April 2009

Notable and Quotable: Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë, author of Jane Eyre, was born on April 21, 1816. The eldest of the three literary Brontë sisters, Charlotte Brontë is also the most-quoted Brontë sister in the Unabridged. We've collected our favorite usage quotations from her.

Interested in seeing examples from your favorite author in the dictionary? Select the Unabridged and click on Advanced Search. Type the author's last name in the Author field, and click Search.

bundle verb
"a group of servants came bundling from the kitchen"

cantlet noun
"a cantlet of cold custard pudding"

desperate adjective
"it found her despairing: it left her desperate -- two different states"

discretion noun
"it is not in mortal discretion to fathom her craft"

Doric noun
"her nervous northern Doric"

gradely adjective (dialect, England)
"Mama and Papa are ... gradely"

greasehorn noun (dialect, England)
"smooth-faced, sniveling greasehorn"

lace verb
"lace my quivering palm"

naturally adverb
"her face, naturally pale as marble"

over verb (dialect, England)
"the Sabbath not yet overed"

sable adjective
"down the sable flood we glided"

slatternly adjective
"I am ... slatternly; I seldom put, and never keep things in order; I am careless"

still adjective
"in his absence she was a still personage"

to nurse adverb
"would send for the baby, though I entreated him ... to put it out to nurse"

umbrage noun
"lying ... at the foot of some tree of friendly umbrage"

vocation noun
"a personage whom I might describe minutely, but I feel no vocation for the task"

whet noun (dialect)
"I'll bear it this whet"