Antonia  +  115585 Tue, 05 Jul 05 04:29 PM Hello! What is the meaning of this expression in the sentence: They were away from home and they went through Woodstock like a withering flame. Thank you Antonia Joined on Fri, Mar 11 2005 Contributing Member 1,266

	pieanne  +  115622 Tue, 05 Jul 05 06:06 PM A withering flame is a fading, extinguishing flame; a flower withers, falters. The connotation here (with the flame) is not positive, but I'd need more context, Antonia... pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	Antonia  +  115660 Tue, 05 Jul 05 09:43 PM Hi Pieanne! Well, there's a  rather long paragrah in the book I'm reading at the moment. It's about two Orson Welles's associates who were homosexuals. He begins his story about their cooperation by talking about the life of the two men. The sentence that precedes the one I mentioned before is: Oh it was wild because these two fellows were at the absolute high pitch of their sexuality! And then he goes on talking how the two of them were constantly trying to find somebody (i.e. person to have sex with) Thank you Antonia

	maj  +  115669 Tue, 05 Jul 05 10:04 PM Because they were too scared to admit that they love each other deeply and   one of them the male in this particular case was more stubborn than the other. I hope this post helps you get the meaning of it clearly. maj Joined on Mon, Mar 31 2003 Senior Member 4,756

	MrPedantic  +  115682 Tue, 05 Jul 05 10:44 PM Hello Antonia Flame 'withers' neighbouring vegetation. For instance, if you have a bonfire in your garden, the grass near the bonfire 'withers'. Here, the context suggests that 'they' went on the sexual rampage in Woodstock. You could say that they 'cut a swathe' through the eligible inhabitants. The metaphor seems (at first glance) slightly inaccurate: the vegetation that is 'withered' is not in the path of the 'flame', but to the side; whereas the vegetation in its path is e.g.'devoured'. The latter case would seem to apply to 'their' sexual partners. MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris... Metaphors

	Antonia  +  115811 Wed, 06 Jul 05 10:30 AM That makes sense Mr P.. (I was confused: How it could be withering if they were at height of their sexuality!?) Thank you all Antonia