All 31 Uses of
magistrate
in
The Scarlet Letter
- It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows.
Chpt 2magistrate = judge
- If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded?
Chpt 2magistrates = judges
- "The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch—that is a truth," added a third autumnal matron.
Chpt 2
- Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray.
Chpt 2
- Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen, meant for a punishment?
Chpt 2
- Madame Hester absolutely refuseth to speak, and the magistrates have laid their heads together in vain.
Chpt 3
- Now, good Sir, our Massachusetts magistracy, bethinking themselves that this woman is youthful and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall, and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea, they have not been bold to put in force the extremity of our righteous law against her.
Chpt 3magistracy = judiciary
- It was the place whence proclamations were wont to be made, amidst an assemblage of the magistracy, with all the ceremonial that attended such public observances in those days.
Chpt 3
- He was lodged in the prison, not as suspected of any offence, but as the most convenient and suitable mode of disposing of him, until the magistrates should have conferred with the Indian sagamores respecting his ransom.
Chpt 4magistrates = judges
- Thou mayest conceal it, too, from the ministers and magistrates, even as thou didst this day, when they sought to wrench the name out of thy heart, and give thee a partner on thy pedestal.
Chpt 4
- In this little lonesome dwelling, with some slender means that she possessed, and by the licence of the magistrates, who still kept an inquisitorial watch over her, Hester established herself, with her infant child.
Chpt 5
- Public ceremonies, such as ordinations, the installation of magistrates, and all that could give majesty to the forms in which a new government manifested itself to the people, were, as a matter of policy, marked by a stately and well-conducted ceremonial, and a sombre, but yet a studied magnificence.
Chpt 5
- Sometimes the red infamy upon her breast would give a sympathetic throb, as she passed near a venerable minister or magistrate, the model of piety and justice, to whom that age of antique reverence looked up, as to a mortal man in fellowship with angels.
Chpt 5magistrate = judge
- Hester Prynne went one day to the mansion of Governor Bellingham, with a pair of gloves which she had fringed and embroidered to his order, and which were to be worn on some great occasion of state; for, though the chances of a popular election had caused this former ruler to descend a step or two from the highest rank, he still held an honourable and influential place among the colonial magistracy.
Chpt 7magistracy = judiciary
- "Woman, it is thy badge of shame!" replied the stern magistrate.
Chpt 8magistrate = judge
- Hester caught hold of Pearl, and drew her forcibly into her arms, confronting the old Puritan magistrate with almost a fierce expression.
Chpt 8
- "Indeed hath he," answered the magistrate; "and hath adduced such arguments, that we will even leave the matter as it now stands; so long, at least, as there shall be no further scandal in the woman."
Chpt 8
- At one of the chamber-windows of Governor Bellingham's mansion, which stood at some distance, on the line of another street, he beheld the appearance of the old magistrate himself with a lamp in his hand a white night-cap on his head, and a long white gown enveloping his figure.
Chpt 12
- The magistrate, after a wary observation of the darkness—into which, nevertheless, he could see but little further than he might into a mill-stone—retired from the window.
Chpt 12
- No longer ago than yester-eve, a magistrate, a wise and godly man, was discoursing of your affairs, Mistress Hester, and whispered me that there had been question concerning you in the council.
Chpt 14
- On my life, Hester, I made my intreaty to the worshipful magistrate that it might be done forthwith.
Chpt 14
- "It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off the badge," calmly replied Hester.
Chpt 14magistrates = judges
- For the Governor and the magistrates are to go by, and the ministers, and all the great people and good people, with the music and the soldiers marching before them.
Chpt 21
- The dim reflection of a remembered splendour, a colourless and manifold diluted repetition of what they had beheld in proud old London—we will not say at a royal coronation, but at a Lord Mayor's show—might be traced in the customs which our forefathers instituted, with reference to the annual installation of magistrates.
Chpt 21
- undergoing stern question before a magistrate
Chpt 21 *magistrate = judge
- It denoted the advance of the procession of magistrates and citizens on its way towards the meeting-house: where, in compliance with a custom thus early established, and ever since observed, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale was to deliver an Election Sermon.
Chpt 22magistrates = judges
- The traits of character here indicated were well represented in the square cast of countenance and large physical development of the new colonial magistrates.
Chpt 22
- Next in order to the magistrates came the young and eminently distinguished divine, from whose lips the religious discourse of the anniversary was expected.
Chpt 22
- Once more, therefore, the train of venerable and majestic fathers were seen moving through a broad pathway of the people, who drew back reverently, on either side, as the Governor and magistrates, the old and wise men, the holy ministers, and all that were eminent and renowned, advanced into the midst of them.
Chpt 23
- But there was something in the latter's expression that warned back the magistrate, although a man not readily obeying the vague intimations that pass from one spirit to another.
Chpt 23magistrate = judge
- She had returned, therefore, and resumed—of her own free will, for not the sternest magistrate of that iron period would have imposed it—resumed the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale.
Chpt 24
Definition:
-
(magistrate) a judge or judicial officialThe exact meaning of magistrate varies widely depending upon the context. For example:
- in the U.S. federal court: assists district court judges by handling minor offenses or administrative tasks such as preliminary hearings (often referred to as a magistrate judge rather than just a magistrate)
- in some U.S. states: a judge in the state court
- in France, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and other civil law countries: a sitting magistrate is a judge and a standing magistrate is a prosecutor
- in England: may be a volunteer without formal legal training who performs a judicial role with regard to minor matters
- in ancient Rome: a powerful officer with both judicial and executive power