All 50 Uses of
direct
in
Atlas Shrugged
- She met a direct glance and saw an open, eager smile, as if he were sharing a confidence with a friend.
Chpt 1.1 (definition 1) *direct = focused (where stated)
- The dark gray eyes were direct and disturbing, as if they cut through things, throwing the inconsequential out of the way.†
Chpt 1.1
- There was no hostility in his face; he looked straight at her, he answered simply, directly; he spoke like one who has nothing to hide, or to show; the face was polite and empty.†
Chpt 1.1 (definition 3)
- Her motive, he thought, was a proudly indirect attempt to test his feeling and to confess her own.†
Chpt 1.2 (definition 4)
- He was thirty-four when he became President of the railroad Dagny had expected the Board of Directors to elect him, but she had never been able to understand why they did it so eagerly.
Chpt 1.3 (definition 2)board of directors = members of a board that oversees the affairs of a corporation or other institution
- It seemed likely that he did not know it himself: like a field without a windbreak, he seemed open to any current, and the final sum was made by chance, A few among the Directors of Taggart Transcontinental objected to the project.†
Chpt 1.3 (definition 2)
- Two of the Directors resigned; so did the Vice-President in Charge of Operation.†
Chpt 1.3 (definition 2)
- She never understood why the Board of Directors voted unanimously to make her Vice-President in Charge of Operation.†
Chpt 1.3 (definition 2)
- It is a meeting of our Board of Directors.†
Chpt 1.4 (definition 2)
- James Taggart stood at the long table, addressing the Board of Directors.†
Chpt 1.4 (definition 2)
- She had heard about his speech to the Board of Directors.†
Chpt 1.4 (definition 2)
- He stood across the room, looking at her; it was a glance directed at her whole person; she knew its meaning and it held her motionless, "I still want to sleep with you," he said.
Chpt 1.5 (definition 3)directed = focused, aimed, or intended for
- "Lillian, I don't think that Henry is having a good time," he said, smiling; one could not tell whether the mockery of his smile was directed at Lillian or at Rearden.
Chpt 1.6 (definition 3)directed = aimed, or intended for
- His face was hard; it had an expression of severity, an inner severity directed at himself; it looked austere and lonely.
Chpt 1.6 (definition 3)
- What, then, directs men's actions?†
Chpt 1.7
- I have no idea what sort of games you're tangled in, you and your Board of Directors.†
Chpt 1.7 (definition 2)
- What about your brother Jim's Board of Directors?†
Chpt 1.7 (definition 2)
- "Oh yes, of course, the construction is moving on schedule," said James Taggart, shrugging, to his Board of Directors.†
Chpt 1.8 (definition 2)
- Leaving his office, after the meeting of the Board of Directors, he had realized suddenly that there were no other appointments, that he had a long evening ahead and no one to help him kill it.†
Chpt 1.9 (definition 2)
- He had smiled, seated at the bead of the long table, at the Board meeting, while the Directors spoke about the soaring rise of the Taggart stock on the Exchange, while they cautiously asked to see his written agreement with his sister-just in case, they said-and commented that it was fine, it was hole proof, there was no doubt but that she would have to turn the Line over to Taggart Transcontinental at once, they spoke about their brilliant future and the debt of gratitude which the…†
Chpt 1.9 (definition 2)
- She turned to look at him and he saw the light of an inner smile, while her face remained solemnly grave; it was the most eloquently personal glance he had ever seen directed at himself, while she answered in a quiet, impersonal voice, "Mr."
Chpt 1.9 (definition 3)directed = aimed, or intended for
- He stood looking at her as if it took all of his effort to keep his eyes directed at her face, to keep seeing her, to endure the sight.
Chpt 1.10 (definition 3)directed = focused or pointed
- It was her last sentence that made him face her suddenly, face her simply, directly, not as one on the defensive any longer.†
Chpt 1.10 (definition 3)
- He had pronounced the words aloud, in a tone of rancorous sarcasm directed at whoever had made him say it.
Chpt 2.1 (definition 3)directed = aimed, or intended for
- Then a bright young boy just out of college had been sent to him from Washington, as Deputy Director of Distribution.
Chpt 2.1 (definition 2)director = supervisor (person in charge)standard suffix: The suffix "-or" often converts a verb to a noun that means "a person who." This is the pattern you see in words like actor, editor, and visitor.
- She looked at close range into the gun-metal eyes that seemed cold and intense at once, the eyes that looked at her directly with a polite, impersonal curiosity.
Chpt 2.2 (definition 1)directly = straight (focusing where stated rather than including it as part of a larger focus; or a careful look rather than a quick glance)
- Taggart said dryly, frowning, "There are many reasons-business reasons-why it is sometimes advisable not to make one's investments directly.†
Chpt 2.2 (definition 3)
- "I suppose," said Taggart, in the cautious tone of an indirect question, "that I should feel flattered you chose to come to this party."†
Chpt 2.2 (definition 4)
- She had spent months fighting the men of Jim's Board of Directors, who said that the national emergency was only temporary and a track that had lasted for ten years could well last for another winter, until spring, when conditions would improve, as Mr. Wesley Mouch had promised.†
Chpt 2.4 (definition 2)
- If that which Rearden felt could have gone directly into words, past the barrier of his will, he would have cried: Don't let me down-I need you-I am fighting all of them, I have fought to my limit and am condemned to fight beyond it-and, as sole ammunition possible to me, I need the knowledge of one single man whom I can trust, respect and admire.†
Chpt 2.4 (definition 3)
- Instead, he said calmly, very simply-and the only note of a personal bond between them was that tone of sincerity which comes with a direct, unqualifiedly rational statement and implies the same honesty of mind in the listener-"You know, I think that the only real moral crime that one man can commit against another is the attempt to create, by his words or actions, an impression of the contradictory, the impossible, the irrational, and thus shake the concept of rationality in his…†
Chpt 2.4
- Dagny, that evening, was facing a meeting of the Taggart Board of Directors.†
Chpt 2.5 (definition 2)
- The Directors did not know whether he was present as the guest, the adviser or the ruler of the Board; they preferred not to find out.†
Chpt 2.5 (definition 2)
- Could men such as those on your Board of Directors have brought them out of the cave and up to this?†
Chpt 2.5 (definition 2)
- Think of them and forget your Board of Directors.†
Chpt 2.5 (definition 2)
- She noticed some tense, cautious quality in the attentive way he watched her as he leaned forward and asked, "Dagny, the men of your Board of Directors are no match for Nat Taggart, are they?†
Chpt 2.5 (definition 2)
- He smiled, not looking at her; it was a mocking smile, but it was a smile of pain and the mockery was directed at himself.
Chpt 2.5 (definition 3)directed = aimed, or intended for
- The weather seemed afraid to take a stand and clung noncommittally to some sort of road's middle; Board of Directors' weather, she thought.†
Chpt 2.5 (definition 2)
- He saw who was the accuser and who the accused-he saw the obscenity of letting impotence hold itself as virtue and damn the power of living as a sinhe saw, with the clarity of direct perception, in the shock of a single instant, the terrible ugliness of that which had once been his own belief.†
Chpt 2.5
- He felt that his one danger would be to glance directly at Danneskjold-and he kept his eyes on the policeman, on the brass buttons of a blue uniform, but the object filling his consciousness, more forcefully than a visual perception, was Danneskjold's body, the naked body under the clothes, the body that would be wiped out of existence.†
Chpt 2.7 (definition 3)
- The hatred was directed at whatever had brought him to feel that he would not be able to continue extending this process much longer.
Chpt 2.8 (definition 3)directed = aimed, or intended for
- The sharper bites of fear came from the thought of the men on the Board of Directors; but his letter of resignation was his fire escape, which would leave them stuck with the fire.†
Chpt 2.8 (definition 2)
- He looked as if all masks were down, he looked direct, tightly disciplined, intent upon a purpose, he looked like a man able to know the earnestness of action, as she had once expected him to look-he had never seemed so attractive as he did in this moment-and she noted, in astonishment, her sudden feeling that he was not a man who had deserted her, but a man whom she had deserted.†
Chpt 2.9
- He was looking at her, as if he were seeing her body as she stood before him, even though his eyes were directed at her face, and his glance told her what form of atonement and surrender he was seeing in the future.
Chpt 2.9 (definition 3)directed = pointed
- "I know it," he said, his voice low, so that she did not hear the pain, but felt it within herself as if by direct reflection from him.†
Chpt 2.9
- He got himself voted as Director of our Public Relations Department, which didn't do anything, except that he had a staff for the not doing of anything, so he didn't have to bother sticking around the office.
Chpt 2.10 (definition 2)director = supervisor (person in charge)standard suffix: The suffix "-or" often converts a verb to a noun that means "a person who." This is the pattern you see in words like actor, editor, and visitor.
- Gerald Starnes was our Director of Production.
Chpt 2.10 (definition 2) *
- It would have taken a staff of accountants to figure that out, and a staff of engineers to trace the way it was piped, directly or indirectly, into his office.
Chpt 2.10 (definition 4) *directly = straight (without going anywhere else first)
- It would have taken a staff of accountants to figure that out, and a staff of engineers to trace the way it was piped, directly or indirectly, into his office.†
Chpt 2.10
- She was our Director of Distribution.†
Chpt 2.10 (definition 2)
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: directed the movie) supervise, control, or to be in charge of
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(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
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(4) (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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(direct as in: was direct in my instructions) straightforward (uncomplicated or simple -- perhaps also indicating openness and honesty, or little concern for others' feelings)
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(direct as in: directed the jury to...) give instructions or commands