All 7 Uses of
earnest
in
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- Mr. Walters was very earnest of mien, and very sincere and honest at heart; and he held sacred things and places in such reverence, and so separated them from worldly matters, that unconsciously to himself his Sunday-school voice had acquired a peculiar intonation which was wholly absent on week-days.†
Chpt 4earnest = sincere or serious
- And she put her small hand upon his and a little scuffle ensued, Tom pretending to resist in earnest but letting his hand slip by degrees till these words were revealed: "I LOVE YOU."†
Chpt 6 *in earnest = serious; or in a serious manner
- Tom—honest injun, now—is it fun, or earnest?†
Chpt 33earnest = sincere or serious
- Earnest, Huck—just as earnest as ever I was in my life.†
Chpt 33
- Earnest, Huck—just as earnest as ever I was in my life.†
Chpt 33
- Oh, good-licks; are you in real dead-wood earnest, Tom?†
Chpt 35
- Just as dead earnest as I'm sitting here.†
Chpt 35
Definitions:
-
(1)
(earnest) characterized by sincere belief
or:
intensely or excessively serious or determined -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Earnest can also be used as a name (variant spelling of Ernest), or to signify the seriousness of a pledge made (as when earnest money is included with an offer to purchase a home).