The Only Use of
precocious
in
The Scarlet Letter
- But now the idea came strongly into Hester's mind, that Pearl, with her remarkable precocity and acuteness, might already have approached the age when she could have been made a friend, and intrusted with as much of her mother's sorrows as could be imparted, without irreverence either to the parent or the child.†
Chpt 15
Definition:
-
(precocious) early development -- especially ability or maturity in a child
or more rarely:
disapproving description of a child who takes liberties usually afforded to people who are older