Meaning of Scruple | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Hesitation to act from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; doubt, hesitation or unwillingness due to motives of conscience; moral qualm.
2. A weight of ¹⁄₂₈₈ of a pound, that is, twenty grains or one third of a dram, about 1.3 grams (symbol: ℈).
3. A Hebrew unit of time equal to ¹⁄₁₀₈₀ hour.
4. A very small quantity; a particle.
   broadly, obsolete
5. A doubt or uncertainty concerning a matter of fact; intellectual perplexity.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“Before her flew Affliction, girt in ſtorms, / Gaſht all with guſhing wounds; and all the formes / Of bane, and miſerie, frowning in her face; / Whom Tyrannie, and Iniuſtice, had in Chace; / Grimme Perſecution, Pouertie, and Shame; / Detraction, Enuie, foule Mishap and lame; / Scruple of Conſcience; Feare, Deceipt, Deſpaire; / Slaunder, and Clamor, that rent all the Ayre; […]”

“[U]ntil the Commonwealth [of England] torture was constantly used as an instrument of evidence in the investigation of offences, whether municipal or political, without scruple, and without question as to its legality.”

“The four chief sins of which he was guilty were dancing, ringing the bells of the parish church, playing at tipcat, and reading the History of Sir Bevis of Southampton. A Rector of the school of [William] Laud would have held such a young man up to the whole parish as a model. But [John] Bunyan's notions of good and evil had been learned in a very different school; and he was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples.”

“Ricky, I'm going to miss you. Apparently you're the only one in Casablanca with less scruples than I.”

“The Oyle ſerueth in many operations, and ſpecially in all colde diſeaſes, if they be inwardly, give thereof euerye morning one ſcruple to drinke, and if they be outward annoynt.”

“Bezoar (Horſe) called Hypolites, excites Sweat, reſiſts Poiſon, kills the Worms, and ſtops a Looſeneſs; the Doſe is from half a Scruple to two Scruples.”

“Marcus Empiricus, a Roma physician, prescribed three scruples of cress, three of red onion, three of pine seed, three of Indian nard, for impotence.”

“If it be ask'd why the Jews divide the Hour into 1080 Scruples, the Author of the Neomeniæ ſet forth by Munſter gives this reaſon fo it, becauſe there is no number that is diviſible into ſo many ſorts as this of 1080 is; for it may be divided by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, &c.”

“The Mahometan year consists of 12 lunar months, each containing 29 days, 12 hours and 792 scruples; (1080 scruples = 1 hour) so that the year contains 354 days, 8 hours and 864 scruples.”

“The most ancient hour was divided into 1,080 scruples. The Jews suppose Issachar to have brought it from heaven.”

“Why euery thing adheres togither, that no dramme of a ſcruple, no ſcruple of a ſcruple, no obſtacle, no incredulous or unſafe circumſtance: What can be ſaide? Nothing that can be, can come betweene me, and the full proſpect of my hopes.”

“There aroſe a Scruple, nay, it amount to a Queſtion, whether to attempt an Eſcape from my Patron, one that ſo dearly Loved me, ſo fairly bought me, were juſtifiable before God and Men?”

CEFR level