All 6 Uses of
scruples
in
Gone with the Wind
- They were completely fearless of wild horses, shooting affrays and the indignation of their neighbors, but they had a wholesome fear of their red-haired mother's outspoken remarks and the riding crop that she did not scruple to lay across their breeches.†
Chpt 1.1 *scruple = an ethical or moral principle that discourages certain kinds of action
- She was not above selling a poor grade of lumber for the price of good lumber if she thought she would not be detected, and she had no scruples about black-guarding the other lumber dealers.†
Chpt 4.38
- His inexperience, his errors, his utter lack of business judgment and his scruples about close dealing were the same as Hugh's.†
Chpt 4.41
- Scarlett was in a furious temper and did not scruple to expend it on Hugh, for she had just received an order for a large amount of lumber—a rush order at that.†
Chpt 4.42scruple = an ethical or moral principle that discourages certain kinds of action
- But some people, like Ashley, have neither cunning nor strength or, having them, scruple to use them.†
Chpt 4.43
- She loved him, scamp, blackguard, without scruple or honor—at least, honor as Ashley saw it.†
Chpt 5.62
Definitions:
-
(1)
(scruples) ethical or moral principles that discourage certain kinds of action
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) 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).