3 meanings, 35 uses
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1 —10 uses as in:
directly above; or buy direct from
Definition
straight (exactly where stated); or without involvement of anything in between
The 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
- This is the domain of understanding which is most directly related to what happens to the machine.Part 3 (97% in)
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Chris points to a thermometer in direct sunlight and we see it has gone all the way above the scale at 120 degrees.Part 1 (91% in)
- It's important not to tune these machines in the direct sun or late in the day when your brain gets muddy because even if you've been through it a hundred times you should be alert and looking for things.Part 2 (1% in)
- The high, dark Absaroka Range looms directly ahead.Part 2 (27% in)
- I'd judge that although it's only the middle of the afternoon, less than half an hour of direct sun remains.Part 2 (70% in)
- I've heard only indirectly of the time Chris lived here, and yet to them it seems that he's hardly been gone.Part 2 (71% in)
- And, in the process of intellectual maturing that these abstract studies gave him, he would he likely to branch out into other theoretical areas that weren't directly related to machines but had become a part of a newer larger goal.Part 3 (8% in)
- You take your analytic knife, put the point directly on the term Quality and just tap, not hard, gently, and the whole world splits, cleaves, right in two...hip and square, classic and romantic, technological and humanistic...and the split is clean.Part 3 (23% in)
- All direct light is shut out from the forest floor and there's no underbrush at all.Part 3 (30% in)
- What it is has ceased to be a category of thought and is a continuing direct experience.Part 3 (71% in)
There are no more uses of "direct" flagged with this meaning in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Typical Usage
(best examples)
2 —4 uses as in:
was direct in my instructions
Definition
straightforward (uncomplicated or simple — perhaps also indicating openness and honesty)
- It's the direct result of contact with basic reality, Quality, which dualistic reason has in the past tended to conceal.Part 3 (69% in)
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- You know there's an explanation for all this somewhere and what it's doing undoubtedly serves mankind in some indirect way but that isn't what you see.Part 1 (17% in)
- Neither does the battery, except in a very indirect way.Part 2 (15% in)
- It's the direct result of it," I say.Part 2 (87% in)
There are no more uses of "direct" flagged with this meaning in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Typical Usage
(best examples)
3 —2 uses as in:
directed her question to
Definition
to indicate direction; or to cause movement or focus in a direction or towards an object
The 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
- Now I see he's a little nervous and answering a question that John had evidently directed at me.Part 2 (48% in)
- Romantic understanding is directed toward the handful of sand before the sorting begins.Part 1 (87% in)
There are no more uses of "direct" flagged with this meaning in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Typical Usage
(best examples)
? —19 uses
exact meaning not specified
- — But the Chairman now directs a question to the student next to Phaedrus.Part 4 (72% in)
- We're out of the marshes now, but the air is still so humid you can look straight up directly at the yellow circle of the sun as if there were smoke or smog in the sky.Part 1 (19% in)
- It disappears when I look at it directly, but then reappears in the corner of my vision when I turn my glance.Part 1 (70% in)
- Such an understanding will instead seek to direct attention to the endless landscape from which the sand is taken.Part 1 (87% in)
- And to come at him directly would be to invite disaster.Part 1 (89% in)
- And when you look directly at an insane man all you see is a reflection of your own knowledge that he's insane, which is not to see him at all.Part 1 (89% in)
- To design an experiment properly he has to think very rigidly in terms of what directly causes what.Part 2 (15% in)
- The point at which the electrical system directly causes the engine to fire is at the spark plugs, and if you don't test here, at the output of the electrical system, you will never really know whether the failure is electrical or not.Part 2 (15% in)
- He felt that institutions such as schools, churches, governments and political organizations of every sort all tended to direct thought for ends other than truth, for the perpetuation of their own functions, and for the control of individuals in the service of these functions.Part 2 (28% in)
- The minister who delivers the sermon and directs the Sunday school understands these goals and normally goes along with them, but he also knows that his primary goals are not to serve the community.Part 2 (62% in)
- The narrowing down to one brick destroyed the blockage because it was so obvious she had to do some original and direct seeing.Part 3 (4% in)
- Once they got into the idea of seeing directly for themselves they also saw there was no limit to the amount they could say.Part 3 (4% in)
- The rocks below it are too steep for a direct hiking climb, particularly with the heavy loads we are carrying, and Chris is way too young for any kind of ropes-and— pitons stuff.Part 3 (5% in)
- This is not because Quality is so mysterious but because Quality is so simple, immediate and direct.Part 3 (45% in)
- The ability to see directly what "looks good" would be ignored.Part 3 (74% in)
- It has no direct relationship to external circumstances.Part 3 (76% in)
- If you can't do the job directly you can always make something that will do it.Part 3 (87% in)
- There are endless examples of how mythos differences direct behavior differences and they're all fascinating.Part 4 (25% in)
- The Quality is the track that directs the train.Part 4 (27% in)
There are no more uses of "direct" in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Typical Usage
(best examples)