"stand on the shoulders of giants" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Extracted from dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants. Often attributed to Isaac Newton (see quotations), but in other forms already in use earlier.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stands on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "standing on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stood on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stood on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "stand<,,stood> on the shoulders of giants"
      },
      "expansion": "stand on the shoulders of giants (third-person singular simple present stands on the shoulders of giants, present participle standing on the shoulders of giants, simple past and past participle stood on the shoulders of giants)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "stand on someone's shoulders"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1675 February 5, Isaac Newton, “Newton to Hooke”, in H. W. Turnbull, editor, The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, Volume I: 1661–1675, Cambridge University Press, published 1959, page 416:",
          "text": "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987 January 27, Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address:",
          "text": "In this 200th anniversary year of our Constitution, you and I stand on the shoulders of giants—men whose words and deeds put wind in the sails of freedom.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Sam Williams, chapter 10, in Free as in Freedom, →ISBN:",
          "text": "\"In the western scientific tradition we stand on the shoulders of giants,\" says Young, echoing both Torvalds and Sir Isaac Newton before him.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, C. M. C. Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia, page xv:",
          "text": "It is useful, though, to remember the conclusion of the maxim: we stand on the shoulders of giants to see better and farther than they.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To build on the discoveries of others before one."
      ],
      "id": "en-stand_on_the_shoulders_of_giants-en-verb-NSvxznDa",
      "links": [
        [
          "build on",
          "build on"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, intransitive) To build on the discoveries of others before one."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Isaac Newton"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "stand on the shoulders of giants"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "stand on someone's shoulders"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Extracted from dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants. Often attributed to Isaac Newton (see quotations), but in other forms already in use earlier.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stands on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "standing on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stood on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stood on the shoulders of giants",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "stand<,,stood> on the shoulders of giants"
      },
      "expansion": "stand on the shoulders of giants (third-person singular simple present stands on the shoulders of giants, present participle standing on the shoulders of giants, simple past and past participle stood on the shoulders of giants)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1675 February 5, Isaac Newton, “Newton to Hooke”, in H. W. Turnbull, editor, The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, Volume I: 1661–1675, Cambridge University Press, published 1959, page 416:",
          "text": "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987 January 27, Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address:",
          "text": "In this 200th anniversary year of our Constitution, you and I stand on the shoulders of giants—men whose words and deeds put wind in the sails of freedom.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Sam Williams, chapter 10, in Free as in Freedom, →ISBN:",
          "text": "\"In the western scientific tradition we stand on the shoulders of giants,\" says Young, echoing both Torvalds and Sir Isaac Newton before him.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, C. M. C. Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia, page xv:",
          "text": "It is useful, though, to remember the conclusion of the maxim: we stand on the shoulders of giants to see better and farther than they.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To build on the discoveries of others before one."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "build on",
          "build on"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, intransitive) To build on the discoveries of others before one."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Isaac Newton"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "stand on the shoulders of giants"
}