All 7 Uses of
discern
in
Jane Eyre
- Rain, wind, and darkness filled the air; nevertheless, I dimly discerned a wall before me and a door open in it; through this door I passed with my new guide: she shut and locked it behind her.†
p. 51.7 *discerned = noticed something that is not obvious
- of which, however, I, to my dismay (for I was beginning to be hungry) discerned only a very small portion: Miss Temple discerned it too.†
p. 85.9
- of which, however, I, to my dismay (for I was beginning to be hungry) discerned only a very small portion: Miss Temple discerned it too.†
p. 85.9
- I discerned in the course of the morning that Thornfield Hall was a changed place: no longer silent as a church, it echoed every hour or two to a knock at the door, or a clang of the bell; steps, too, often traversed the hall, and new voices spoke in different keys below; a rill from the outer world was flowing through it; it had a master: for my part, I liked it better.†
p. 139.3
- "The glamour of inexperience is over your eyes," he answered; "and you see it through a charmed medium: you cannot discern that the gilding is slime and the silk draperies cobwebs; that the marble is sordid slate, and the polished woods mere refuse chips and scaly bark.†
p. 249.3discern = notice or understand something
- When — how — whither, I could not yet discern; but he himself, I doubted not, would hurry me from Thornfield.†
p. 341.7
- I discerned he was now neither angry nor shocked at my audacity.†
p. 429.7discerned = noticed something that is not obvious
Definition:
to notice or understand something -- often something that is not obvious