All 16 Uses of
spectacle
in
Jane Eyre
- All this being nothing to me, my vacant attention soon found livelier attraction in the spectacle of a little hungry robin, which came and chirruped on the twigs of the leafless cherry-tree nailed against the wall near the casement.†
Chpt 4 (definition 1)
- Not a tear rose to Burns' eye; and, while I paused from my sewing, because my fingers quivered at this spectacle with a sentiment of unavailing and impotent anger, not a feature of her pensive face altered its ordinary expression.†
Chpt 6 (definition 1)
- The moment Miss Scatcherd withdrew after afternoon school, I ran to Helen, tore it off, and thrust it into the fire: the fury of which she was incapable had been burning in my soul all day, and tears, hot and large, had continually been scalding my cheek; for the spectacle of her sad resignation gave me an intolerable pain at the heart.†
Chpt 8 (definition 1)
- That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the spectacle of ideal drawings, which I saw in the dark; all the work of my own hands: freely pencilled houses and trees, picturesque rocks and ruins, Cuyp-like groups of cattle, sweet paintings of butterflies hovering over unblown roses, of birds picking at ripe cherries, of…†
Chpt 8 (definition 1)
- …party played, what word they chose, how they acquitted themselves, I no longer remember; but I still see the consultation which followed each scene: I see Mr. Rochester turn to Miss Ingram, and Miss Ingram to him; I see her incline her head towards him, till the jetty curls almost touch his shoulder and wave against his cheek; I hear their mutual whisperings; I recall their interchanged glances; and something even of the feeling roused by the spectacle returns in memory at this moment.†
Chpt 18 (definition 1)
- Here then I was in the third storey, fastened into one of its mystic cells; night around me; a pale and bloody spectacle under my eyes and hands; a murderess hardly separated from me by a single door: yes — that was appalling — the rest I could bear; but I shuddered at the thought of Grace Poole bursting out upon me.†
Chpt 20 (definition 1)
- …affection seemed to surround us with a ring of golden peace, I uttered a silent prayer that we might not be parted far or soon; but when, as we thus sat, Mr. Rochester entered, unannounced, and looking at us, seemed to take pleasure in the spectacle of a group so amicable — when he said he supposed the old lady was all right now that she had got her adopted daughter back again, and added that he saw Adele was "prete e croquer sa petite maman Anglaise" — I half ventured to hope that he…†
Chpt 22 (definition 1)
- This spectacle of another's suffering and sacrifice rapt my thoughts from exclusive meditation on my own.†
Chpt 31 (definition 1)
- The ordinary sitting-room and bedrooms I left much as they were: for I knew Diana and Mary would derive more pleasure from seeing again the old homely tables, and chairs, and beds, than from the spectacle of the smartest innovations.†
Chpt 34 (definition 1)
- And yet the spectacle of desolation I had just left prepared me in a measure for a tale of misery.†
Chpt 36 (definition 1)
- It was a terrible spectacle: I witnessed it myself.†
Chpt 36 (definition 1) *
Uses with a very rare meaning:
- My ostensible errand on this occasion was to get measured for a pair of shoes; so I discharged that business first, and when it was done, I stepped across the clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker's to the post-office: it was kept by an old dame, who wore horn spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands.†
Chpt 10 (definition 2)
- She peered at me over her spectacles, and then she opened a drawer and fumbled among its contents for a long time, so long that my hopes began to falter.†
Chpt 10 (definition 2)
- "Well, I sometimes think we are too quiet; but we run a chance of being busy enough now: for a little while at least," said Mrs. Fairfax, still holding the note before her spectacles.†
Chpt 17 (definition 2)
- The old lady, had been reading her morning portion of Scripture — the Lesson for the day; her Bible lay open before her, and her spectacles were upon it.†
Chpt 24 (definition 2)
- She put up her spectacles, shut the Bible, and pushed her chair back from the table.†
Chpt 24 (definition 2) *
Definitions:
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(1) (spectacle) a notable or unusual event that attracts attention
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(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus) The term spectacles is also used to refer to eyeglasses.