Word: signal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...chance that your call somehow avoids the insidious traps of the "Call Waiting" conspiracy, when you are finally connected to the other line you will probably just ask them if they can call back later. This is the same as a busy signal--but with one difference: the phone company makes money with the connection...
...alcoholism toward my growing problem. One hint was my immediate tendency to drink to unconsciousness. At parties, I would often fall asleep in mid-hullabaloo on the couch. That drew plenty of jokes at the time. Only much later did I recognize that I had been passing out. Another signal was an initial, abnormally high tolerance for alcohol, at least until the passing-out stage. I thought I could hold my liquor pretty well. Now I think it means that my body was being less dutiful than most in handling overdoses of a hazardous chemical. (Years later, when only...
Some Kremlinologists speculated that Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev used the new appointment to signal that he was very much in charge. But the Soviet % leader also seemed anxious to reassure ordinary citizens that Yeltsin's discharge had been warranted. In a widely publicized speech to senior party leaders at week's end, Gorbachev did not mention Yeltsin by name but criticized officials whose management decisions "bring society to a fever" and "unnerve people" -- charges that were leveled by many against the abrasive Moscow party chief during the meeting that preceded his downfall. Gorbachev also threatened to "part company" with those...
...failure to forge a compromise would have been a major signal of total impotence in Washington's corridors of power. Indeed, symbolism was the order of the day: showing the jittery financial community that Washington could take action was just as important as coming up with a viable package of taxes and budget trimmings...
...wave of "interactive" shows, like Mattel's Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. The show, a live-action space adventure, enables children to play along at certain points by shooting at villains on-screen with a special Power Jet weapon (cost: $30 to $40). An electronic signal responds to each "hit" and tots up the . player's score. Charren argues that by encouraging children to buy an expensive toy to participate, such shows unfairly divide the young audience into "the haves and the have-nots...