While he lay the worst weird, he would constantly have me by his pillow.

I am now reading Wuthering Heights and this sentence from that novel: Heathcliff was

dangerously sick; and while he lay at the worst he would have me constantly by his pillow : I suppose he felt I did a good deal for him, and he hadn’t wit to guess that I was compelled to do it.

What does “I have just been dropped” mean? The verb put down has no meaning and the worst thing is the direct object. It makes no sense in context. To lie, meaning to lie in bed ; how does reclining have such a comparative sense?

What are main reasons for not writing an article?

Add Comment
2 Answer(s)

While he was in the worst stage of his illness, he wanted me to be constantly.

Answered on March 19, 2021.
Add Comment

To lie, gives someone (Past form, lay) the position of laying or napping, which one would normally describe in this sentence. ” But the word has an additional meaning, one that predates that ordinary one, a meaning that OE can trace to 893: To

be or remain in a specified position of subjection, helplessness, misery, degradation, or captivity * This

connotation is preserved in the idiom lay open, in which the meaning of open is vulnerable or defenseless. From Archaeologia Graeca Or the Antiquities of Greece, Volume 2 by John Potter their Cities

were not fortified by Walls, but lay open to all the Invaders Back to

Heathcliff. Hemisphere: The passage describes Heathcliff (as well as Lemisphere) on his sickbed at the direst point in his illness.


* In a now-archaic usage, the word meant to languish in prison.

Answered on March 19, 2021.
Add Comment

Your Answer

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.