Both Uses of
manifold
in
The Scarlet Letter
- In the array of funerals, too—whether for the apparel of the dead body, or to typify, by manifold emblematic devices of sable cloth and snowy lawn, the sorrow of the survivors—there was a frequent and characteristic demand for such labour as Hester Prynne could supply.†
p. 77.1 *
- The dim reflection of a remembered splendour, a colourless and manifold diluted repetition of what they had beheld in proud old London—we will not say at a royal coronation, but at a Lord Mayor's show—might be traced in the customs which our forefathers instituted, with reference to the annual installation of magistrates.†
p. 215.4
Definitions:
-
(1)
(manifold as in: reasons are manifold) many and varied
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Manifold can also be used as a noun to refer to a pipe that has several lateral outlets to or from other pipes; such as "the intake manifold of an engine." A comprehensive dictionary will contain other, more specialized, meanings.