Dinghui
What does "trim" mean here? The pack has yet to produce a sub four-minute miler, although one runner did trim 18 seconds off his best time. Of course, that guy wasn’t running through a desert wearing 50 pounds of gear. Still, no one in a hurry would turn down a portable tailwind. What does "trim" mean here?Context: 20140928-Jetpack Keeps You Grounded But Faster Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier in 1954 with help from a couple of pacers, runners he closely followed til his final sprint. Sixty years later just about anyone could set a personal mile record—with help from a couple of jet engines strapped to their back. The U.S. military wanted to find a way to help soldiers hoof it through hostile territory at high speeds without getting exhausted. They turned to Arizona State University’s Human Machine Integration Laboratory. Engineers there came up with an 11-pound battery-powered backpack with two electric engines. The engines spin at about 60,000 RPM, producing about 15 pounds of instantaneous thrust. The researchers see the backpack as an alternative to outfitting soldiers with exoskeletons, which would have to be tailored to fit the individual soldier. The same jet backpack could be worn by anyone with few adjustments. The pack has yet to produce a sub four-minute miler, although one runner did trim 18 seconds off his best time. Of course, that guy wasn’t running through a desert wearing 50 pounds of gear. Still, no one in a hurry would turn down a portable tailwind. —Larry Greenemeier
Dec 5, 2016 3:11 PM
Answers · 5
1
Trim = deduct
December 5, 2016
In this context, "trim" means that the runner took 18 seconds off his record running time, so it was 18 seconds less than before. The verb trim means to take something away, generally used when cutting something. For example, when somebody is getting their hair cut, they can say "I got my hair trimmed", meaning they got a little bit cut off. So, here the runner cut his running time by 18 seconds. I hope this makes sense!
December 5, 2016
OK. Thank you for you advise! Next time, I will mark the relevant paragraph.
December 5, 2016
It would be helpful if you put the relevant word in CAPS in the text. We could find it quickly. You could have posted the last paragraph only. The others are not relevant to your question.
December 5, 2016
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