All 3 Uses of
dictum
in
To Kill a Mockingbird
- So Simon, having forgotten his teacher's dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves and with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some forty miles above Saint Stephens.
p. 4.5 *dictum = saying (in this case that teaches)
- Thus the dicta No Crawford Minds His Own Business, Every Third Merriweather Is Morbid, The Truth Is Not in the Delafields, All the Bufords Walk Like That, were simply guides to daily living: never take a check from a Delafield without a discreet call to the bank; Miss Maudie Atkinson's shoulder stoops because she was a Buford; if Mrs. Grace Merriweather sips gin out of Lydia E. Pinkham bottles it's nothing unusual—her mother did the same.
p. 149.4dicta = sayings
- "You gotta make me first," I said, remembering Atticus's blessed dictum.
p. 197.2dictum = saying
Definition:
a short saying intended to make a point
in various senses, including:
- a popular saying -- such as "Nothing is certain but death and taxes."
- a formal declaration from a respected source -- such as the Constitution's statement that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech"
- a non-binding remark in a judge's opinion -- short for obiter dictum