Please help me explain some of these phrases.

Factual Questions
1

Hi,
I’ve been browsing through Simon Schama’s ““The Story of the Jews””
I hope you can help me explain some of these phrase. I look forward to your feedback.
davidmich

  1. “have purchase on”
    “Outside of a circle of scholars, this first rich, Jewish story has had virtually no purchase on the common memory of Jewish tradition” (p. 26)…

meaning: have no hold on/nothing to do with/ have no resonance with/have no meaning for???

  1. “For two days the armed mob was held at bay, but in the end the force of numbers told”…
    meaning: (force of numbers told=the force of numbers overwhelmed??/overcame the resistance??)p. 299.

high-domed?? …
3. High-domed Germans, French and British Egyptologists found his(Charles Edwin Wilbour) Yankee enthusiasm entertaining, sometimes even useful. p. 6

pith-helmeted dominion???

  1. “Needless to say, the British, whose pith-helmeted dominion Egypt had become, were not far behind. Papyri and inscribed clay potsherds -ostraca-duly ended up in the usual destinations----Oxford and the British Museum…”

“did for him”… Common usage would be: “almost did him in”
5.
“When the water rose so high and the roof descended, sewage punting had to be abandoned for heavy wading, the onrushing foul water lapping about his face. Its unexpected force caused Warren (Captain Charles Warren) to swallow the pencil held between his teeth, triggering a choking fit that almost did for him”. p. 60

2

‘Have no hold on’ would be closest, though he could mean something like resonance.

There’s not enough context, either of your definitions might work. It means the ‘force of the numbers’ was a deciding factor

Not familiar with it and the context is not clear to me. They could mean ‘high-domed’ in the sense of ‘egg-head’, or maybe something else.

The Brits wore pith helmets.

Not familiar with the term but I would assume you are correct and it means “almost did him in”

3

“Had no purchase on” pretty much means “had no hold on” or “made no lasting imprint on”.

“The force of numbers told”: One side (presumably the armed mob) won because of its greater numbers.

“High-domed”: I believe this is a way of saying intellectual snobbery.

“Pith-helmeted dominion”: The British Empire included a lot of tropical territory, and pith helmets were a common feature of British outfits (particularly, of explorers etc.) in such places.

“Did for him”: An old expression for “killed him”. (Specifically, “that’ll do for him” means “That will be sufficient to kill him”.) It survives today in the expression “He’s done for” meaning “He’s as good as dead”.

4

“High-domed” is like high-brow, in the snobby sense of the term.

Regards,
Shodan

5

Yes, one of the definitions of ‘purchase’ is a firm hold or grip, or a position on something for applying power advantageously, as in the car’s wheels could not gain purchase on the icy road.

6

Overall these phrases sound British and/or early 1900s archaic. IOW, rather Edwardian.

Other than “did for him” which is still current British usage I would not expect to write them today nor read them in contemporary sources.