3 uses
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Definition
paying careful attention to details — especially social conventions
- The sea-vultures all in pious mourning, the air-sharks all punctiliously in black or speckled.Chapters 67-69 -- Cutting In; The Blanket; The Funeral (89% in)
- Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commander—from all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain—this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.Chapters 13-15 -- Wheelbarrow; Nantucket; Chowder (13% in)
- ...profits, not upon fixed wages, but upon their common luck, together with their common vigilance, intrepidity, and hard work; though all these things do in some cases tend to beget a less rigorous discipline than in merchantmen generally; yet, never mind how much like an old Mesopotamian family these whalemen may, in some primitive instances, live together; for all that, the punctilious externals, at least, of the quarter-deck are seldom materially relaxed, and in no instance done away.Chapters 31-33 -- Queen Mab; Cetology; The Specksnyder (93% in)
There are no more uses of "punctilious" in Moby Dick.
Typical Usage
(best examples)