Talk:moist

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"About to cry." Equinox ◑ 17:55, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted. Equinox ◑ 02:38, 21 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Request for verification 2[edit]

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We have seven senses, one that I've just added, one that's at RFV and seems to be just plain wrong, and these:

  1. Slightly wet.
  2. (of air) damp or humid.
  3. Filled with, characterised, or suggestive of liquid or moisture.
  4. Not dry, not dried out

Not sure how these four are separate. Isn't air moist are slightly wet? What does suggestive of liquid mean? Not dry surely just means "slightly wet". Oh and finally

  1. (of the eyes) tearful.

Really? How. Google Books gets a lot of hits for google books:"eyes are|were wet", but most of them just seem to be for various reasons (rain, straining them, etc.) Mglovesfun (talk) 13:20, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Only 3 and 4 are not found in MWOnline. "Moist" could have about as many senses as "wet" (12 @ MWO) or "dry" (32 @ MWO) do or at least as many as are on a continuum defined by "wet" and "dry" as poles. For example, "wet" as in "wet paint" is distinguished from other senses of "wet" and "moist paint" has 300+ hits at bgc. Is that included in "slightly wet"? It actually seems closer to sense 4. "Moist", "wet", and "dry" all seem to have senses that are relative to what is "normal" or "typical" for the nouns which they modify. I could imagine two generic senses: "slightly wet" (sense 1); "not completely dry" (sense 4, modified); "tearful"; and some other senses where neither "wet" nor "dry" are normally poles of the same attribute.
On a hunch, I just looked "moist goods", by analogy to dry goods. More than 300 hits at bgc. That might be a set phrase in special contexts, but it suggests that "moist" probably shares many applications with "wet" and "dry" do. DCDuring TALK 17:06, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
That seems relevant to the entry though not relevant to my questions. There might be, eventually, 30 definitions of moist, I'mnot challenging that. I'm just challenging the current ones. If some of these are distinct, the wording doesn't tell me how. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:28, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Au contraire. A definition is not independent of the other definitions for the PoS that appear in the entry. The issue is how to we achieve coverage of the range of usage. In this case, there are two approaches to covering the range of usage. One is to define "moist" in reference to "dry" and "wet" wherever possible. The other is to have a structure of definitions that parallels MWO's approach to "wet" and "dry". DCDuring TALK 19:14, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Not dry surely just means "slightly wet". --well, not exactly. Moist lips are lips that are not dried out, but they are not necessarlly slightly wet: they are suggestive of containing or being filled with moisture. I think senses "Filled with, characterised, or suggestive of liquid or moisture" and "Not dry, not dried out" can be on the same line. Leasnam 16:01, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, this already occurred to me.If I poured a larged bucket of water over a small sponge, it would be not dry, but unless evidence shows otherwise, it wouldn't be moist it would be (deprecated template usage) soaking or (deprecated template usage) drenched (etc.) So (IMO, unless evidence shows otherwise) this sense of moist only applies to things that are slightly wet, hence it is redundant. Mglovesfun (talk) 16:15, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I see where you're going. It would be ambiguous and is probably not a good definition because it leaves an open end...A better one then might be "containing some moisture, as to not be dry or dried out"? or a qualifier for (of skin, lips) might be needed. Leasnam 15:31, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Request for verification 3[edit]

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Rfv-sense: soft, supple. In the use example, "moist lips" refers to lips that are somewhat wet. While something that's moist may also be supple, I don't think moist on its own means supple. Evidence? Mglovesfun (talk) 11:48, 26 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The opposite of moist is dry, and dry things tend to be stiff and hard to bend. It does make sense to me at least... —CodeCat 01:22, 29 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but that's not a definition, is it? Someone who's intelligent may be educated, and someone who's educated may be intelligent, it doesn't mean that "educated" is a definition for "intelligent" or vice versa. It's just a mental association between two ideas. Mglovesfun (talk) 12:54, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Has already been removed. - -sche (discuss) 23:52, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]


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