Question

from the pillar of light
one of the last to claim her attention was the young american, mr. pyne. her face lit up pleasurably when she saw him.
\i was wondering what had become of you,\ she said. \my sister has asked me several times if you had arrived, and i imagined that i must have missed you by some chance.\
now all this was greek to him, or nearly so. indeed, had it been intelligible greek, he might have guessed its purport more easily.
holding the glass in his hand he looked at her in frank, open - eyed wonder. to be hailed so gleefully by a good - looking girl, whom he had never to his knowledge set eyes on, was somewhat of a mystery, and the puzzle was made all the more difficult by the fact that she had discarded the weather - proof accoutrements needed when she first ventured forth on the gallery.
(from the pillar of light by louis tracy)
select the definition of the word purport.
word in passage definition of word
purport

difficulty
meaning
source
topic

Explanation:

To determine the definition of "purport" in the passage, we analyze the context. The sentence says that if the words had been intelligible Greek, he might have guessed its "purport" more easily. This implies that "purport" relates to what the words were trying to convey, i.e., their meaning. "Difficulty" refers to a problem, "source" refers to origin, and "topic" refers to a subject, none of which fit the context as well as "meaning".

Answer:

meaning