All 4 Uses of
elegant
in
Moby Dick
- Though none of the most elegant, it yet stood the scrutiny tolerably well.†
Chpt 1-3 *
- I do not wish to seem inelegant, but this unsightly whale looks much like an amputated sow; and, as for the narwhale, one glimpse at it is enough to amaze one, that in this nineteenth century such a hippogriff could be palmed for genuine upon any intelligent public of schoolboys.†
Chpt 55-57
- As in general shape the noble Sperm Whale's head may be compared to a Roman war-chariot (especially in front, where it is so broadly rounded); so, at a broad view, the Right Whale's head bears a rather inelegant resemblance to a gigantic galliot-toed shoe.†
Chpt 73-75
- One voyager in Purchas calls them the wondrous "whiskers" inside of the whale's mouth;* another, "hogs' bristles"; a third old gentleman in Hackluyt uses the following elegant language: "There are about two hundred and fifty fins growing on each side of his upper CHOP, which arch over his tongue on each side of his mouth."†
Chpt 73-75
Definition:
-
(elegant as in: an elegant gown) refined and tasteful in appearance, behavior or style