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An  indefinite artic.  This word is properly an adjective, but is commonly called the indefinite article. It is used before nouns of the singular number only, and signifies one, or any, but somewhat less emphatically. In such expressions as "twice an hour," "once an age," a shilling an ounce (see 2d A, 2), it has a distributive force, and is equivalent to each, every. Note: An is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound; as, an enemy, an hour. It in also often used before h sounded, when the accent of the word falls on the second syllable; as, an historian, an hyena, an heroic deed. Many writers use a before h in such positions. Anciently an was used before consonants as well as vowels.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"An" Quotes from Famous Books



... that his stately mother regarded him with looks of fond pride, or that his old nurse breathed a benediction on his pretty head, and invoked the saints and the blessed Virgin on his behalf. They little knew that the gallant child was riding forth to an encounter which would be fraught for him with strange results; and that the long-hoped-for meeting with the little prince would be the first step in one of those passionate attachments which almost always cost ...
— In the Wars of the Roses - A Story for the Young • Evelyn Everett-Green

... shrewd executive ability with inventive skill. I found him a staunch friend, loyal to his allies, helpful to his subordinates; moreover, a man of strong convictions—which he asserted with a fine dogmatism; an idealist withal, quite unhampered by reverence for conventional usage and opinion. Absolute mental honesty ...
— Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, "Jenny June" • Various

... the trees behind, made an angle uphill to the right, and was presently among trees again. Again she left them and again came back to them. She screamed with anger and twitched her sledge along. She wiped at the snowstorm with her arm as though to wipe it away; she wanted ...
— The Literary World Seventh Reader • Various

... above in the First Part (Q. 84, A. 8, ad 2). Wherefore what a man does while he sleeps and is deprived of reason's judgment, is not imputed to him as a sin, as neither are the actions of a maniac or an imbecile. ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... "There's an old stupid for you," said Bob, looking at me. Then turning to Bigley he said sharply, "Why, I haven't got my pockets full of powder, ...
— Devon Boys - A Tale of the North Shore • George Manville Fenn

... endeavoured to obtain the recognition of his independence. But the Porte, listening to the perfidious suggestions, and governed by the blind obstinacy that led to the battle of Navarino and the victories of the Russians, would make no terms, and reduced Ibrahim, after an armistice of five months, to conquer her again. Hussein Pasha was succeeded by the Grand Vizier, Redchid Pasha, the same who had distinguished himself in Greece, and quelled the revolt of Scodro Pasha. Brave and accustomed to the camp, a sound politician, ...
— Sketches • Benjamin Disraeli

... to the solution of the question—how was she to begin her new life in her old home? It must be a new life, for to live as she had lived even in the days of her highest prosperity during her husband's life would be absurd and even wicked. With such an income she must endeavor as far as was possible to her to live in a manner worthy of it; but one thing she was determined upon—she would not alienate her friends by climbing to the top of her money and looking down upon them. None of them knew ...
— Mrs. Cliff's Yacht • Frank R. Stockton

... of the second part's rather trying," said a young man behind her. "There's an awkward jump of two full tones that was too much for our soprano when we tried it at the choral union. Miss Ismay's very true in intonation, but I don't suppose most of the rest would notice it if she shirked a little and left ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss

... word adds nothing to the meaning of the sentence, but helps to fill out its form or sound, and serves as a device to alter its natural order. Such a word is called an EXPLETIVE. In the following sentence there is an expletive: THERE are no such ...
— Practical Grammar and Composition • Thomas Wood

... the poor, egregious, nitty rascal; an he have these commendable qualities, I'll cherish him—stay, here comes the Tartar—I'll make a gathering for him, I, a purse, and put the poor slave in fresh rags; tell him so to comfort ...
— The Poetaster - Or, His Arraignment • Ben Jonson

... said, "and they have many excellent riflemen. We were repulsed there once, when we made an attack in force, and we must take it by surprise. Once we are inside the palisade everything will soon be over. I hope that we will catch Ware and his comrades there when we catch ...
— The Border Watch - A Story of the Great Chief's Last Stand • Joseph A. Altsheler

... Black Creek—it was tantalizing to read that! It brought back the memories of the days Father and I hunted them there—I shall never forget how impressed he was by one duck, so impressed that he spoke of it at length in an article he wrote—"The Wit of a Duck." He was paddling me up the sun-lit reaches of the Shataca on Black Creek when suddenly two dusky mallards or black ducks tore out of the willow herb and dodder and came like the wind over our heads. I ...
— My Boyhood • John Burroughs

... heightening—e.g., the "stalactites at the end of his tail," the web in the woman's eyes "as if spiders had spun it over"; and finally, that celebrated detachment, that air as of a medical examiner, recording the results of an autopsy. What can we know of such an author? All, or nearly all, that he knew of himself, provided we will searchingly ask ourselves what sort of mind is steadily attracted to the painting of such pictures, to the representation of such incidents, and what sort ...
— The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters • George Sand, Gustave Flaubert

... living aside from the dusty streets and exciting novelties of the city, was, I suppose, like being deposited in a little quiet nook. When we said "good night," all of us were of one mind regarding our new-found friend. I was perfectly at ease that first evening, and felt no inclination to make an unlucky speech until the next day, which was Sunday, came, and with it the question, "Are you going to church?" It was always our custom to go to the village church each Sabbath, and I enjoyed the sermons of Mr. Davis, then our minister, very much. He was a man of broad soul and genial spirit, and ...
— The Harvest of Years • Martha Lewis Beckwith Ewell

... his shoulders, while Eve, at once assuming an injured air for such an unmerited attack, said, "Really, Joan, I don't know what you mean. Old Poll Potter has just been telling us that Adam came flying and fuming up her way, wanting to know if she'd seen us, and then, when she said where ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, September 1880 • Various

... for whom I am especially writing this little book, have been tempted to break your vows by becoming engaged to some one who does not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, that ...
— Catherine Booth - A Sketch • Colonel Mildred Duff

... not for others, because she is an old friend, a neighbour's child, and one of the parish." ...
— The Vicar of Bullhampton • Anthony Trollope

... The stranger looked for an expression of horror in the features of his listener, but there was none. Instead the benign countenance took on a look of deepening amazement, but the smile wrinkles had somehow vanished and the old face was grave in ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930 • Various

... the motive which influenced me in my proposal that we should come hither," he remarked, setting his wine-glass down on the table. "I had a threefold object in view. In the first place, I felt curious to know whether it would be possible to find, at the bottom of the sea, an object the position of which is only approximately known. In the second place, I was anxious to secure a relic. And in the third place, I was almost equally anxious to recover a most valuable document which I was convinced had gone down in the unfortunate ...
— The Log of the Flying Fish - A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure • Harry Collingwood

... Gerelda Northrup as few men love in a life-time, but with the belief that she had eloped with another, growing up in his heart, he had been able to stifle that love, root it from his heart, blossom and branch, with an iron will, until at last he knew if he came face to face with Gerelda she would never again have the power to thrill his heart with ...
— Kidnapped at the Altar - or, The Romance of that Saucy Jessie Bain • Laura Jean Libbey

... absurd number of waggons. There is an infantry regiment camped near us that has a train of one hundred and thirty-six-mule teams to transport its household goods. ...
— Ailsa Paige • Robert W. Chambers

... she laughed,. talked, objected to sit down with me, but at last was thoroughly at home with me, and for the first time talked freely of her mistress, whom she feared. She disclosed a deal of simplicity and a very great deal of vulgarity, for she was an utter vulgar peasant girl; but I didn't mind anything to ...
— My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. - 1888 Edition • Anonymous

... letter which Osborne had so fortunately come upon. He was often amused at the fascination it held for him. He would never meet the writer, and yet not a day passed that he did not strive to conjure up an imaginative likeness. And he had nearly lost it. The creases were beginning to show. He studied it thoroughly. He held it toward the light. Ah, here was something that had hitherto escaped his notice. It was a peculiar water-mark. He examined the folds. The sheet had not been folded ...
— Half a Rogue • Harold MacGrath

... to be thought 'aristocratic' in their manners, and who may very successfully imitate the dress and surroundings of the old noblesse. But this gift, which showed so conspicuously in the family of the Sidneys, is an inheritance, and cannot be really copied. It is so easy to patronise from a lofty vantage ground, so difficult to make those below it feel that the distance is not thought of as an impassable gulf, but is bridged over by the true politeness which lies not on the surface, but has its root deep ...
— Penshurst Castle - In the Days of Sir Philip Sidney • Emma Marshall

... on board his ship, congratulating us upon our speedy rescue, and expressing the gratification he felt at being the means of saving so many gallant enemies from a possible watery grave. I made my acknowledgments as gracefully as I could under the circumstances, and was about to proceed with an inquiry relative to those previously picked up off the floating deck when the ring of people who had gathered round us during our somewhat ceremonious exchange of compliments was abruptly broken through by a female figure, and ...
— The Rover's Secret - A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba • Harry Collingwood

... writing to the author of this work, makes some points on the subject which are rather disturbing. His fundamental proposition is that the judgment of experts is of no value when based as it ordinarily is, only upon an inspection of an alleged fraudulent signature, either with the naked eye or with the eye aided by magnifying glasses, and upon a comparison of its appearance with that of a writing or signature, admitted or known to the expert, to be genuine, ...
— Disputed Handwriting • Jerome B. Lavay

... bitterly disappointed because Minnie had not come over, or asked her father to carry a message. Evidently, whatever it may have been that had come between Minnie and her former friends, the Allens, it was proving an insurmountable barrier. ...
— The Boys of Columbia High on the Gridiron • Graham B. Forbes

... But though similar disasters, however little bruited ashore, were by no means unusual in the fishery; yet, in most instances, such seemed the White Whale's infernal aforethought of ferocity, that every dismembering or death that he caused, was not wholly regarded as having been inflicted by an unintelligent agent. ...
— Moby Dick; or The Whale • Herman Melville

... St. Louis and the small towns upon the Missouri frontier, and he prided himself not a little upon his acquaintance with the customs of the whites, and never seemed more happy than when an opportunity offered to display this knowledge in presence of his Indian companions. It so happened, upon one occasion, that I had a Comanche guide who bivouacked at the same fire with Beaver. On visiting them one evening according to my usual ...
— The Prairie Traveler - A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions • Randolph Marcy

... too good a prophet when I warned you to expect new extravagances from the Due de Chaulnes's son. Some weeks ago he lost five hundred pounds to one Virette, an equivocal being, that you remember here. Paolucci, the Modenese minister, who is not in the odour of honesty, was of the party. The Duc de Pecquigny said to the latter, "Monsieur, ne jouez plus avec lui, si vous n''etes pas de moiti'e." So far was very well. On Saturday ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3 • Horace Walpole

... compass, and a Bible, and stores of hatchets, and the captain's dog, and great puncheons of sweetmeats, (which Crusoe altogether overlooked;) and you would save a tent or two, which you could set up on the shore, and an American flag, and a small piece of cannon, which you could fire as often as you liked. At night you would sleep in a tree,—though you wonder how Crusoe did it,—and would say the prayers you had been taught to say at home, and ...
— Dream Life - A Fable Of The Seasons • Donald G. Mitchell

... and a wreath of hair flowers made from the intertwined tresses of the Packards and the Doolittles. If these symptoms could by any possibility be misinterpreted, there were various other details of an alarmingly corroborative character, culminating in the marriage of Pitt to Jennie on a certain Friday evening at eight o'clock. He not only married her on a Friday, but he drove her to Portland on a Saturday morning; and the Fates, who ...
— Ladies-In-Waiting • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... abolish slavery as soon as they please. And let us remember our former connexion with Great Britain, from whom many in our land think we ought not to have revolted. How did they carry on the slave trade! I know that the Bishop of Gloucester, in an annual sermon in London, in February, 1766, endeavored to justify their tyrannical claims of power over us, by casting the reproach of the slave trade upon the Americans. But at the close of the war, the Bishop of Chester, in an annual sermon, in February, 1783, ingenuously ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... an arrangement peculiar to themselves about their fish?-No, there is no peculiar arrangement. Their fish have always been under their own command, and I could not sell them without their consent, and I have lost considerably ...
— Second Shetland Truck System Report • William Guthrie

... says Burke, "from the beginning of his malady, a distinct view of his dissolution; and he contemplated it with that entire composure, which nothing but the innocence, integrity, and usefulness of his life, and an unaffected submission to the ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 53, No. 331, May, 1843 • Various

... which ought to be mentioned most especially; namely, the cocoa of admirable quality which comes, or which may come, from Trinidad. Cocoa—cacao, as we should call it—is an article of very large consumption. Enormous quantities of it are now used in the navy; and every one knows how much it is employed daily in private life. It is, moreover, the basis of chocolate. But we have the evidence of one of the most skilful ...
— The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom • P. L. Simmonds

... ball had exhausted the flower supply of the country as far south as Atlanta.) And then in the reception room one came upon the little old lady, standing' beneath a bower of orchids. She was clad in a robe of royal purple trimmed with silver, and girdled about with an armour-plate of gems. If one might credit the papers, the diamonds that were worn at one of these balls were valued at twenty ...
— The Metropolis • Upton Sinclair

... tramp, and the chief of the Indian party stopped short, and we found that we had suddenly come upon an opening by the river where about a couple of dozen Indians were standing by the rows of salmon they had hung up to dry ...
— To The West • George Manville Fenn

... of the young and active, were it only to be satisfied how extremely deceptive is the appearance of the rocks and broken green ledges, as to their size and extent of surface,—for few would suppose (in passing by,) that the piece near the Wedge-rock contains upwards of an acre of ground.—The pyramidical mass connected with the Wedge is about fifty feet high, and a hundred ...
— Brannon's Picture of The Isle of Wight • George Brannon

... during the year, it will be well to have some place, such as a bin or large barrel, in which to keep a supply of each ingredient. The sod should be cut three or four inches thick, and stacked in layers with the grassy sides together, giving an occasional soaking, if the weather is dry, to hasten rotting. The manure should be decomposed under cover, and turned frequently at first to prevent burning out; or sod and manure can be rotted together, stacking them in ...
— Gardening Indoors and Under Glass • F. F. Rockwell

... to keep up his spirits by thinking of that first whisky-and-soda which he would order from a respectful waiter as he entered his club. All night long, wrapped in his blanket beneath the stars, he used to dream of that drink to come, that first symbol of an unlost grip on civilisation... He had arrived in London this very afternoon. Depositing his luggage at an hotel, he had come straight to his club. 'And now...' He filled up his aposiopesis with an uncouth gesture, signifying 'I may as well get ...
— Yet Again • Max Beerbohm

... THE THIRD'S HARBOUR for refreshments and water, previous to your commencing the survey, and on your arrival on the coast, use your best endeavour to discover such harbours as may be in those parts, and in case you shall discover any creek or opening likely to lead to an INLAND SEA OR STRAIT, you are at liberty either to examine it or not, as you 'shall judge it most expedient, until a more favourable opportunity shall ...
— The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 • Ernest Favenc

... Edwards and the suit-case. Stephen Warren threw himself violently into a chair by the window. Young Dunn laughed aloud. His mother flashed an indignant glance at him, and ...
— Cap'n Warren's Wards • Joseph C. Lincoln

... no longer a king, was led to the scaffold, his great enemy stood at a window of the royal palace of Whitehall. He beheld the poor victim of pride, and an evil education, and misused power, as he laid his head upon the block. He looked on, with a steadfast gaze, while a black-veiled executioner lifted the fatal axe, and smote off that anointed head at ...
— True Stories from History and Biography • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... M. D'Eslon, Mesmer challenged an examination of his doctrine by the Faculty of Medicine. He proposed to select twenty-four patients, twelve of whom he would treat magnetically, leaving the other twelve to be treated by the faculty according to the old and approved methods. ...
— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds • Charles Mackay

... Now, many a man has nothing to exercise his powers on, so as to use his time serviceably and profitably; so he lends his powers and his time to some one who has too much work, but too little time and powers, in return for a definite pay; that is called serving. But it was an unfortunate thing, he said, that most servants regarded this serving as a misfortune and their employers as their enemies or at least their oppressors; that they regarded it as an advantage to do as little as possible for them, to be ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VIII • Various

... both. As the conqueror of England William developed the military organization of feudalism so far as was necessary for the secure possession of his conquests. The ground was already prepared for such an organization. We have watched the beginnings of English feudalism in the warriors, the "companions" or "thegns" who were personally attached to the king's war-band and received estates from the folk-land in reward for their personal services. ...
— History of the English People, Volume I (of 8) - Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 • John Richard Green

... way is difficult, and without an accurate knowledge of the route, the traveller is likely to lose his way, and may even incur the danger of sinking in the marshes which spread along the bank of the river. From Pachachaca a broad and gentle sloping valley conducts to La ...
— Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests • J. J. von Tschudi

... twentieth century such abuse as that which I shall quote as typical was hurled from ten thousand throats of men and women unceasingly; that Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, and Mrs. Gage were hissed, insulted, and offered physical violence by mobs in New York[410] and Boston to an extent inconceivable in this age; and that the marvellously unselfish labour of such women as these whom I have mentioned and of men like Wendell Phillips is alone responsible for the improvement in the legal status of women, which I propose to trace in detail. Some expressions ...
— A Short History of Women's Rights • Eugene A. Hecker

... yea perhaps before some few weeks are at an end; you will see this sweet Babe afflicted with either the Measels or small Pox; and then you'l wish for a good sum of mony that he might not be disfigured with them, in having many pock-holes. And it is no ...
— The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and The Confession of the New-married Couple (1682) • A. Marsh

... white with a horizontal blue stripe in the center superimposed on a vertical red band also centered; five white five-pointed stars are arranged in an oval pattern in the center of the blue band; the five stars represent the five main islands of Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint ...
— The 1998 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... clerks were strolling up on the other side of the corner, who had been having more with their lunch than was good for them. Swinging round, they came upon a well dressed youth brushing a ragged boy's boots. It was an odd sight, and one of them, whose name was Marway, thought to get some ...
— A Rough Shaking • George MacDonald

... you may be sure of, I had no mind to remain at Yany an hour longer than necessary. I even contrived to get well clear of the neighborhood before the lady's absence was discovered. Luckily for me—or I might have been taxed with connivance, though indeed the simple household did not seem to know what suspicion was, and accepted my account ...
— The Lock And Key Library - Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English • Various

... the blue colour after titration is due to the excessive dilution of the assay, or to an insufficiency of potassium iodide, or to the presence of nitrous fumes. The interference of an excess of sodium acetate is avoided by adding more iodide crystals to the extent of doubling ...
— A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. • Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

... what an innocent young giant you are; but another woman gave you a thought, my hearty, and of course she was jealous of Miss Reed, and if she didn't want the money for reasons of her own, she was very glad to put a spoke in ...
— Good Luck • L. T. Meade

... your own answer," said Reding; "and does not help you. I am no casuist; but if it is an illegal engagement you should not continue to enjoy the benefit ...
— Loss and Gain - The Story of a Convert • John Henry Newman

... An undertone of mockery rang through the languid silvery sweetness of his accents, and the Priest's dark brows ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli

... so. As to errors in calculation, they belong to the infirmity of our nature, and to argue from this against the transaction in question, is objecting the possibility of loss in all imaginable transactions, in every human act. Error is an accidental fact, which is incessantly remedied by experience. In short, everybody must guard against it. As far as those hard necessities are concerned, which force persons to burdensome borrowings, it is clear that these necessities exist previously ...
— Essays on Political Economy • Frederic Bastiat

... e'en judged sae," said Dinmont, "and I think this maks it likely; for they aye ken where the gangs o' ilk ither I are to be found, and they can gar news flee like a footba' through the country an they like. An' I forgat to tell ye, there's been an unco inquiry after the auld wife that we saw in Bewcastle; the Sheriffs had folk ower the Limestane Edge after her, and down the Hermitage and Liddel, and a' gates, and a reward offered for her to appear, o' fifty pound sterling, nae less; ...
— Guy Mannering • Sir Walter Scott

... an instant, then recovering himself as he looked upon her and marked the nature of her emotion, he said: "There can be no false step that you could ever have taken that cannot be retrieved. There can have been nothing ...
— Helen • Maria Edgeworth

... possible. It seemed as if she might, as Secretary of the Society, request the cooperation of any of the visitors, without impropriety. So, after much deliberation, she wrote a careful note, of which the following is an exact copy. Her hand was bold, almost masculine, a curious contrast to that of Euthymia, which was delicately feminine. ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... the humble names of Olaf and Laurentius Petri—from the masters to the disciples—what do we find?... Scholars and theologians; men who have thoroughly mastered the whole system of gospel truth, and who win an easy victory over the sophists of the schools and the ...
— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... yes," she cried, eagerly. "Oh, he was splendid there! And the man who was the head of that bank when Charles was there is an old friend of ours, of the family; he has retired now but he would help us if he could, I know. I believe . . . I wonder if . . . Mr. Winslow, I can't tell any one in Orham of our disgrace and I can't bear to give up that opportunity ...
— Shavings • Joseph C. Lincoln

... kind and friendly;—but in the whole course of his troubles there had never been a moment to him more difficult than this,—in which he found it so nearly impossible to say anything or to say nothing. "Yes, I have been over very many miles since I saw you last." This was an answer to young Talbot, who asked him whether he had not been a great ...
— Dr. Wortle's School • Anthony Trollope

... record of events of that October day with an account of the assault just described, few, if any, would imagine that I had failed to mention all the abuse to which I was that day subjected. The fact is that not the half has been told. As the handling of me within the twenty-four hours typifies the worst, but, ...
— A Mind That Found Itself - An Autobiography • Clifford Whittingham Beers

... note - exports an unknown quantity to Georgia; includes exports to Nagorno-Karabakh region ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... pleasing of modern English authors, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, who is an artist as well as writer, and who loves animals almost as he does art, says that it would be interesting for a man to live permanently in a large hall into which three or four horses, of a race ...
— Our Boys - Entertaining Stories by Popular Authors • Various

... process is not a blind, resistless one. It is our duty to direct it. It is possible for wise parents to determine the characters of their children. We must not forget this. It cannot be too strongly insisted on. The development of life is under law. This is an orderly world. Things do not just happen in it. We believe in a law that determines the type of a cabbage, the character of a weed. Do we believe that this universe is so ordered that there is a law for weeds and none ...
— Religious Education in the Family • Henry F. Cope

... was an English gentleman. I have seen much of Britishers, and have generally found that in a time of trial the English gentleman comes out uncommonly strong. I got acquainted with him in an odd kind of way. He was a young fellow, and had come ...
— The Cryptogram - A Novel • James De Mille

... had passed away; a bloody mantle hung between the splendor of summer sunshine and the chilled heart of the awe- struck girl. The forehead of the radiant, holy June day had been suddenly red-branded like Cain, to be henceforth an occasion of hideous reminiscences; and with a blanched face and trembling limbs the child followed a narrow, beaten path, which soon terminated at the gate of a rude, unwhitewashed paling. A low, comfortless looking three-roomed ...
— St. Elmo • Augusta J. Evans

... us to others who will hear," burst out mademoiselle; "in an hour it may be too late; it may be ...
— Orrain - A Romance • S. Levett-Yeats

... that Locke's attitude was now such that if he reported the theft of the pistol, Locke would decline to go forward another mile, an idea which Trask could not bring himself to consider for various reasons, the most important being that he did not want to say farewell to Marjorie Locke and see her sail away to ...
— Isle o' Dreams • Frederick F. Moore

... thought he was very good to say so much about their hard fare, and so he was; but if they could have heard what he said afterward to his dishonest agents, when he went home to his palace, they might have been surprised to know what an important thing a piece of ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, May, 1878, No. 7. - Scribner's Illustrated • Various

... boyhood had lived on the sea, that we soon ceased to marvel at it. Skippers were only just being obliged to have certificates. These they obtained by viva voce examinations. You would sometimes hear an aspiring student, a great black-bearded pirate over forty-seven inches around the chest, and possibly the father of eight or ten children, as he stamped about in his watch keeping warm, repeating the courses—"East ...
— A Labrador Doctor - The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell • Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

... dance. Two small boys, who at first belonged to the party, had quickly rolled up their trousers and waded out as far as they could into the Cocahutchie. Just in front of the group, under the trees, stood Mary Ogden, straight as an arrow, her dark eyes flashing and her cheeks glowing while she looked silently at the boy on the wagon in the stream, until she saw him wheel the grays. Even then she did not say anything, but turned and walked away. ...
— Crowded Out o' Crofield - or, The Boy who made his Way • William O. Stoddard

... Hinnessy, because it ain't like what I see ivry day in Halsted Sthreet. If any wan comes along with a histhry iv Greece or Rome that'll show me th' people fightin', gettin' dhrunk, makin' love, gettin' married, owin' th' grocery man an' bein' without hard-coal, I'll believe they was a Greece or Rome, but not befure. Historyans is like doctors. They are always lookin' f'r symptoms. Those iv them that writes about their own times examines th' tongue an' feels th' pulse an' makes a wrong dygnosis. Th' other kind iv histhry ...
— Observations by Mr. Dooley • Finley Peter Dunne

... gunner, were getting a rocket out of the locker, detaching the harpoon and fitting on an explosive warhead. He stopped, while he and Cronje were loading it into the after ...
— Four-Day Planet • Henry Beam Piper

... in the negative, but, for all that, Osterman was right. The Governor had aged suddenly. His former erectness was gone, the broad shoulders stooped a little, the strong lines of his thin-lipped mouth were relaxed, and his hand, as it clasped over the yellowed ivory knob of his cane, had an unwonted tremulousness not hitherto noticeable. But the change in Magnus was more than physical. At last, in the full tide of power, President of the League, known and talked of in every county of the State, leader in a great struggle, consulted, deferred ...
— The Octopus • Frank Norris

... Underwood went off, the bigges' gawk of all, We hardly thought him bright enough to share in Adam's fall; But he tried the railroad biz'ness, an' he allus grabbed his share,— Now this gawk, who didn't know it, is a ...
— Memories and Anecdotes • Kate Sanborn

... it's an old man you're after?" said the girl, with a dig of emphasis that was meant to insinuate a doubt of Robbie's eagerness to take so much trouble in running after anything less enticing than one of another sex who ...
— The Shadow of a Crime - A Cumbrian Romance • Hall Caine

... twelve leagues distant to the south. These people wore shirts, above which they had a kind of woollen garments. They went to sea in a peculiar kind of flats or rafts, made of long planks of a light wood fixed to two other cross planks below them to hold them together. The upper planks are always an uneven number, usually five, but sometimes seven or nine; that in the middle, on which the conductor of the float sits and rows, being longer than the others, which are shorter and shorter toward the sides, and they are covered by a species of awning to keep those who sit upon them ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. IV. • Robert Kerr

... life! That was what he longed after! He cared little for the gay resorts of town, save as an interlude. The life of the streets soon palled upon him. But there was no attraction in the thought of home and the peaceful existence there. He must see more of the world, he must enjoy more of life, before he could ever dream of going back to ...
— Tom Tufton's Travels • Evelyn Everett-Green

... lane vur moiles around But hassen heerd ma kisses zound, Nor dru t' parish will 'ee vind A door Oi hanna kissed behind; An' now, wid crutch, an' back bent double, T' rheumatiz doaen't gie naw trouble, Vor all t' ould grannies handy-boi Iz mazed, vair mazed, on cuddlin' Oi! Pore-house Potter, toothless Trotter, gouty Gillard, splea-foot Zlee, Zilly Zettle, cock-eyed ...
— The Bed-Book of Happiness • Harold Begbie

... said sharply to the verger. "These men will stop with you—you're not to leave this room." He gave some instructions to the two policemen in an undertone and motioned Ransford and the others to follow him. "It strikes me," he said, when they were outside in the narrow lane, "that what we've just heard is somewhere about the truth. And now we'll go on to Folliot's—there's a way ...
— The Paradise Mystery • J. S. Fletcher

... cable-ship people had ever seen, and it was hard to understand the wild enthusiasm of the natives when, after unsheathing the steel gaffs on the roosters' legs, the birds were allowed to make their preliminary dash at one another. For a moment they walked around the ring with an excessively polite air, each keeping a wary lookout on his antagonist, but frigidly impersonal and courteous. One might almost fancy them shaking hands before the combat should begin, so ceremonious was their ...
— A Woman's Journey through the Philippines - On a Cable Ship that Linked Together the Strange Lands Seen En Route • Florence Kimball Russel

... intelligence, the European nations thought it would be well to give us a check. We might, possibly, after a while threaten their peace, or, at least, the perpetuity of their institutions. Hence, England was constantly finding fault with the administration at Washington because we were not able to keep up an effective blockade. She also joined, at first, with France and Spain in setting up an Austrian prince upon the throne in Mexico, totally disregarding any rights or claims that Mexico had of being treated ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... what sands these links shall sleep, Fathoms beneath the solemn deep'? By Afric's pestilential shore',— By many an iceberg, lone and hoar',— By many a palmy western isle, Basking in spring's ...
— Sanders' Union Fourth Reader • Charles W. Sanders

... the horn, and took up a round stone and knocked its nose with it till the blood came. When he had done they called to the oxen and took up their whips again, and the oxen strained with their backs bent, but the wagon did not move an inch. ...
— The Story of an African Farm • (AKA Ralph Iron) Olive Schreiner

... a gesture of assent from you one of them takes your bags, your wraps, whatever you are burdened with, and conducts you to a somewhat antiquated vehicle which bears you to your chosen inn through some gray stony streets, under an ivy-green archway of the ancient town-wall; and as the vehicle draws up at the inn-door the beauty of Tenby lies spread suddenly before you—the lovely bay, the cliffs, the sands, the ruined castle on the hill, the restless sea ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 • Various

... reserving his strength. When there was some object ahead set visibly against the skyline, a hillock or a clump of bushes, he laid his course by it, checking again and again by the stars. When he had walked an hour he stopped and rested, lighting a match to look at his watch. He allowed himself exactly five minutes and floundered up and went on again. Doggedly he sought to shut his mind to the pain stabbing through his weary feet, to the constriction of his throat, to the ache of his body so ...
— The Desert Valley • Jackson Gregory

... his feet with an oath which would have shocked a woman of lesser heart, ripped loose the sturdy reef-knots and flung back the flaps of ...
— The God of His Fathers • Jack London

... certain commonly accepted things that are in themselves only good, but which are not conclusive evidence that we really have saving faith in the Saviour. The act of coming into Church membership whether by confirmation, by an assent to questions regarding one's personal faith, or by being baptized, the fact of membership in the Church, the partaking of the Lord's supper, serving as an official of the Church in pulpit or pew, faithful attendance, liberal ...
— Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation • S. D. Gordon

... that we should remain at Steene for at least another day, I cast round for something more comfortable in the way of a billet, and had secured three rooms at the worthy Burgomaster's for the O.C., Mr. Jaffray and myself, and was about to enjoy a more or less comfortable tea in the open, when an orderly rode up with orders ...
— With The Immortal Seventh Division • E. J. Kennedy and the Lord Bishop of Winchester

... in building a series of terraces to receive the marquees of a Casualty Clearing Station. This necessitated the free use of explosives and the removal of many tons of earth. The work was carried out in such an efficient manner as to excite the surprise and admiration of the Royal Engineers. To finish it off an elaborate retaining wall was built with material from the shore. This wall contained a large corner stone upon which was placed the inscription "A ...
— The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force, 1915-19, Vol. I • Herbert Brayley Collett

... of Solomon, in French verse, is given by M. Emile Blemont in La Tradition (an excellent journal of folklore, etc., published at Paris) for March 1889, p. 73: Solomon, we are informed, in very ancient times ruled over all beings [on the earth], and, if we may believe our ancestors, was the King of magicians. One day Man ...
— Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers • W. A. Clouston

... that Mr. Robertson, who is at Mexico, remonstrated strongly with M. de Bocaregna, respecting the objects of the embassy to Hayti, and he was told by Aberdeen that he did quite right, and that not only ourselves but other states might view with disapprobation an attempt to excite a warfare of an uncivilised ...
— A Political Diary 1828-1830, Volume II • Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough)

... letter to Mr. William C. Whitney, then Secretary of the Navy, explaining my purpose in coming to Washington, and asking him to obtain for me an interview with President Cleveland without using Mr. Hewitt's name. Then he shook hands with me, and wished me success. "I have the faith," he said, "that is ...
— Under the Prophet in Utah - The National Menace of a Political Priestcraft • Frank J. Cannon and Harvey J. O'Higgins

... empty coffins. The undertaker's wife beat him often, and whenever he was not at work he had to attend funerals, which was by no means amusing, so that he found life no better than it had been at the workhouse. The undertaker had an apprentice, too, who kicked him ...
— Tales from Dickens • Charles Dickens and Hallie Erminie Rives

... politeness than people of his profession ordinarily have. His integrity, sincerity, and jovial humour made him beloved and sought after by all sorts of people. The Caliph, who knew his merit, had entire confidence in him. He had so great an esteem for him that he entrusted him with the care to provide his favourite ladies with all the things they stood in need of. He chose for them their clothes, furniture, and jewels, with admirable taste. His good qualities and the favour of the Caliph made the sons of Emirs and other officers ...
— Vivian Grey • The Earl of Beaconsfield

... struck on the rocks. An hippopotamus rose near us, and had nearly overset the canoe; we fired on the animal and drove it away. After a great deal of trouble we got off the canoe without any material danger. We came to an anchor before Kaffo, and passed the day there. We had in the canoe before we ...
— The Journal Of A Mission To The Interior Of Africa, In The Year 1805 • Mungo Park

... the strong races of northern Europe did not repudiate this Christian god does little credit to their gift for religion—and not much more to their taste. They ought to have been able to make an end of such a moribund and worn-out product of the decadence. A curse lies upon them because they were not equal to it; they made illness, decrepitude and contradiction a part of their instincts—and since then they have not managed to create ...
— The Antichrist • F. W. Nietzsche

... By an earnest repetition of this entreaty, poured out in all the agony of such a moment, Sissy at last brought her to be silent, and to look at her with a ...
— Hard Times • Charles Dickens*

... beware, For grief and care Broods over the youthful heart, And the chastening rod Of an Infinite God, His justice ...
— Blackbeard - Or, The Pirate of Roanoke. • B. Barker

... and more uncomfortable about the unexpected interposition of Rachel Lake as the day wore on. He felt, with an unerring intuition, that the young lady both despised and suspected him. He also knew that she was impetuous and clever, and he feared from that small white hand a fatal mischief—he could not tell ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... jest a-honin' for de franchise an' we might have had hit any time dese last forty years ef we'd had enough backbone to riz up an' fit one good fight for hit, but instead of dat we set around a-holdin' our hands an' all we'se done is to say in a meek voice: "Please, sir, I don't lak to trouble ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V • Ida Husted Harper

... manhood suffrage true in theory and best in practice for a representative government? Should an educational qualification be made a condition of enjoying the right of suffrage? Should a property qualification be made a condition of enjoying the right of suffrage? Is suffrage a natural right or a political privilege? Matson, p. ...
— Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Debate Index - Second Edition • Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

... out yesterday for Mount Vernon, according to an arrangement of some time ago. General Knox is setting out for Massachusetts, and I am thinking to go to Virginia in some days. When and where we shall re-assemble, will depend on the course of ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... circumstance, that the Old Red flagstones which lie along the southern flanks of the Grampians, and are represented by the gray stone known in commerce as the Arbroath Pavement, have not, so far as is yet known, an organism in common with the Old Red flagstones of the north. I at one time supposed that the rectilinear, smooth-stemmed fucoid, already described, occurred in both series, as the gray stones have also their smooth-stemmed, rectilinear, tape-like organism; but ...
— The Testimony of the Rocks - or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed • Hugh Miller

... and, in art, the uselessness of attempting to copy an object exactly, the desire to give the object full expression, are the impulses which drive the artist away from "literal" colouring to purely artistic aims. And that brings us to the question of composition. [Footnote: ...
— Concerning the Spiritual in Art • Wassily Kandinsky

... they cover, the great variety of the information they contain, and the thoroughly practical, and at the same time interesting, manner in which the information is presented. All the books are beautifully illustrated, and each contains an excellent map. ...
— The Cornwall Coast • Arthur L. Salmon

... descent. A force of about 5,000 men under Sir John Stuart landed in the Bay of St. Euphemia: and when, on the 4th of July, 1806, Reynier led 7,000 troops against them in full assurance of victory, his choicest battalions sank before the fierce bayonet charge of the British: in half an hour the French were in full retreat, leaving half ...
— The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) • John Holland Rose

... an episode connected with this home which might have had a tragic ending. Because of the unprotected condition, and the drawer in which the small receipts from the store were kept and unworthy young man, belonging to our village, planned a midnight entrance. Miss Abby heard the window raised, ...
— Annals and Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain • Harriet Manning Whitcomb

... moon, arose in the heavens, and the farmer quickened his pace, for he knew the road, and that he was a good way from an inn, or, indeed, from any habitation where he could ask a night's lodging. Lights peeped out, one by one, from the cottages as he passed, and when he glanced into them, and saw the cheerful little fires, he thought more compassionately of Gladys, and wondered whether ...
— Gladys, the Reaper • Anne Beale

... Turning a pair of great, serious eyes on her haughty school-mate's fair, placid countenance, she said with an ...
— Aunt Judith - The Story of a Loving Life • Grace Beaumont

... the reformed religion; dire threats were uttered against the Catholics. Some were for hanging them all out of hand, others for throwing them into the Scheldt; the most moderate proposed packing them all out of town so soon as the siege should be raised—an event which could not now be ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... Christianity requires in these matters, but that which may be persuaded by most convincing reasons, to be most suitable and comely for man, as man. You may take it in the subject in hand. There is nothing sounds harsher to men, and seems harder in religion, than such a victory over the flesh, such an abstractedness from sensual and earthly things. And yet, truly, there is nothing in the world, that more adorns and beautifies a man, nothing so elevates him above beasts as this, insomuch that many ...
— The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning • Hugh Binning

... is well sensitized when its edges commence to curl up. It is then removed from the bath by drawing it on a glass rod fixed at the end of the tray, and placed, prepared side down, on a slightly waxed glass plate, rubbing it with an India rubber squeegee to remove the superflous liquid, when it is hung up ...
— Photographic Reproduction Processes • P.C. Duchochois

... affair to be managed by her own political allies, such as Barrington Erle and Phineas Finn. And in his heart he suspected her of a design of managing the Government in her own way, with her own particular friend, Mrs. Finn, for her Prime Minister. If he could in no other way put an end to such evils as these, he must put an end to his own political life. Ruat coelum, fiat justitia. Now "justitia" to him was not compatible with feminine interference in his own ...
— The Prime Minister • Anthony Trollope

... never gone to rest at night without requiring of himself an account of the past day, and he had always been able to detect the most subtle line that divided right from wrong in his actions. But to-night he looked back on a perplexing confusion of ideas and events, and when he endeavored to sort them and arrange them, he could see nothing clearly ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... camp outside the porta Capena.[30] Then, after the army had been reviewed, he set out for Antium, and encamped not far from the town and fixed quarters of the enemy. There, when the Volscians, not venturing to risk an engagement, because the contingent from the Aequans had not yet arrived, were making preparations to see how they might protect themselves quietly within their ramparts, on the following day Fabius drew up not one mixed army of allies and citizens, but three ...
— Roman History, Books I-III • Titus Livius

... than introduce in this place the opinion of Judge Bosanquet, on the subject of the education of the infant poor; and some valuable hints will likewise be found in his remarks on prison discipline. It is an extract from a charge to the jury delivered at the Gloucester assizes for April, 1823. "Gentlemen, I have reason to believe, that the offences for trial on this occasion, are rather less than usual at this season, and, to whatever the diminution of crime may ...
— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin

... of six bells struck out, human faces began to crowd the windows around, and the procession of heads of houses and new doctors emerged, their red and black gowned forms passing across the field of Jude's vision like inaccessible planets across an object glass. ...
— Jude the Obscure • Thomas Hardy

... beneath their favorite tree. An open book lay beside her. She was gazing abstractedly into space, with a new look ...
— David Dunne - A Romance of the Middle West • Belle Kanaris Maniates

... the Father-general of the Barnabites, departed this life. As soon as he was dead, Father La Mothe wrote to the Vicar-general who now held his place till another should be elected renewing his request to have Father La Combe as an assistant. The father, hearing that I was obliged on account of my indisposition to return into France, sent an order to Father La Combe to return to Paris, and to accompany me in my journey, as his doing that would exempt their house at Paris, ...
— The Autobiography of Madame Guyon • Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon

... never met the new incumbent of St. Cyprian's, but the chaplain had lately married an American girl, Dick's cousin. This was the first time that Carleton had found a chance to call, although he had been staying with Schuyler for over a fortnight. He felt rather guilty and doubtful of his reception, as a neat little Monegasque maid told him that Madame ...
— The Guests Of Hercules • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... announced the approaching appearance of a sheet entitled the "Aristo," a reactionary paper. The Brea affair,* which was being tried at that very moment, was discussed. What particularly struck these grave men in this sinister affair was that among the witnesses was an ironmonger named "Lenclume" and a locksmith ...
— The Memoirs of Victor Hugo • Victor Hugo

... it would be a precious long time afore he got on the ice again to be laid up, botherin' strange folks, an' I guess I'll ...
— Thankful Rest • Annie S. Swan

... borders there prevailed that greatest blessing of the Roman rule, the pax Romana, or "Roman peace." Whatever defects may be found in the Roman administration, on whatever abstract grounds the existence of such an empire may be impugned, it cannot be questioned that for at least two centuries the whole of this vast region enjoyed a general reign of peace and security such as it never knew before and has never known since. That peace meant also social and industrial prosperity ...
— Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul • T. G. Tucker

... 1875, was an unfortunate month for the females, an old woman being burnt to death on the 5th, a middle-aged one on the 7th, and a ...
— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

... reluctance Blake got into the waggonette; before long they were at Donohoe's Hotel, and Mary Grant was soon rigged out in an outfit from Mrs. Donohoe's best clothes—a pale-green linsey bodice and purple skirt—everything, including Mrs. Donohoe's boots, being about four sizes too big. But she looked by no means an unattractive little figure, with her brown eyes and healthy colour ...
— An Outback Marriage • Andrew Barton Paterson

... of her who held it was well known to him, for the threat produced an immediate effect; the coward relaxed his hold, the reins dropped from his fingers, and with a mingled look of hatred and fear, ...
— The War Trail - The Hunt of the Wild Horse • Mayne Reid

... England, stimulated by the fall of Napoleon III and the establishment of a republican government in France, suddenly grew more extreme than it ever had been since 1848. It also became for the first time almost respectable. Chartism had been entirely an affair of the lower classes; but now Members of Parliament, learned professors, and ladies of title openly avowed the most subversive views. The monarchy was attacked both in theory and in practice. And it was attacked at a vital point: it was declared ...
— Queen Victoria • Lytton Strachey

... certainly not in connection with Willems. He was so busy with the thoughts about what he considered his own sacred duty, that he could not give any consideration to the probable actions of the man of whom he thought—as one may think of an executed criminal—with wondering indignation tempered by scornful pity. While he sat staring into the darkness, that every minute grew thinner before his pensive eyes, like a dispersing mist, Willems ...
— An Outcast of the Islands • Joseph Conrad

... an ordinary washtub. At the word "Go!" he places it in the water, climbs in as best he can, and paddles with his hands for the taw line. This is great fun, and if one out of ten gets through he may count himself fortunate. He may not succeed ...
— Healthful Sports for Boys • Alfred Rochefort

... secured them, for though unwilling to feed the little boy with raw fish, they would, he knew, afford him an ample meal or two. Charley, however, begged to have some to play with, and was much surprised to find their beautiful wings quickly become dry, and that in a few seconds they ...
— Charley Laurel - A Story of Adventure by Sea and Land • W. H. G. Kingston

... you to give you an opportunity to display your vulgar ostentation by throwing away hundred-pound cheques to villagers," he said. "I didn't take you to give you the position of a lady and be made a ...
— The Shuttle • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... [9] Here we have an account of the first building of the city of Jerusalem, according to Manetho, when the Phoenician shepherds were expelled out of Egypt about thirty-seven years before ...
— Against Apion • Flavius Josephus

... we've turned 'Piscopals—all on account o' Sonny. He seemed to prefer that religion, an' of co'se we wouldn't have the family divided, so we're a-goin' to be ez good 'Piscopals ez ...
— Short Stories for English Courses • Various (Rosa M. R. Mikels ed.)



Words linked to "An" :   associate, inclination of an orbit, on an irregular basis, through an experiment, keep an eye on, Halle-an-der-Saale, like an expert, many an, An Nefud, in an elaborate way, Associate in Nursing, blink of an eye, associate degree, at an equal rate



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