Hello......I was wondering whether anyone out there knows the meaning of the word debarassed, if that is how it is spelled. I came across this strange word in a book called Jane Eyre, and have not been able to decipher its exact meaning. It is not in any dictionary that I have checked. Help would be appreciated. :)
welcome, La!
onelook came up with this: (though I had to use the deba* trick...)
http://www.onelook.com/?w=debarrassQuick definitions (debarrass)
(v. t.) To disembarrass; to relieve.
(This definition is from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary and may be outdated.)
does that fit the context?
...
Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte. ... me in any other light than as a nuisance; to-night I hailed the first deep notes with satisfaction; I was debarrassed of interruption ...
" I was not interrupted"
debarrass [a. F. débarrass-er,]
trans. To disembarrass; to disencumber from anything that embarrasses.
1789 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 97 So as to debarrass themselves of this. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on (1794) I. 390 To debarrass its motions, and to display its attractions. 1796 Ld. Sheffield in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 348 If the armies of France should be debarrassed from all other enemies. 1848 C. Brontë J. Eyre x, I was debarrassed of interruption. 1853 Reade Chr. Johnstone 165 Jean Carnie, who debarrassed her of certain wrappers. [OED2]