10 uses
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Definition
a sad feeling or manner — sometimes thoughtfully sad
- I thought I had found the source of your melancholy in a dream.Chapter 25 (65% in)
- They were those which treat of the haunts of sea-fowl; of "the solitary rocks and promontories" by them only inhabited; of the coast of Norway, studded with isles from its southern extremity, the Lindeness, or Naze, to the North Cape — "Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls, Boils round the naked, melancholy isles Of farthest Thule; and the Atlantic surge Pours in among the stormy Hebrides."Chapter 1 (28% in)
- "My dear children," pursued the black marble clergyman, with pathos, "this is a sad, a melancholy occasion; for it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs, is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien.Chapter 7 (82% in)
- I'm sure last winter (it was a very severe one, if you recollect, and when it did not snow, it rained and blew), not a creature but the butcher and postman came to the house, from November till February; and I really got quite melancholy with sitting night after night alone; I had Leah in to read to me sometimes; but I don't think the poor girl liked the task much: she felt it confining.Chapter 11 (26% in)
- I had no sympathy in their appearance, their expression: yet I could imagine that most observers would call them attractive, handsome, imposing; while they would pronounce Mr. Rochester at once harsh-featured and melancholy-looking.Chapter 17 (69% in)
- She began muttering, — "The flame flickers in the eye; the eye shines like dew; it looks soft and full of feeling; it smiles at my jargon: it is susceptible; impression follows impression through its clear sphere; where it ceases to smile, it is sad; an unconscious lassitude weighs on the lid: that signifies melancholy resulting from loneliness.Chapter 19 (53% in)
- The wind fell, for a second, round Thornfield; but far away over wood and water, poured a wild, melancholy wail: it was sad to listen to, and I ran off again.Chapter 25 (18% in)
- Cease to look so melancholy, my dear master; you shall not be left desolate, so long as I live.Chapter 37 (29% in)
- I see I have the means of fretting him out of his melancholy for some time to come.Chapter 37 (50% in)
- Jealousy had got hold of him: she stung him; but the sting was salutary: it gave him respite from the gnawing fang of melancholy.Chapter 37 (65% in)
There are no more uses of "melancholy" in Jane Eyre.
Typical Usage
(best examples)