Scruple | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Scru'ple, n.

noun

n. [Fr. scrupule, Pr. scrupel, scrupuli, Sp. & Pg. escrupulo, It. scrupulo, scrupolo, from Lat. scrupulus, a small, sharp or pointed stone, the twenty-fourth part of an ounce, a scruple, uneasiness, doubt, diminutive of scrupus, a rough or sharp stone, anxiety, uneasiness.]

Sense 1. A weight of twenty grains, the third part of a dram.

Sense 2. Hence, a very small quantity.

I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak.

Sense 3. Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; doubt or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience; backwardness to decide or act.

He was made miserable by the conflict between his taste and his scruples. Macaulay.

To make scruple, to hesitate from conscientious motives; to scruple.

Scru'ple, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. SCRUPLED; p. pr. & vb. n. SCRUPLING.] To be reluctant as regards decision or action; to be restrained by considerations of conscience or expedience; to make difficulty; to doubt or hesitate;—nearly always followed by an infinitive.

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.

verbtransitive

v. t. To regard with suspicion; to hesitate to believe; to question; as, to scruple the truth or accuracy of an account or calculation. Others . . . scrupled more the books of heretics than of Gentiles. Milton.