All 23 Uses of
utter
in
The Scarlet Letter
- So deep a stain, indeed, that his dry old bones, in the Charter-street burial-ground, must still retain it, if they have not crumbled utterly to dust!†
Chpt Intr. (definition 1)
- …been written with a pen like that of Burns or of Chaucer, each of whom was a Custom-House officer in his day, as well as I. It is a good lesson—though it may often be a hard one—for a man who has dreamed of literary fame, and of making for himself a rank among the world's dignitaries by such means, to step aside out of the narrow circle in which his claims are recognized and to find how utterly devoid of significance, beyond that circle, is all that he achieves, and all he aims at.†
Chpt Intr. (definition 1)
- Not that the Surveyor brought the lesson home to himself, or admitted that he could be so utterly undone, either by continuance in office or ejectment.†
Chpt Intr. (definition 1)
- Again, at the first instant of perceiving that thin visage, and the slight deformity of the figure, she pressed her infant to her bosom with so convulsive a force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain.†
Chpt 3 (definition 2)
- Beholding it, Hester was constrained to rush towards the child—to pursue the little elf in the flight which she invariably began—to snatch her to her bosom with a close pressure and earnest kisses—not so much from overflowing love as to assure herself that Pearl was flesh and blood, and not utterly delusive.
Chpt 6 (definition 1)utterly = completely or totally
- Pearl, in utter scorn of her mother's attempt to quiet her, gave an eldritch scream, and then became silent, not from any notion of obedience, but because the quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition was excited by the appearance of those new personages.
Chpt 7 (definition 1)utter = complete or total
- …with him, to bring his mind into such affinity with his patient's, that this last shall unawares have spoken what he imagines himself only to have thought; if such revelations be received without tumult, and acknowledged not so often by an uttered sympathy as by silence, an inarticulate breath, and here and there a word to indicate that all is understood; if to these qualifications of a confidant be joined the advantages afforded by his recognised character as a physician;—then, at…
Chpt 9 (definition 2)uttered = said with the voice
- There can be, if I forbode aright, no power, short of the Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that may be buried in the human heart.
Chpt 10 (definition 2)
- It was his genuine impulse to adore the truth, and to reckon all things shadow-like, and utterly devoid of weight or value, that had not its divine essence as the life within their life.
Chpt 11 (definition 1)utterly = completely or totally
- I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!
Chpt 11 (definition 1)
- He kept vigils, likewise, night after night, sometimes in utter darkness, sometimes with a glimmering lamp, and sometimes, viewing his own face in a looking-glass, by the most powerful light which he could throw upon it.
Chpt 11 (definition 1) *utter = complete or total
- But they were uttered only within his imagination.
Chpt 12 (definition 2) *uttered = said with the voice
- The unfortunate physician, while uttering these words, lifted his hands with a look of horror, as if he had beheld some frightful shape, which he could not recognise, usurping the place of his own image in a glass.
Chpt 14 (definition 2)uttering = saying with the voice
- When they found voice to speak, it was at first only to utter remarks and inquiries such as any two acquaintances might have made, about the gloomy sky, the threatening storm, and, next, the health of each.†
Chpt 17 (definition 1)
- Yet, uttering his long-restrained emotions so vehemently as he did, his words here offered her the very point of circumstances in which to interpose what she came to say.
Chpt 17 (definition 2)uttering = saying with the voice
- A pigeon, alone on a low branch, allowed Pearl to come beneath, and uttered a sound as much of greeting as alarm.†
Chpt 18 (definition 2)
- Now, during a conversation of some two or three moments between the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale and this excellent and hoary-bearded deacon, it was only by the most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphemous suggestions that rose into his mind, respecting the communion-supper.
Chpt 20 (definition 2)uttering = saying with the voice
- It was a maiden newly-won—and won by the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale's own sermon, on the Sabbath after his vigil—to barter the transitory pleasures of the world for the heavenly hope that was to assume brighter substance as life grew dark around her, and which would gild the utter gloom with final glory.
Chpt 20 (definition 1)utter = complete or total
- Am I mad? or am I given over utterly to the fiend?
Chpt 20 (definition 1)utterly = completely or totally
- "I profess, madam," answered the clergyman, with a grave obeisance, such as the lady's rank demanded, and his own good breeding made imperative—"I profess, on my conscience and character, that I am utterly bewildered as touching the purport of your words!"
Chpt 20 (definition 1)
- Hester Prynne, gazing steadfastly at the clergyman, felt a dreary influence come over her, but wherefore or whence she knew not, unless that he seemed so remote from her own sphere, and utterly beyond her reach.
Chpt 22 (definition 1)
- According to these highly-respectable witnesses, the minister, conscious that he was dying—conscious, also, that the reverence of the multitude placed him already among saints and angels—had desired, by yielding up his breath in the arms of that fallen woman, to express to the world how utterly nugatory is the choicest of man's own righteousness.
Chpt 24 (definition 1)
- It was to teach them, that the holiest amongst us has but attained so far above his fellows as to discern more clearly the Mercy which looks down, and repudiate more utterly the phantom of human merit, which would look aspiringly upward.
Chpt 24 (definition 1)
Definitions:
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(1) (utter as in: utter stupidity) complete or total (used as an intensifier--typically when stressing how bad something is)
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(2) (utter as in: utter a complaint) say something or make a sound with the voice