settle to

[Quang Hai]

Hello everyone
In After rain (W. Trevor) there is a sentence:
'The fourteenth of February in London was quite as black, and cold, and as wintersome as it was at Allington, and was, perhaps, somewhat more melancholy in its coldness. She has read that bit before and couldn’t settle to it, and cannot now'

Settle to means can not imagine or can not focus on? Please help me out. thanks

 

[Raymott]

Hello everyone
In After rain (W. Trevor) there is a sentence:
'The fourteenth of February in London was quite as black, and cold, and as wintersome as it was at Allington, and was, perhaps, somewhat more melancholy in its coldness. She has read that bit before and couldn’t settle to it, and cannot now'

Settle to means can not imagine or can not focus on? Please help me out. thanks

There might be some context missing. It could mean she couldn't agree with that proposition. It would be good to know what it means by "She had read that bit before". Is this wintery experience something she's read about, or that she's experiencing. If she's experiencing it, it might mean she couldn't quite get used to it.

PS: "In After Rain, by W. Trevor,"

 

[SoothingDave]

"Wintersome" is not a word that I am aware of. It isn't in dictionary.com either.

 

[Quang Hai]

There might be some context missing. It could mean she couldn't agree with that proposition. It would be good to know what it means by "She had read that bit before". Is this wintery experience something she's read about, or that she's experiencing. If she's experiencing it, it might mean she couldn't quite get used to it.

PS: "In After Rain, by W. Trevor,"

'The fourteenth of February in London was quite as black, and cold, and as wintersome as it was at Allington, and was, perhaps, somewhat more melancholy in its coldness' is a sentence in a novel - The Small house in Allington by Anthony Trollope.
[h=3][/h]"She had read that bit before" and now She is reading this sentence in the book and again she could not settle to it. Do you think it means she does not understand?

 

[probus]

Settle to is the same as settle down to. Both mean to begin to give one's attention to.

v. Oxford Learner's Dictionary

 

[Raymott]

'The fourteenth of February in London was quite as black, and cold, and as wintersome as it was at Allington, and was, perhaps, somewhat more melancholy in its coldness' is a sentence in a novel - The Small house in Allington by Anthony Trollope.
"She had read that bit before" and now She is reading this sentence in the book and again she could not settle to it. Do you think it means she does not understand?

Well, that's certainly a different context! Sorry, I'm not familiar with that term "settle to" used in that context. I don't think I can make sense of it with probus' definition either.

 

[probus]

I suppose it means she couldn't settle down to her reading on the second occasion.

 

[Quang Hai]

I suppose it means she couldn't settle down to her reading on the second occasion.

I would totally agree with you on the meaning of it. Thanks all for your help and have great weekend.