What's the meaning of these sentences? 1. "He quickly reached for his cold glass of water before the slightly overweight, sweating blonde got to him, beaming and battering eyelashes with unfortunately

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What's the meaning of these sentences? 1. "He quickly reached for his cold glass of water before the slightly overweight, sweating blonde got to him, beaming and battering eyelashes with unfortunately clogged mascara." This is a sentance from a novel. The man is a famous yippy health guru and motivational expert. The woman is a fan of the man. This man would like to sleep with many girls. So what's the meaning of "beaming and battering eyelashes". I know beam means "send light" and batter means "jerk"， but what's the meaning here? 2. "This one wasn’t on his ‘ten’ list, but she was a little imperfect, which he liked, and extremely keen to get to know him, which he liked even more." Actually the man didn't like or satisfied with the woman very much, so he said she wasn't on his ten lists. I don't know what's the meaning of "ten list". Is the "ten" means ten beautiful girls, or ten characteristics of woman he prefer, or his ten standards when he choose woman to sleep with? Thank you so much!

Dec 2, 2014 4:09 AM

Answers · 11

"Beaming" literally means to shine out a beam of light, like a lighthouse or a flashlight beam. Figuratively, it means a big smile that involves the whole face, including the eyes. The woman is "beaming" and she is also "battering eyelashes." "Battering" is a slightly odd word here, the idiomatic phrase is "batting eyelashes" or "batting eyes." As you are aware, the woman is being flirtatious and wants to attract the man. The man sees the woman as unattractive and does not want to encourage her approach.

December 2, 2014

1) battering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51WSvjzWACI (if you can see!) Same as fluttering eyelashes, like a butterfly, She's is flirting with him in a very obvious way. Usually "beaming" would be said "beaming eyes". It's a metaphor, meaning if feels like light is shining from their eyes to you. 2) I don't know. I can only think 'top ten' but that's doesn't make sense. Maybe something mentioned earlier in the novel.

December 2, 2014

Answer to question (2) - There is a common practice of rating things and experiences from 1 to 10 with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. Some men (at least some American men) will rate women from 1 to 10. Yes, this practice is sexist but it is still done (AFAIK). There was a 1979 movie starring Bo Derek titled "10". The idea was that some women were so beautiful that they were a "perfect 10" (a "10" with no faults whatsoever). The impression I get from your question is that a "ten list" is a list of women whom the yoga guru rates as a "10".

December 2, 2014

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