Defining 控える and 控えている `` as far as I can tell behaves more predictably than `` in that it generally seems to mean "to refrain" and "to make notes" (as in ``.) However, `` seems to mean many more things including "expecting (a baby)", "to be soon", "waiting (for)", "facing", "contend with" and "abstain from": > > Is she expecting a child? > > 1 > be just a year away. > > > The messenger is waiting in the next room. > > > There is a mountain behind his country cottage. > > > The company has many difficulties to contend with. > > > He abstains from meat for health reasons. Would I be able to ask how to define `` and ``, how they have come to mean so many things and whether there's a way of determining what `` means in a given context?

Found two dictionaries: goo and alc. (Any good Japanese-English dictionaries that I can reference here? I always use a Japanese-Japanese one. The translation are not very good. However, the examples in alc are excellent, though not 100% correct.)

The meaning of can be "waiting/saying behind(for something)", or "to refrain", or "to make notes", or more. And is formed by +, and "" here means something like "in the state of".

As for the examples:

>
> 1
> be just a year away
>

It means the phrase can be used as " *** _", "_ *Graduation** is just a year away".