All 11 Uses of
novel
in
Middlemarch
- He had quitted the party early, and would have thought it altogether tedious but for the novelty of certain introductions, especially the introduction to Miss Brooke, whose youthful bloom, with her approaching marriage to that faded scholar, and her interest in matters socially useful, gave her the piquancy of an unusual combination.†
Chpt 1 (definition 1)
- Settlers, too, came from distant counties, some with an alarming novelty of skill, others with an offensive advantage in cunning.†
Chpt 1 (definition 1)
- It would at least be a novelty to disturb them.†
Chpt 2 (definition 1)
- He pronounced the last truly admirable word with the accent on the last syllable, not as unaware of vulgar usage, but feeling that this novel delivery enhanced the sonorous beauty which his reading had given to the whole.
Chpt 3 (definition 1) *novel = pleasantly new and original
- He walked out of the yard as quickly as he could, in some amazement at the novelty of his situation.†
Chpt 4 (definition 1)
- Its novelty made it the more irritating.†
Chpt 6 (definition 1)
- But to-day, while she was bending over him, he said, "You are very good, Harriet," in a tone which had something new in it to her ear; she did not know exactly what the novelty was, but her woman's solicitude shaped itself into a darting thought that he might be going to have an illness.†
Chpt 6 (definition 1)
- Mr. Farebrother played a rubber to satisfy his mother, who regarded her occasional whist as a protest against scandal and novelty of opinion, in which light even a revoke had its dignity.†
Chpt 7 (definition 1)
- She had no sense of chill resolute repulsion, of reticent self-justification such as she had known under Lydgate's most stormy displeasure: all her sensibility was turned into a bewildering novelty of pain; she felt a new terrified recoil under a lash never experienced before.†
Chpt 8 (definition 1)
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- "Really, I can't say." said Fred, rather glumly, as he left the table, and taking up a novel which he had brought down with him, threw himself into an arm-chair.†
Chpt 1 (definition 2)
- "Fred's studies are not very deep," said Rosamond, rising with her mamma, "he is only reading a novel."†
Chpt 1 (definition 2) *
Definitions:
-
(1) (novel as in: a novel situation) new and original -- typically something considered good
-
(2) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) More commonly, novel is used as a noun to refer to work of fiction that is published as a book. In the form novelty, the word can refer to an inexpensive, mass-produced item of interest such as a toy, trinket, or item given away to advertise.