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 malina170380

link 9.08.2018 15:47 
Subject: wrennish dress gen.
Пожалуйста, помогите перевести wrennish dress. Выражение встречается в следующем контексте: She was tall, and her light brown hair and her dark brown eyes set the tone for her wrennish dress. Заранее спасибо

 Procto

link 9.08.2018 15:59 
В английском нет слова wrennish. Однако оно может значить "серое, невзрачное".

 Procto

link 9.08.2018 16:03 

 интроьверт

link 9.08.2018 16:47 
-ish в современном английском можно приделать к чему угодно

 johnstephenson

link 10.08.2018 14:39 
интроьверт +1

It's an invented word. It could relate to the bird or, if the text relates to the UK/former British Empire, it could possibly mean a dress (like or shaped like) those worn by the "Wrens" = members of the UK's former Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) – although their uniforms were blue.

 johnstephenson

link 11.08.2018 14:13 
Any reaction, malina170380...?

 Tamerlane

link 12.08.2018 20:58 
Here they provide a few other noteworthy definitions of the term 'wren':
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Wren

Wren
1) A girl, usually with brown hair, that has a happy-go-lucky look on life. She's pretty book smart, but sure knows how to party. With a good smile, she is the type that makes her best guy friend fall in love with her. And every guy that she knows, will at least once have a thing for her.

5) Skinhead girl, variation on the term "bird."
The skinhead talked only with his wren paying attention to no other girls. By her short hair and boots she was identified as a wren.

9) Wren is a person who has very low self esteem, but never lets that show. Wren uses humor to mask their insecurities. Wren is an hilarious, smart, and outgoing person who loves to make someone laugh. Wren has a lot of problems with love life, but doesn't worry too much about it. Wren is someone who is a shoulder to cry on, no matter how broken they are.

 Tamerlane

link 12.08.2018 21:05 
johnstephenson +1

Here's a sentence written by a native speaker of English (Ronald Wright) that contains the term 'wrennish':

The cathedral's design is oddly Wrennish — Ionic columns along the facade and a blue tiled dome.

 Tamerlane

link 12.08.2018 21:14 
Please ignore the 13.08.2018 0:05 example - it appears to be related to architect Sir Christopher Wren.

 Tamerlane

link 12.08.2018 21:21 
More context HERE

 johnstephenson

link 12.08.2018 21:49 
Tamerlane: The passage is from the humorous book The Bestseller by Olivia Goldsmith, a US author (1949-2004) writing about five people competing with each other to write a best-selling book to be printed by a New York publisher. One of them is Camilla, a lady from the English Midlands who's writing her book whilst travelling around Italy. Apparently the book came out in 1996; I don't know which period the book's set in.

Hmmm.... Your No 1 may be right, although I'd always beware of the Urban Dictionary as there's so much rubbish in it. However, the passage actually describes her dress, rather than her, as "wrennish", so it could just mean 'the colour of a wren [bird]' as others have suggested.

If you want to explore the context further, you can see more of the book here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YpvNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT20&lpg=PT20&dq="her+dark+brown+eyes+set+the+tone+for+her+wrennish+dress"&source=bl&ots=hZDiZnNPkw&sig=25J12cmmSVXsN2EeIcqseYu2jvI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjszIbmt-jcAhWLmLQKHfXMDIIQ6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q="her dark brown eyes set the tone for her wrennish dress"&f=false

 johnstephenson

link 12.08.2018 21:50 
Ha! Sorry, Tamerlane, you beat me to it with your link!

 johnstephenson

link 12.08.2018 22:08 
Interestingly, if you look through malina170380's previous questions to the MT forum, you'll find that she's posted a total of 32 questions since joining it 7 years ago. In that time she's thanked other people who have helped her.... just twice.

How long does it take to type 'Спасибо'/'Спасибо всем'?

 Tamerlane

link 12.08.2018 22:23 
Miss Tolerance went down the stairs, enough absorbed in her thoughts that she did not, at first, realize that someone was calling her name softly. She looked for the source of the summons. It came from a little woman in a wrennish brown dress, who might have been the apprentice of the severely dressed woman Miss Tolerance had met in the house a few times. Only her bruises, and her toothless smile, made her recognizable as Betty Strokum.

 Tamerlane

link 12.08.2018 22:26 
The dominating colors of their plumage are generally drab, composed of gray, brown, black, and white, and most species show some barring, especially to tail and/or wings.

 johnstephenson

link 12.08.2018 22:37 
That (1:23) looks quite convincing, even though it's from a different novel. I quite like the idea of Sir Christopher Wren wearing dresses, though!

 

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