Loomed up

Marius Hancu

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 12:44:19 PM7/21/08

to

Hello:

Is "to loom up" a phrasal verb:

----------
It was marked by two tall white posts that suddenly loomed up on their
right.

The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 103
----------

or should the above be read:

"white posts that suddenly loomed / up on their right/.

?

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

Derek Turner

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 1:49:44 PM7/21/08

to

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:44:19 -0400, Marius Hancu wrote:

> Hello:
>
> Is "to loom up" a phrasal verb:

yes

Marius Hancu

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 2:20:42 PM7/21/08

to

On Jul 21, 1:49 pm, Derek Turner <frde...@cesmail.net> wrote:

> > Is "to loom up" a phrasal verb:
>
> yes

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

Django Cat

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 2:31:28 PM7/21/08

to

> Marius Hancu wrote

>or should the above be read:
>
>"white posts that suddenly loomed / up on their right/.
>

>

No!

--

Glenn Knickerbocker

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 4:03:51 PM7/21/08

to

Marius Hancu wrote:
> Is "to loom up" a phrasal verb:

> or should the above be read:
> "white posts that suddenly loomed / up on their right/.

I'd say neither. "Up" and "on their right" both modify "loom."
This is no different from "I went there on Sunday."

ŹR

John Dean

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 5:56:12 PM7/21/08

to

Marius Hancu wrote:
> Hello:
>
> Is "to loom up" a phrasal verb:

Yes, but 'loom' can also be used with 'large' and also entirely on its own -
things may loom eg through mist or cloud.

>
> ----------
> It was marked by two tall white posts that suddenly loomed up on their
> right.
>
> The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 103
> ----------
>
> or should the above be read:
>
> "white posts that suddenly loomed / up on their right/.
>

Nope

Examples from OED:

1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vii. 55 Here smokes a Castle, there a City
fumes, And here a Ship upon the Ocean looms ... 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine
(1780) s.v. Looming, She looms large afore the wind. Ibid. ii, Mirer, to
loom, or appear indistinctly. 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. vi. 87 We saw
the land looming. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxvi. 136 A great ship loomed
up out of the fog. ... 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 112 Still the summit
loomed above us. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xiv, A mist through which Mr.
Inspector loomed vague and large. 1900 J. G. Frazer Pausanias, etc. 53 The
haze through which the sun's disc looms red and lurid.

--
John Dean
Oxford

jerry_f...@yahoo.com

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 10:05:15 PM7/21/08

to

On Jul 21, 10:44 am, Marius Hancu <NOS...@videotron.ca> wrote:
> Hello:
>
> Is "to loom up" a phrasal verb:
>
> ----------
> It was marked by two tall white posts that suddenly loomed up on their
> right.
>
> The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 103
> ----------

Note to self: resume reading a.u.e.

> or should the above be read:
>
> "white posts that suddenly loomed / up on their right/.
>
> ?

As people have said, the posts loomed in the upward direction on the
hobbits' right. (Nothing ever looms down. Or sideways.)

--
Jerry Friedman

Marius Hancu

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 10:28:18 PM7/21/08

to

On Jul 21, 5:56 pm, "John Dean" <john-d...@fraglineone.net> wrote:

> Examples from OED:

> 136 A great ship loomed up out of the fog. ...

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

Marius Hancu

unread,

Jul 21, 2008, 10:30:59 PM7/21/08

to

Yes, forget theory, say it as it is:-)

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

Roland Hutchinson

unread,

Jul 22, 2008, 12:25:42 AM7/22/08

to

jerry_f...@yahoo.com wrote:

Despite the fact that nothing ever looms down or sideways I feel there's a
difference between "looming up" and just plain "looming".

When something looms, it just sits there, looming.

When something looms up, it may or may not have been sitting there looming
all along, but looming _up_ involves coming into the observers view or
awareness.

It's definitely a phrasal verb, and stressed as such in the sentence.

--
Roland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food.

NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to
remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it.

Evan Kirshenbaum

unread,

Jul 25, 2008, 12:19:30 PM7/25/08

to

"jerry_f...@yahoo.com" <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> writes:

> As people have said, the posts loomed in the upward direction on the
> hobbits' right. (Nothing ever looms down. Or sideways.)

I get a couple of hundred readable Google Books hits for "loomed
down", the first from Dickens' _Little Dorrit_ (1855):

Here and there a Hatchment, with the whole science of Heraldry in
it, loomed down upon the street, like an Archbishop discoursing on
Vanity.

Another seven hundred "loomed out", which is something like looming
sideways.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |The misinformation that passes for
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |gospel wisdom about English usage
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |is sometimes astounding.
| Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com | of English Usage
(650)857-7572

http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

jerry_f...@yahoo.com

unread,

Jul 25, 2008, 3:56:24 PM7/25/08

to

On Jul 25, 10:19 am, Evan Kirshenbaum <kirshenb...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:

> "jerry_fried...@yahoo.com" <jerry_fried...@yahoo.com> writes:
> > As people have said, the posts loomed in the upward direction on the
> > hobbits' right. (Nothing ever looms down. Or sideways.)
>
> I get a couple of hundred readable Google Books hits for "loomed
> down", the first from Dickens' _Little Dorrit_ (1855):
>
> Here and there a Hatchment, with the whole science of Heraldry in
> it, loomed down upon the street, like an Archbishop discoursing on
> Vanity.

Huh. I've even read one of them (Bujold). A very small sample
suggested there were a lot from the nineteenth century and the last
decade or two.

> Another seven hundred "loomed out", which is something like looming
> sideways.

Something like it. Things tend to loom out of the dark, fog, etc., as
they approach you or vice-versa, and I think "loom" is appropriate
because of the apparent upward motion of the upper part as the object
gets closer.

--
Jerry Friedman