All 3 Uses of
insolent
in
Gulliver's Travels
- Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the queen's dwarf; who being of the lowest stature that was ever in that country (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet high), became so insolent at seeing a creature so much beneath him, that he would always affect to swagger and look big as he passed by me in the queen's antechamber, while I was standing on some table talking with the lords or ladies of the court, and he seldom failed of a smart word or two upon my littleness; against which I could only revenge myself by calling him brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such repartees as are usually in the mouths of court pages.†
Chpt 2
- The palace of a chief minister is a seminary to breed up others in his own trade: the pages, lackeys, and porters, by imitating their master, become ministers of state in their several districts, and learn to excel in the three principal ingredients, of insolence, lying, and bribery.†
Chpt 4insolence = rude, disrespectful behavior or action
- They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly spirit, and, by consequence, insolent, abject, and cruel.†
Chpt 4 *
Definition:
rudely disrespectful -- especially toward someone in authority