contain
part of speech
verb (contain, contains, contained, containing)
meaning for a pupil
1) To contain means to have something inside. A box that contains toys has toys in it. tree →
2) To contain also means to be made of or to include: food that contains sugar. tree →
3) To contain something is to keep it under control, like containing a fire. tree →
sense in the lessons
maths: tells how many things are inside a box, bag or pack; often «each box contains 6», which is a rate; science: water contains oxygen and hydrogen; everyday life and safety: food labels say what a food contains (nuts, milk); a container holds things
examples
- The disciples of Pythagoras looked upon the decade as a holy number, and swore by it and by the Tetraktys which contain the number ten, (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
- All the other commentaries mentioned above, together with all quotations of other expounders of the same book, contain nothing but a medley of arbitrary, mystical explanations and sophistical distortions of scriptural verses, astrological notions, oriental (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
- ] sions contain only obouth tiOO words of the original Safer (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
- So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open; (Prophets JER.32.11, JPS 1917) tree →
- And he made ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths; and every laver was four cubits; and upon every one of the ten bases one laver. (Prophets 1KI.7.38, JPS 1917) tree →
- But will God in very truth dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded! (Prophets 1KI.8.27, JPS 1917) tree →
- Each box contains 12 crayons. tree →
- A bag contains 5 red and 3 blue marbles. tree →
- The jar contained 40 cookies. tree →
- How many pencils do 4 packs contain? tree →
- This cake contains nuts. tree →
- Fruit contains vitamins. tree →
- The firefighters contained the fire. tree →
- The book contains 20 stories. tree →
- Before her stood a glass bowl containing four gold-fish. tree →
note
«Each … contains n» is a rate: total = n × number of boxes, or boxes = total ÷ n. Trap: «contains 5 red and 3 blue» means the total is the sum, 8. Safety: read labels if you have an allergy.
In the corpora
- Coffee contains caffeine, which makes the brain feel more awake; people who drink it every morning feel slow and grumpy without it.
- Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, because it contains a chemical that dogs cannot break down well.
- Rhubarb stalks are safe to eat cooked, but rhubarb leaves are poisonous because they contain a lot of oxalic acid.
- Green potatoes and potato sprouts contain a mild poison, so they should not be eaten.
- Chocolate contains theobromine, which dogs break down very slowly, so it can make them very ill, dark chocolate most of all.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «contain» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.