[Ads-l] nod

[Barretts Mail]

In "QOTY nominee: "Truth isn't truth” on this list (today), Peter Reitan writes:

"It was Sharknado VI - It's About Time (with nods to Back to the Future, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Monty Python and the Holy Grail) that debuted this past weekend.”

The English Oxford Living Dictionaries (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nod <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nod>) says: "A gesture of acknowledgement or concession to.”

I don’t think there is any gesture here, but the example sentences include similar uses:

—— 
‘There even appears to be a nod to her own back pages in ‘Push’, which confirms Europe as a major musical influence.’
‘In a nod to health, a minor one, they had margarine instead of butter.’
——

I suppose “gesture” can be considered some abstract reference, but such a definition is not provided (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gesture <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gesture>).

Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nod <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nod>) has, "A reference or allusion to something”, which I think better covers this meaning of “nod”.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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