Both Uses of
earnest
in
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering.†
p. 83.4earnest = sincere or serious
- You know yourself how earnestly in the last months of last year, I laboured to relieve suffering; you know that much was done for others, and that the days passed quietly, almost happily for myself.†
p. 100.1 *earnestly = sincerely or seriously
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).