Scruple /(?)/

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.

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.

imp. & p. p. Scrupled; p. pr. & vb. n. Scrupling

1. 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.

   Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship.

1. To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question.

   Others long before them . . . scrupled more the books of heretics than of gentiles.

2. To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. [R.]

   Letters which did still scruple many of them.