frock that would not meet

Hello,
for those who don't know yet :) I'm translating a new edition of Peter Pan.
My problem is this:
Se waited in a new frock because the old one simply would not meet; but he never came.
She= Wendy
He= Peter who should pay a visit to her afer a year
Question: meet?
1) was no longer suitable for the occasion because he had already seen her in it
2) it did not fit anymore, it was too tight because she had grown out of it
I would say the second but...
thank you.

I would say the first.

"...the old one simply would not meet the occasion..."


meet
to fulfil, satisfy, or achieve
The workers' demands for higher pay were not met by the management.
We haven't yet been able to find a house that meets our needs/requirements.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/meet_3

yes, I think you are right, giving it a second thought. I too knew this meaning of "meet". The odd thing is an older translation (not done by me) I have is like "it did not fit". I was misled. But of course it can be a mistake.
Anybody else with any more ideas?
I do trust you, Grubble, anyway. Thanks! And very many thanks for the help you gave me all along.

Hi ciop

My immediate reaction is that it means (2) - the dress no longer fitted, it was too small.

I'll go off and see if I can find the broader context:).


EDIT: Yes, I think the clue lies in this earlier paragraph:

Michael believed longer than the other boys, though they jeered at him; so he was with Wendy when Peter came for her at the end of the first year. She flew away with Peter in the frock she had woven from leaves and berries in the Neverland, and her one fear was that he might notice how short it had become; but he never noticed, he had so much to say about himself.

Click to expand...

(source)

I agree that it means it no longer fits. She is growing up (and outgrowing her clothes) while Peter is not.

ciop said:

yes, I think you are right, giving it a second thought. I too knew this meaning of "meet". The odd thing is an older translation (not done by me) I have is like "it did not fit". I was misled. But of course it can be a mistake.
Anybody else with any more ideas?
I do trust you, Grubble, anyway. Thanks! And very many thanks for the help you gave me all along.

Click to expand...

Of course in English this ambiguity continues. "To fit" can refer to clothes in both senses as well!

Example
The clothes did not fit, nor were they fit for purpose. I imagine that both of these meanings came from the same root. At some point in history the meaning migrated from "suitable" to "size". The difficult part is knowing exactly when.

Can you preserve the ambiguity in your translation? That would solve the problem ;)

thank you to you all: I will find an ambiguous solution :-)

Added to previous thread.
Cagey, moderator

Hi everyone, please, from Peter Pan:

so he was with Wendy when Peter came for her at the end of the first year. She flew away with Peter in the frock she had woven from leaves and berries in the Neverland, and her one fear was that he might notice how short it had become;

Later in the book:

Next year he did not come for her. She waited in a new frock because the old one simply would not meet;

There is a previous thread on this but I want your opinion please, I find it weird that the verb to meet doesn't have a complement. Meet what?

frock that would not meet

Thank you!

I would imagine that not only did she become taller [he might notice how short it (the dress) had become], but also wider. Her figure matured when she got older, and her dress would not button; the sides would not meet.

Gabriel Aparta said:

Meet what?

Click to expand...

Meet itself - the other end of the same frock.

Like the picture on the left here:



The sides won't meet any more because she has grown out of the dress.

More support for the "outgrown" sense, from Dissipation by Anne Raikes Harding (London, 1827).

"... she continued to drag a frock so outgrown that it was with difficulty her arms were thrust in: the shoulders would not be hid from public gaze by a garment of dimensions so scanty; nor were the shoulders more exposed than the ancles, although a wide lace had been hastily tacked on, as numerous rips testified, in order to lengthen it. Her sash, too, was soiled and bore evidence of long and laborious service; it now served to cover the space where the frock would not meet."

and from Youth on the Prow By lady Emma Carolina Wood (London, 1867).

"I had no fine clothes; there was my little grey silk frock—I grew out of it —it was so tight it stifled me, and my shoes, they would wear out, and all my things grew shabbier and shabbier, and the young ladies used to laugh and nudge each other because my frock would not meet behind and my shoes were out at the toes and down at heel."

Gabriel Aparta wrote: "I find it weird that the verb to meet doesn't have a complement."

In the phrase "the old [frock] ... would not meet" the word meet is an intransitive verb; there is no entry for "to be suitable, appropriate" in the OED under the intransitive uses of meet. The adjective meet has that meaning "appropriate, suitable" as in "It is meet that the ambassador attend the funeral", but the lexical verb, when used intransitively, does not. It needs a direct object for that meaning. So the meaning is "would not join together", that is, would no longer fit the person wearing it.