All 50 Uses of
minute
in
Jane Eyre
- She has been unkind to you, no doubt; because you see, she dislikes your cast of character, as Miss Scatcherd does mine; but how minutely you remember all she has done and said to you!
Chpt 6 (definition 1)minutely = with detail
- Such is the imperfect nature of man! such spots are there on the disc of the clearest planet; and eyes like Miss Scatcherd's can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb.
Chpt 7 (definition 2) *minute = small
- Retaining every minute form of respect, every propriety of my station, I could still meet him in argument without fear or uneasy restraint; this suited both him and me.
Chpt 16 (definition 1)minute = detailed
- Do not ask me, reader, to give a minute account of that day; as before, I sought work; as before, I was repulsed; as before, I starved; but once did food pass my lips.
Chpt 28 (definition 1) *
- As we advanced and left the track, we trod a soft turf, mossy fine and emerald green, minutely enamelled with a tiny white flower, and spangled with a star-like yellow blossom: the hills, meantime, shut us quite in; for the glen, towards its head, wound to their very core.
Chpt 34 (definition 1)minutely = in detail
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair: he spent some three minutes in thrusting out his tongue at me as far as he could without damaging the roots: I knew he would soon strike, and while dreading the blow, I mused on the disgusting and ugly appearance of him who would presently deal it.†
Chpt 1 (definition 3)
- "That is for your impudence in answering mama awhile since," said he, "and for your sneaking way of getting behind curtains, and for the look you had in your eyes two minutes since, you rat!"†
Chpt 1 (definition 3)
- In five minutes more the cloud of bewilderment dissolved: I knew quite well that I was in my own bed, and that the red glare was the nursery fire.†
Chpt 3 (definition 3)
- I feared to return to the nursery, and feared to go forward to the parlour; ten minutes I stood in agitated hesitation; the vehement ringing of the breakfast-room bell decided me; I MUST enter.†
Chpt 4 (definition 3)
- "So much?" was the doubtful answer; and he prolonged his scrutiny for some minutes.†
Chpt 4 (definition 3)
- Mrs. Reed and I were left alone: some minutes passed in silence; she was sewing, I was watching her.†
Chpt 4 (definition 3)
- It wanted but a few minutes of six, and shortly after that hour had struck, the distant roll of wheels announced the coming coach; I went to the door and watched its lamps approach rapidly through the gloom.†
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- She considered me attentively for a minute or two, then further added — "She had better be put to bed soon; she looks tired: are you tired?" she asked, placing her hand on my shoulder.†
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- To-night I was to be Miss Miller's bed-fellow; she helped me to undress: when laid down I glanced at the long rows of beds, each of which was quickly filled with two occupants; in ten minutes the single light was extinguished, and amidst silence and complete darkness I fell asleep.†
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- A great tumult succeeded for some minutes, during which Miss Miller repeatedly exclaimed, "Silence!" and "Order!"†
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- Discipline prevailed: in five minutes the confused throng was resolved into order, and comparative silence quelled the Babel clamour of tongues.†
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- When I returned to my seat, that lady was just delivering an order of which I did not catch the import; but Burns immediately left the class, and going into the small inner room where the books were kept, returned in half a minute, carrying in her hand a bundle of twigs tied together at one end.†
Chpt 6 (definition 3)
- And in five minutes more she shut it up.†
Chpt 6 (definition 3)
- She was not allowed much time for meditation: a monitor, a great rough girl, presently came up, exclaiming in a strong Cumberland accent — "Helen Burns, if you don't go and put your drawer in order, and fold up your work this minute, I'll tell Miss Scatcherd to come and look at it!"†
Chpt 6 (definition 3)
- One afternoon (I had then been three weeks at Lowood), as I was sitting with a slate in my hand, puzzling over a sum in long division, my eyes, raised in abstraction to the window, caught sight of a figure just passing: I recognised almost instinctively that gaunt outline; and when, two minutes after, all the school, teachers included, rose en masse, it was not necessary for me to look up in order to ascertain whose entrance they thus greeted.†
Chpt 7 (definition 3)
- He scrutinised the reverse of these living medals some five minutes, then pronounced sentence.†
Chpt 7 (definition 3)
- "Another minute, and she will despise me for a hypocrite," thought I; and an impulse of fury against Reed, Brocklehurst, and Co. bounded in my pulses at the conviction.†
Chpt 7 (definition 3)
- Now came a pause of ten minutes, during which I, by this time in perfect possession of my wits, observed all the female Brocklehursts produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics, while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro, and the two younger ones whispered, "How shocking!"†
Chpt 7 (definition 3)
- I resolved, in the depth of my heart, that I would be most moderate — most correct; and, having reflected a few minutes in order to arrange coherently what I had to say, I told her all the story of my sad childhood.†
Chpt 8 (definition 3)
- I had finished: Miss Temple regarded me a few minutes in silence; she then said — "I know something of Mr. Lloyd; I shall write to him; if his reply agrees with your statement, you shall be publicly cleared from every imputation; to me, Jane, you are clear now."†
Chpt 8 (definition 3)
- She was pensive a few minutes, then rousing herself, she said cheerfully — "But you two are my visitors to-night; I must treat you as such."†
Chpt 8 (definition 3)
- She went into the house; I stayed behind a few minutes to plant in my garden a handful of roots I had dug up in the forest, and which I feared would wither if I left them till the morning.†
Chpt 9 (definition 3)
- It is past eleven o'clock: I heard it strike some minutes since."†
Chpt 9 (definition 3)
- While I tried to devour my tears, a fit of coughing seized Helen; it did not, however, wake the nurse; when it was over, she lay some minutes exhausted; then she whispered — "Jane, your little feet are bare; lie down and cover yourself with my quilt."†
Chpt 9 (definition 3)
- At last, having held a document before her glasses for nearly five minutes, she presented it across the counter, accompanying the act by another inquisitive and mistrustful glance — it was for J.E. "Is there only one?"†
Chpt 10 (definition 3)
- "Yes; he did not stay many minutes in the house: Missis was very high with him; she called him afterwards a 'sneaking tradesman.'†
Chpt 10 (definition 3)
- Bessie and I conversed about old times an hour longer, and then she was obliged to leave me: I saw her again for a few minutes the next morning at Lowton, while I was waiting for the coach.†
Chpt 10 (definition 3)
- About ten minutes after, the driver got down and opened a pair of gates: we passed through, and they clashed to behind us.†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- Traversing the long and matted gallery, I descended the slippery steps of oak; then I gained the hall: I halted there a minute; I looked at some pictures on the walls (one, I remember, represented a grim man in a cuirass, and one a lady with powdered hair and a pearl necklace), at a bronze lamp pendent from the ceiling, at a great clock whose case was of oak curiously carved, and ebon black with time and rubbing.†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- She came and shook hand with me when she heard that I was her governess; and as I led her in to breakfast, I addressed some phrases to her in her own tongue: she replied briefly at first, but after we were seated at the table, and she had examined me some ten minutes with her large hazel eyes, she suddenly commenced chattering fluently.†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- In two minutes he rose from the stile: his face expressed pain when he tried to move.†
Chpt 12 (definition 3)
- When I came to the stile, I stopped a minute, looked round and listened, with an idea that a horse's hoofs might ring on the causeway again, and that a rider in a cloak, and a Gytrash-like Newfoundland dog, might be again apparent: I saw only the hedge and a pollard willow before me, rising up still and straight to meet the moonbeams; I heard only the faintest waft of wind roaming fitful among the trees round Thornfield, a mile distant; and when I glanced down in the direction of the…†
Chpt 12 (definition 3)
- "Enough!" he called out in a few minutes.†
Chpt 13 (definition 3)
- He had been looking two minutes at the fire, and I had been looking the same length of time at him, when, turning suddenly, he caught my gaze fastened on his physiognomy.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- Never mind, — wait a minute: Adele is not ready to go to bed yet.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- She pulled out of her box, about ten minutes ago, a little pink silk frock; rapture lit her face as she unfolded it; coquetry runs in her blood, blends with her brains, and seasons the marrow of her bones.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- She is now with Sophie, undergoing a robing process: in a few minutes she will re-enter; and I know what I shall see, — a miniature of Celine Varens, as she used to appear on the boards at the rising of — But never mind that.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- When I saw my charmer thus come in accompanied by a cavalier, I seemed to hear a hiss, and the green snake of jealousy, rising on undulating coils from the moonlit balcony, glided within my waistcoat, and ate its way in two minutes to my heart's core.†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- But I stayed out a few minutes longer with Adele and Pilot — ran a race with her, and played a game of battledore and shuttlecock.†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- I am up now; but at your peril you fetch a candle yet: wait two minutes till I get into some dry garments, if any dry there be — yes, here is my dressing-gown.†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- I am going to leave you a few minutes.†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- At the end of a few minutes he inquired in rather a peculiar tone — "I forget whether you said you saw anything when you opened your chamber door."†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- During the early part of the morning, I momentarily expected his coming; he was not in the frequent habit of entering the schoolroom, but he did step in for a few minutes sometimes, and I had the impression that he was sure to visit it that day.†
Chpt 16 (definition 3)
- "They'll be here in ten minutes."†
Chpt 17 (definition 3)
- The ten minutes John had given seemed very long, but at last wheels were heard; four equestrians galloped up the drive, and after them came two open carriages.†
Chpt 17 (definition 3)
Definitions:
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(1) (minute as in: minute description) detailed (including even small considerations); and/or careful (done with care)
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(2) (minute as in: minute size) small, exceptionally small, or insignificant
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(3) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) Much more commonly, minute and minutes refer to a period of time lasting 60 seconds.
Less commonly, they refer to a measurement of angle where 60 minutes make up a single degree, and where a right angle has 90 degrees and a circle has 360 degrees.