magazine clippings had been bracketed, at the bindings, directly into the plaster.†
Chpt 2.3
- Directly after breakfast, Mrs. Glass had stripped the doors of their pleated silk curtains.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 2) *
- A four-story private school for girls stood directly across the side street—a stolid and rather aloofly anonymous-looking building that rarely came alive till about three-thirty in the afternoon, when public-school children from Third and Second Avenues came to play jacks or stoop-ball on its stone steps.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 1)
- Zooey, almost direct from the bathroom, with a lighted cigar in his mouth, stood for quite a while at the foot of the couch, at first busy tucking in the ends of a white shirt he had put on, then buttoning his cuffs, and then merely standing and looking.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 1)
- He wore a frown behind his cigar, as though the stunning lighting effects had been "created" by a stage director whose taste he considered more or less suspect.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 3)
- He moved an ashtray, a silver cigarette box, and a copy of Harper's Bazaar out of the way, then directly sat down in the narrow space on the cold marble surface, facing—almost hovering over—Franny's head and shoulders.†
Chpt 2.3
- It stood, in profile, wide open, in all its black, Steinway enormity, opposite the couch, its bench almost directly across from Franny.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 1)
- I'll be your director if you're going to sit there.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 3) *
- Don't bang the keys," Franny directed, petting Bloomberg.†
Chpt 2.3 *
- At first piecemeal, then point-blank, he let his attention be drawn to a little scene that was being acted out sublimely, unhampered by writers and directors and producers, five stories below the window and across the street.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 3)
- Most of the time, they were direct carry-overs from the five undoubtedly formative years he had spent as a regular panelist on "It's a Wise Child," when, rather than seem to flaunt his somewhat preposterous ability to quote, instantaneously and, usually, verbatim, almost anything he had ever read, or even listened to, with genuine interest, he cultivated a habit of furrowing his brow and appearing to stall for time, the way the other children on the program did.†
Chpt 2.3
- Franny was now facing directly into the sound of Zooey's voice, sitting bolt upright, a wad of Kleenex clenched in one hand.†
Chpt 2.3 (definition 1)
- He went directly across the hall and into the room his two eldest brothers had shared.†
Chpt 2.4 (definition 1) *
Definitions:
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(1) (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
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(2) (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.
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(3) (direct as in: directed the movie) supervise, control, or to be in charge of
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(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
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(direct as in: directed the jury to...) give instructions or commands