italki - "Ray guns blasting away" - is "blasting away" about shooting or noise? Hi, I'm curious about this se

Sergey

"Ray guns blasting away" - is "blasting away" about shooting or noise? Hi, I'm curious about this sentence: "They (aliens) march across the countryside in huge machines that look like mechanical spiders, ray guns blasting away". I think that "blast away" can mean loud noise. But are the aliens in this sentence making noise or shooting? It's from "The Fifth Wave" by R. Yancey Thank you.

Jul 11, 2019 1:15 AM

Answers · 5

The ray guns are "blasting away". That means they are shooting. It can refer to noise also as in this example of a dictionary entry: make or cause to make a loud continuous musical or other noise. "music blasted out at full volume" So as the rays guns are shooting, they are also making a loud noise.

July 11, 2019

They are shooting. 'Blasting' emphasises the destruction and noise associated with this shooting.

July 11, 2019

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