All 3 Uses of
sear
in
The Scarlet Letter
- And we must needs say it seared Hester's bosom so deeply, that perhaps there was more truth in the rumour than our modern incredulity may be inclined to admit.†
p. 82.6 *
- At the final hour, when she was so soon to fling aside the burning letter, it had strangely become the centre of more remark and excitement, and was thus made to sear her breast more painfully, than at any time since the first day she put it on.†
p. 230.1
- He tells you, that, with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart!†
p. 238.0
Definitions:
-
(1)
(sear as in: searing the meat) to scorch or burn the surface of something; or to be very hot
-
(2)
(sear as in: a searing pain or memory) intense (figuratively to burn into the mind)
-
(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, sear can mean dry or refer to part of a gun.