All 4 Uses of
precipitate
in
Don Quixote
- Thou dost mark well, faithful and trusty squire, the gloom of this night, its strange silence, the dull confused murmur of those trees, the awful sound of that water in quest of which we came, that seems as though it were precipitating and dashing itself down from the lofty mountains of the Moon, and that incessant hammering that wounds and pains our ears; which things all together and each of itself are enough to instil fear, dread, and dismay into the breast of Mars himself, much more into one not used to hazards and adventures of the kind.†
Chpt 1.19-20precipitating = making something happen suddenly
- I thought, too, that she, if she were what she ought to be, and what we both believed her, would have ere this given thee information of my addresses; but seeing that she delays, I believe the truth of the promise she has given me that the next time thou art absent from the house she will grant me an interview in the closet where thy jewels are kept (and it was true that Camilla used to meet him there); but I do not wish thee to rush precipitately to take vengeance, for the sin is as yet only committed in intention, and Camilla's may change perhaps between this and the appointed time, and repentance spring up in its place.†
Chpt 1.33-34 *precipitately = with great haste
- The moment the curate heard this he said to himself, "God keep thee in his hand, poor Don Quixote, for it seems to me thou art precipitating thyself from the height of thy madness into the profound abyss of thy simplicity."†
Chpt 2.1-2 *precipitating = making something happen suddenly
- I am about to precipitate, to sink, to plunge myself into the abyss that is here before me, only to let the world know that while thou dost favour me there is no impossibility I will not attempt and accomplish.†
Chpt 2.21-22
Definitions:
-
(1)
(precipitate as in: a precipitate decision) acting with great haste -- often without adequate thought
-
(2)
(precipitate as in: it precipitated a revolution) make something happen or to fall or move -- typically suddenly and often of something undesired