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What does to live in an ivory tower mean?
Definition of ivory tower 1 : an impractical often escapist attitude marked by aloof lack of concern with or interest in practical matters or urgent problems. 2 : a secluded place that affords the means of treating practical issues with an impractical often escapist attitude especially : a place of learning.
Where does the phrase live in an ivory tower come from?
It originates with the Song of Songs 7:4 (“Your neck is like an ivory tower”; in the Hebrew Masoretic text, it is found in 7:5) and was included in the epithets for Mary in the sixteenth century Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary (“tower of ivory”, turris eburnea in Latin), though the title and image were in use long …
What is an ivory life?
said to mean that someone’s lifestyle or their work prevents them from experiencing the problems experienced by ordinary people, and so they remain generally unaware of these problems.
How do you use the phrase ivory tower?
a state of mind that is discussed as if it were a place.
- I think you live in an ivory tower.
- Departmental barriers and ivory tower attitudes are detrimental to good results.
- Fog had slipped through a crack into the ivory tower.
- They view colleges as an ivory tower.
- The professor lived in an ivory tower.
What is an elbow room?
Definition of elbow room 1a : room for moving the elbows freely. b : adequate space for work or operation a lab with plenty of elbow room.
Who lives in an ivory tower?
If you describe someone as living in an ivory tower, you mean that they have no knowledge or experience of the practical problems of everyday life.
What does white ivory tower mean?
An ivory tower is a place — or an atmosphere — where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world. The phrase most often describes academia, and it’s been around since the early twentieth century, from the French tour d’ivoire.
What does it mean to live in an ivory tower?
an ivory tower. COMMON If you say that someone is in an ivory tower, you mean that they are protected from the problems of ordinary life and are not aware of how ordinary people live. They’re all out of touch — they live up in a little ivory tower, and they don’t see what’s going on down here.
What is the best definition of a tower?
1 : a building or structure typically higher than its diameter and high relative to its surroundings that may stand apart (such as a campanile) or be attached (such as a church belfry) to a larger structure and that may be fully walled in or of skeleton framework (such as an observation or transmission tower) 2 : a towering citadel : fortress.
What is a tower for kids?
Kids Definition of tower. (Entry 1 of 2) : a building or structure that is higher than its length or width, is higher than most of what surrounds it, and may stand by itself or be attached to a larger structure.