All 4 Uses of
dispel
in
To Kill a Mockingbird
- It was dim inside, with a damp coolness slowly dispelled by the gathering congregation.
p. 136.7 *dispelled = driven away
- The remainder of the afternoon went by in the gentle gloom that descends when relatives appear, but was dispelled when we heard a car turn in the driveway.
p. 145.9
- There were few women and children among them, which seemed to dispel the holiday mood.
p. 184.7dispel = drive away
- In long equity hearings, especially after dinner, he gave the impression of dozing, an impression dispelled forever when a lawyer once deliberately pushed a pile of books to the floor in a desperate effort to wake him up.
p. 187.6dispelled = driven away
Definitions:
-
(1)
(dispel) to drive away or put an end to something -- especially a feeling, idea, or doubt
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Dispel is generally used to in reference to getting rid of ideas or feelings, but more rarely, it can be used to reference the scattering away of something physical as in: "The noise dispelled the pigeons."