Flirt with that question

[Lovemeordont]

<<Threads merged, please scroll down for new thread>>

This is a quotation from a piece of NPR news.

Am I as resourceful as Crusoe, Pi or Shackleton? I suppose I flirted with that question during my own small brush with nautical disaster.

I thought the word "flirt" means
to behave in a playful sexual manner towards someone.

like
Bill is always flirting with the women at the club. He's a bit of a ladies' man.
this.

But what I captured from NPR new today seems quite a bit diffrent.
Dose the word "flirt" has another meaning?
Please, interpret the first quotation I listed.

 

[Lukillas6]

flirt with also means "to deal playfully with something", "to toy with something".
Like in the phrase "She's flirting with danger!"
Let me know if it was of any use to you!

 

[Sylvia_scj]

To deal playfully, triflingly, or superficially with:
for example: flirt with danger

 

[ADCS]

This is a quotation from a piece of NPR news.

Am I as resourceful as Crusoe, Pi or Shackleton? I suppose I flirted with that question during my own small brush with nautical disaster.

I thought the word "flirt" means
to behave in a playful sexual manner towards someone.

like
Bill is always flirting with the women at the club. He's a bit of a ladies' man.
this.

But what I captured from NPR new today seems quite a bit diffrent.
Dose the word "flirt" has another meaning?
Please, interpret the first quotation I listed.

That is the dictionary definition, and strangely enough, the definition here as well! It's simply a figurative use of the word, as in, you're toying with the idea just as you toy with someone else when you flirt with them.

 

[Ovidius]

New question starts here

Hi all,

I wonder what this "flirt with" means in the following sentence:

Aristotle flirts with the idea of distinguishing between different senses in which one thing can be a part of another...

Thank you!

 

[Scholiast]

Greetings

Nice question. This is an elegant metaphor for "to entertain an idea - but only briefly or fleetingly". In the context of Aristotle's philosophy, it means he contemplates, or briefly discusses, the idea"

of distinguishing between different senses in which one thing can be a part of another...

, but not for very long, before dismissing it as philosophically incoherent or unacceptable.

I take it that you have already looked up "flirt" in its usual and primary sense(s).

Does this help?

Σ

 

[Ovidius]

flirt with also means "to deal playfully with something", "to toy with something".
Like in the phrase "She's flirting with danger!"
Let me know if it was of any use to you!

I see, thanks a lot!

 

[dhejejjeskms]

[This question added to existing thread. DonnyB - moderator.]

Hello.
Would you please let me know if the use of "Flirt" is natural in this following sentence (It is from a CNN article):

The Dow dipped just slightly and the S&P 500 flirted with an all-time high.

I thought the word "Flirt" is used to describe a behavior of people. Is it okay to use "Flirt" as like "Something flirts with~~"?
Thanks.

 

[suzi br]

Obviously it’s usually about humans but the more you think about this the more you will notice that metaphoric use of language is threaded through our everyday speech. This is an example of that.

 

[dhejejjeskms]

Thank you.