All 3 Uses of
sober
in
Atlas Shrugged
- "I don't know whether I'll go back to the world or not," she said soberly, but her voice was trembling with a subdued violence, which was pure gaiety.†
Chpt 3.2 *soberly = in a serious manner
- We must consider it soberly, avoiding the extremes of total condemnation or of reckless agreement.†
Chpt 3.8
- Stinging jets, part words, part pictures, kept shooting at his brain......Hours of it, he thought, hours to spend watching the eyes of the guests getting heavy with boredom if they were sober or glazing into an imbecile stare if they weren't, and pretend that he noticed neither, and strain to think of something to say to them, when he had nothing to say —while he needed hours of inquiry to find a successor for the superintendent of his rolling mills who had resigned suddenly, without explanation-he had to do it at once-men of that sort were so hard to find-and if anything happened to break the flow of the rolling mills-it was the Taggart rail that was being rolled......He remembered the sile†
Chpt 1.6 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(sober as in: Talk to me when your sober.) not under the influence of alcohol
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(2)
(sober up as in: I need to sober up.) to become less drunk or intoxicated
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(3)
(sobering as in: a sobering thought) serious or calm (not silly or excited); or making one serious or less excited
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(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, sober can refer to one who is rational rather than under the influence of extreme emotion. Also more rarely, it can reference that which is practical rather than fanciful -- such as "a more sober plan."