Extended meanings of Verbs

Often certain features of verbs are extended or generalized to some other related action. There are numerous verbs which undergo this process. The verb பற 'fly', for example, is used to mean someone's 'over enthusiasm' about something as understood in the following example.

சாப்பாடு சாப்பாடுண்ணு ஏன் இப்படி பறக்குறெ. கொஞ்ச நேரம் இரு. போடுவாங்க. 'Why are you so piggy about getting the food. Wait a while. You will be served with food'

In this type of extended meaning, there may or may not be any direct relationship between the original meaning and the extended meaning. One has to understand such extension of meanings through examples. Native speakers of Tamil learn to use this through hearing such expressions on a regular basis from various channels like day-to-day conversations, radio, movies etc. Following are some of the examples of the exended meanings of sample words.

சாப்பிடு (eat), முழுங்கு(swallow), ஏப்பம் விடு (burb) to mean 'finish off' something

அவன்கிட்டெ பணத்தைக் கொடுக்காதே! ஒரே நாள்ளெ எல்லாத்தையும் சாப்பிட்டுடுவான். 'Don't give any money to him. He will finish off everything within a day (lit. eat everything up - meaning spend it all).

தூங்கு to mean 'missed to do something' - lit. sleep

இந்த மாசம் வட்டி ரொம்ப கொறெச்சலா இருந்து. வீட்டுக் கடனெ மாத்தாம தூங்கிட்டேன். 'The interest rate was really low this month. I missed (slept) to refinance my home loan'.

மாத்துto beat up someone. - lit. change (from மாற்று)

திருடனெ போலிஸ் மாத்து மாத்துண்ணு மாத்திட்டாங்க. 'The police beat up the thief like anything'.

The verb வாங்கு 'buy/get' is also used in the meaning of 'beat up' as above.

அறு to mean bore someone - lit. cut

அந்த ஆளு கூட பேசவே எனக்குப் பிடிக்காது. அது இதுண்ணு சொல்லி ஒரே அறு அறுண்ணு அறுத்துடுவான். 'I don't like to talk to that person. He always say about something or other and would make me really bored'.

Similarly, the verb கொல் 'kill' and கடி 'bite' are also used to mean 'bore'.

முழி to mean 'be confused' - lit. blink

வகுப்புலெ பாடம் ஒண்ணும் புரியாமெ முழிச்சிக்கிட்டே உட்கார்ந்திருந்தேன். 'I didn't one thing in the class and I was so confused'. (lit. sitting there blinking my eyes).

மழை வரப் போகுது 'something unusual might happen' (lit. it is going to rain').