All 34 Uses of
resolve
in
Little Women
- Beth said nothing, but wiped away her tears with the blue army sock and began to knit with all her might, losing no time in doing the duty that lay nearest her, while she resolved in her quiet little soul to be all that Father hoped to find her when the year brought round the happy coming home.
Chpt 1.1 (definition 1)resolved = decided
- And when the snowy afternoon came, Jo resolved to try what could be done.
Chpt 1.5 (definition 1)
- For a minute a wild desire to run away possessed her, but that was cowardly, and the girls would laugh at her, so she resolved to stay and get out of the scrape as she could.
Chpt 1.5 (definition 1)
- How we got out of the Slough and through the Wicket Gate by resolving to be good, and up the steep hill by trying, and that maybe the house over there, full of splendid things, is going to be our Palace Beautiful.†
Chpt 1.5 (definition 1)
- "You will now stand on the platform till recess," said Mr. Davis, resolved to do the thing thoroughly, since he had begun.
Chpt 1.7 (definition 2)resolved = determined (having firm purpose or having firmly decided)
- For a minute Jo stood still with a strange feeling in her heart, then she resolved to go on, but something held and turned her round, just in time to see Amy throw up her hands and go down, with a sudden crash of rotten ice, the splash of water, and a cry that made Jo's heart stand still with fear.
Chpt 1.8 (definition 1)resolved = decided
- Don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.
Chpt 1.8 (definition 1)resolve = decide; or decision
- Hoping to impress the lesson more deeply, Mrs. March, who had a good deal of humor, resolved to finish off the trial in an appropriate manner, so she gave Hannah a holiday and let the girls enjoy the full effect of the play system.
Chpt 1.11 (definition 1)resolved = decided
- At last he resolved to get into the castle and ask how he could help them.
Chpt 1.12 (definition 1)
- If he asked her to deliver a Latin oration, it would not have seemed a more impossible task to bashful Beth, but there was no place to run to, no Jo to hide behind now, and the poor boy looked so wistfully at her that she bravely resolved to try.†
Chpt 1.12 (definition 1)
- Remembering the conversation of the afternoon, the boy said to himself, with the resolve to make the sacrifice cheerfully, "I'll let my castle go, and stay with the dear old gentleman while he needs me, for I am all he has."
Chpt 1.13 (definition 1)resolve = decide; or decision
- I ... resolved not to let the sun set on my anger, and ran over to tell Laurie I was sorry.
Chpt 1.16 (definition 1) *resolved = decided
- And Amy tried on the blue ring with a delighted face and a firm resolve to earn it.
Chpt 1.19 (definition 2) *resolve = determination (firmness of purpose)
- She was learning, doing, and enjoying other things, meanwhile, for she had resolved to be an attractive and accomplished woman, even if she never became a great artist.†
Chpt 2.26 (definition 1)
- Here the lecture began, but Jo heard very little of it, for while Professor Sands was prosing away about Belzoni, Cheops, scarabei, and hieroglyphics, she was covertly taking down the address of the paper, and boldly resolving to try for the hundred-dollar prize offered in its columns for a sensational story.
Chpt 2.27 (definition 1)resolving = deciding
- Little notice was taken of her stories, but they found a market, and encouraged by this fact, she resolved to make a bold stroke for fame and fortune.†
Chpt 2.27 (definition 1)
- As John firmly believed that 'my wife' was equal to anything, and took a natural pride in her skill, he resolved that she should be gratified, and their only crop of fruit laid by in a most pleasing form for winter use.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)
- The array of pots rather amazed her at first, but John was so fond of jelly, and the nice little jars would look so well on the top shelf, that Meg resolved to fill them all, and spent a long day picking, boiling, straining, and fussing over her jelly.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)
- They had laughed over that last word as if the idea it suggested was a most preposterous one, but they had held to their resolve, and whenever they could get on without help they did so, and no one interfered, for Mrs. March had advised the plan.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)
- For a minute he was ruffled again at the mere thought of it, and then the fear that Meg would cry herself sick softened his heart, and sent him on at a quicker pace, resolving to be calm and kind, but firm, quite firm, and show her where she had failed in her duty to her spouse.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)
- Meg likewise resolved to be 'calm and kind, but firm', and show him his duty.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)
- She heard of a young horse at the farm house over the river, and though a lady had never ridden him, she resolved to try, because he was handsome and spirited.†
Chpt 2.29 (definition 1)
- She reproached herself for her share of the ill feeling and resolved to exonerate Amy as soon as possible.†
Chpt 2.30 (definition 1)
- She saw that money conferred power, money and power, therefore, she resolved to have, not to be used for herself alone, but for those whom she loved more than life.†
Chpt 2.34 (definition 1)
- Half resolving never to return, she went home, and worked off her irritation by stitching pinafores vigorously, and in an hour or two was cool enough to laugh over the scene and long for next week.†
Chpt 2.34 (definition 1)
- He found it difficult to understand how any girl could help loving Laurie, and hoped she would change her mind, but he knew even better than Jo that love cannot be forced, so he shook his head sadly and resolved to carry his boy out of harm's way, for Young Impetuosity's parting words to Jo disturbed him more than he would confess.†
Chpt 2.35 (definition 1)
- A few days after the talk with her mother, Meg resolved to try a social evening with John, so she ordered a nice supper, set the parlor in order, dressed herself prettily, and put the children to bed early, that nothing should interfere with her experiment.†
Chpt 2.38 (definition 1)
- His look and silence, as well as a certain inward self-disapproval, ruffled Amy, and made her resolve to deliver her lecture without delay.
Chpt 2.39 (definition 1)resolve = decide; or decision
- As Goethe, when he had a joy or a grief, put it into a song, so Laurie resolved to embalm his love sorrow in music, and to compose a Requiem which should harrow up Jo's soul and melt the heart of every hearer.†
Chpt 2.41 (definition 1)
- His second wooing, he resolved, should be as calm and simple as possible.†
Chpt 2.41 (definition 1)
- At twenty-five, girls begin to talk about being old maids, but secretly resolve that they never will be.
Chpt 2.43 (definition 1)resolve = decide; or decision
- "Come away, Impertinence, and don't shock my family by calling me names before their faces," answered Amy, resolving that there should be a home with a good wife in it before she set up a salon as a queen of society.
Chpt 2.44 (definition 1)resolving = deciding
- "And so you shall, like an angel as you are!" cried Laurie, resolving, with a glow of philanthropic zeal, to found and endow an institution for the express benefit of young women with artistic tendencies.†
Chpt 2.44 (definition 1)
- Jo thought that was splendid, and resolved to be worthy of her knight, though he did not come prancing on a charger in gorgeous array.†
Chpt 2.46 (definition 1)
Definitions:
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(1) (resolve as in: I resolved to stop drinking.) to decide -- typically a firm or formal decisioneditor's notes: In modern writing resolve is typically used to emphasize a firm or formal decision. In classic literature, it is used more frequently and often simply replaces decide or determine.
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(2) (resolve as in: Her resolve weakened.) firmness of purpose (strong determination to do something)