Pinball meaning in English

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Definition

a pinball machine: a game played in bars: the object is to flip the balls against pins or into holes noun

Examples

"I hadn't given it much thought, but I did notice a giant pinball machine in the computer lab."
"Bob : Oh yeah, the pinball machine."
"I used to be quite the pinball wizard back in Paris."
"Icarus : A pinball machine for a computer laboratory is highly unorthodox for a cosmetics company."
"Bob : I know it was wrong, but, really there's a lot of interesting research being done on pinball technology these days."
"A pinball machine for a computer laboratory is highly unorthodox for a cosmetics company."
"It says "PINBALL"."
"So we had this extra money and, well I've always loved pinball..."

Exercise 1

Bruno says, "I used to be quite the pinball wizard back in Paris".
What does he mean by this?

Bruno used to inspect pinball machines in Paris.

Bruno was an expert at pinball when he was living in Paris.

Bruno used to be a magician in Paris when he was younger.

Bruno is accustomed to going back to Paris to play pinball.

I don't know

Bruno says, "I used to be quite the pinball wizard back in Paris".
What does he mean by this?

Bruno used to inspect pinball machines in Paris.

Bruno does suggest that he wants to "do an on-site inspection of the machine" which means that he is going to examine the pinball machine in Bob's computer laboratory. There is not, however, any suggestion that Bruno inspected pinball machines when he lived in Paris.

Bruno was an expert at pinball when he was living in Paris.

A "pinball wizard" is someone who is very good at pinball. The expression "back in Paris" means "while living in Paris". Bruno is stating that he used to be very good at pinball when he lived in Paris. "Used to" describes an action that occurred for a period of time in the past. Example: I used to smoke, but now I've quit.

Bruno used to be a magician in Paris when he was younger.

The term "wizard" is a synonym of "magician", however Bruno is not suggesting that he used to be a "magician". His use of the term "wizard" is to indicate that he was very good at pinball.

Bruno is accustomed to going back to Paris to play pinball.

The expression to "get used to" playing pinball means to get "in the habit of" playing pinball or "feeling comfortable" playing pinball on a regular basis. This does not express the same meaning as "Bruno used to be" good at playing pinball, which means Bruno was good at pinball for a period of time in the past.

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