In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
SCRUPLED
Verb
scrupled
simple past tense and past participle of scruple
Source: Wiktionary
SCRUPLE
Scru"ple, n. Etym: [L. scrupulus a small sharp or pointed stone, the twenty-fourth part of an ounce, a scruple, uneasiness, doubt, dim. of scrupus a rough or sharp stone, anxiety, uneasiness; perh. akin to Gr. kshura: cf. F. scrupule.]
1. A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram.
2. Hence, a very small quantity; a particle. I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak.
3. Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; unwillingness, doubt, or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience. He was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples. Macaulay. To make scruple, to hesitate from conscientious motives; to scruple. Locke.
Scru"ple, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scrupled; p. pr. & vb. n. Skrupling.]
Definition: To be reluctant or to hesitate, as regards an action, on account of considerations of conscience or expedience. We are often over-precise, scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may. Fuller. Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. South.
Scru"ple, v. t.
1. To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question. Others long before them . . . scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. Milton.
2. To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. [R.] Letters which did still scruple many of them. E. Symmons.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Word of the Day
3 February 2025
CRAZY
(adjective) possessed by inordinate excitement; “the crowd went crazy”; “was crazy to try his new bicycle”
Coffee Trivia
