Both Uses
scruples
in
Candide
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- These last words determined Candide; he went and flung himself at the feet of the charitable Anabaptist James, and gave him so touching a picture of the state to which his friend was reduced, that the good man did not scruple to take Dr. Pangloss into his house, and had him cured at his expense.†
Chpt 4scruple = an ethical or moral principle that discourages certain kinds of action
- I own, that if I were in your place, I should have no scruple in marrying the Governor and in making the fortune of Captain Candide.†
Chpt 13 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(scruples) principles that discourage certain kinds of action
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Much more rarely, scruple can be used as a verb meaning "hesitate on moral grounds" as in "He lied and did not even scruple about it."
Even more rarely and archaically, at one time a scruple was a measure of weight equal to 20 grains (about 1.3 grams).