Both Uses of
torpor
in
The Mill on the Floss
- Maggie, all this time, moved about with a quiescence and even torpor of manner, so contrasted with her usual fitful brightness and ardor, that Lucy would have had to seek some other cause for such a change, if she had not been convinced that the position in which Maggie stood between Philip and her brother, and the prospect of her self-imposed wearisome banishment, were quite enough to account for a large amount of depression.†
Chpt 6.13
- But under this torpor there was a fierce battle of emotions, such as Maggie in all her life of struggle had never known or foreboded; it seemed to her as if all the worst evil in her had lain in ambush till now, and had suddenly started up full-armed, with hideous, overpowering strength!†
Chpt 6.13 *
Definition:
-
(torpor) in people: a state of low-energy and inactivity
or less commonly:
in animals: a condition of biological rest or suspended animation -- (could be in the evening, during the cold, or as in a dormant state all winter)