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Business   Listen
noun
Business  n.  (pl. businesses)  
1.
That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation; as, the business of life; business before pleasure. "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
2.
Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession. "The business of instruction."
3.
Financial dealings; buying and selling; traffic in general; mercantile transactions. "It seldom happens that men of a studious turn acquire any degree of reputation for their knowledge of business."
4.
That which one has to do or should do; special service, duty, or mission. "The daughter of the King of France, On serious business, craving quick despatch, Importunes personal conference." "What business has the tortoise among the clouds?"
5.
Affair; concern; matter; used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words. "It was a gentle business, and becoming The action of good women." "Bestow Your needful counsel to our business."
6.
(Drama) The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal.
7.
Care; anxiety; diligence. (Obs.)
To do one's business, to ruin one. (Colloq.)
To make (a thing) one's business, to occupy one's self with a thing as a special charge or duty. (Colloq.)
To mean business, to be earnest. (Colloq.)
Synonyms: Affairs; concern; transaction; matter; engagement; employment; calling; occupation; trade; profession; vocation; office; duty.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Business" Quotes from Famous Books



... the young Englishman; "my cousin was coming over on some business, so I just came across, at an hour's ...
— An International Episode • Henry James

... telling his hostess whence he came and what was his business. A quarry which a dead relative had bequeathed to him had had sufficient attraction to bring him across the sea and across this railless region. His few words of self-introduction were mingled with and followed by regrets for his intrusion, expressions of excessive gratitude. All the time ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall

... a pass is whipped on the spot. I knew a slave who started without a pass, one night, for a neighboring plantation, to see his wife: he was caught, tied to a tree, and flogged. He stated his business to the patrol, who was well acquainted with him but all to no purpose. I spoke to the patrol about it afterwards: he said he knew the negro, that he was a very clever fellow, but he had to whip him; for, if he let him pass, he must another, &c. He ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... infallible criteria of the different ranks of men's intellects, observe the instinctive habit which all superior minds have of endeavouring to bring, and of never resting till they have brought, into unity the scattered facts which occur in conversation, or in the statements of men of business. To attempt to argue any great question upon facts only, is absurd; you cannot state any fact before a mixed audience, which an opponent as clever as yourself cannot with ease twist towards another bearing, or at least meet by a contrary fact, as it is called. I wonder why facts ...
— Specimens of the Table Talk of S.T.Coleridge • Coleridge

... started down the street. He had only gone a short distance when the sound of some one running and calling his name made him halt. It was Higginbotham who had hastened on the first news of his arrival to make a business proposition. "Of course, I know, Jim, that you are a capitalist, and Hannah and me have been thinking it would be a good idea to establish a branch in Deadwood. Hannah is 'round calling on Belle, ...
— The Preacher of Cedar Mountain - A Tale of the Open Country • Ernest Thompson Seton

... Stanton put it, later, as we clustered round him in the copy room. (Shelby hadn't turned up.) "I don't like him, you know; and at first it was hard to get through the soup; but I acted up, gave him a song and dance about my mythical business matter—I think he feared I was going to 'touch him'—and finally got a little tipsy myself. From then on it was easy. It ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... the very magnitude and rapidity of the disaster served in a measure to mitigate its evil results. The burning of seven hundred buildings, comprising the entire business portion of Richmond warehouses, manufactories, mills, depots, and stores, all within the brief space of a day, was a visitation so sudden, so unexpected, so stupefying, as to overawe and terrorize even wrong-doers, ...
— A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln - Condensed from Nicolay & Hay's Abraham Lincoln: A History • John G. Nicolay

... the delightful paradise of Womla, the busy streets, the blinding glare of the lamps, the splashing vehicles, the blatant newspaper men, the swarms of people crossing each other's paths, and occasionally kicking each other's heels, everyone intent on his own affairs of business or pleasure, were disenchanting, to say the least. I seemed to have awakened from a beautiful dream, and fallen into a ...
— A Trip to Venus • John Munro

... amazing piece of luck. Amazing. Met Griffiths—you remember my telling you about Alec Griffiths, don't you, Christine? Student with me at the University. Got sent down together. Wonderful fellow—wonderful. Now he's in business in South Africa. Made his pile in diamonds. Simply rolling. He's going to let me in. Remarkable chap. Asked him to dinner. Oh, I've arranged all that on my way up. Gunther's are sending round a cook and a couple of waiters and all that's necessary. For God's sake, Christine, try ...
— The Dark House • I. A. R. Wylie

... appeared certain that she would bear off the honor, the snobocracy of Chillicothe, furious at being "trun down" by a working girl, appealed to Halliwell to exclude her from the contest, and this miserable parody of God's masterpiece promptly wired that her business occupation was an insuperable barrier. How's that for a country boasting of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity"—its press and politicians ever prating of "the dignity of labor"! The contest, I'm told, was open to all "respectable young women"; but a working girl, though pure as the lily and ...
— Volume 10 of Brann The Iconoclast • William Cowper Brann

... was becoming so unbearable that she could scarcely restrain a growing desire to scream, when Numa deliberately turned back to the business of feeding; but his back-layed ears attested a sinister regard for the actions of the girl ...
— Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... up. She was "an excellent washer and getter-up of linen." She was also "a tolerably good cook." But there were no bidders; and the auctioneer said, "Really, gentlemen, I have a great deal of business to do in my office: I cannot lose any more time here, as you are not disposed to bid." And ...
— American Scenes, and Christian Slavery - A Recent Tour of Four Thousand Miles in the United States • Ebenezer Davies

... about two years and a half ago, and that he now demanded 100 pasus of padi for it. (This is serra with a vengeance: 100 pasus are equal to 2 1/2 tons weight!) They had paid 10 pasus; should they, they asked me, pay the rest? I told them I would settle the business at Bandar ...
— The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido - For the Suppression of Piracy • Henry Keppel

... greatness of his heart. His admirable freedom from literary jealousy was an innate virtue which he deliberately increased by cultivation, taking care, also, never to subject himself to the conditions which he thought accounted for the faults of Pope, who had "neither the business nor the idleness of life to divide his mind from his Parnassian pursuits."[231] "Those who have not his genius may be so far compensated by avoiding his foibles," Scott said; and some years later ...
— Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature • Margaret Ball

... improving education. If any part of the following performance shall, upon trial, be found capable of amendment; if any thing can be added or altered, so as to render the attainment of knowledge more easy; the editor will be extremely obliged to any gentleman, particularly those who are engaged in the business of teaching, for such hints or observations as may tend towards the improvement, and will spare neither expense nor trouble in making the ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson

... some pieces on Human Life and Manners, such as (to use my Lord Bacon's expression) come home to Men's Business and Bosoms, I thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State; since, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection ...
— The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems • Alexander Pope

... to Liverpool, in 1845, and various other vessels have since that time been built at Cincinnati; one, a vessel of eight hundred and fifty tons, called the "Minnesota:" in short, there is quite an active business going on; shipbuilders from Maine coming here to carry on their trade—wood, labour, and lodging being much cheaper ...
— Lands of the Slave and the Free - Cuba, The United States, and Canada • Henry A. Murray

... You are welcome to a good Batch of my October, and true it was, that he proved his Words by his Deeds, for not only the rich but even the poor Man's Heart was generally made glad, even in advance, whenever they had Business at Penly, as expecting a refreshment of this Cordial Malt Liquor, that often was accompany'd with a good Breakfast or Dinner besides, while several others that had greater Estates would seem generous by giving a ...
— The London and Country Brewer • Anonymous

... which to lay his head, or for a bite or a sup of wine. John and James would give their boats to Judas belike, and he'd bring home about as much fish as would—— But I'm thinking of your father. What will he be saying to all this, and his business dwindling all the while, and we beggars?—the words with which my wife roused me this morning. Of course, says she, if the stone that never was cut out of the mountain with hands is going to be slung and send the Romans toppling, I've naught to say against sharing, but the Kingdom had better ...
— The Brook Kerith - A Syrian story • George Moore

... troubled me. Seventy days is all that can be spared from my business, and much may be seen in that time. As to the number of passengers, every steamer carries its full complement. At any rate, you are going, so think no more of your doubts. You will probably forget ...
— A Trip to the Orient - The Story of a Mediterranean Cruise • Robert Urie Jacob

... a Business: A Practical Guide for Authors, by Robert Cortes Holliday, 220; Extracts from, ...
— When Winter Comes to Main Street • Grant Martin Overton

... of his preoccupation, Brace stammered something about "collections." He did not recognize the men, but his own face, name, and business were familiar to everybody for fifty miles along ...
— Frontier Stories • Bret Harte

... carried away by his own eloquence, and steadied by no responsibility of office, became more implacable in his demands. Many of his moderate supporters—Neilson, Andrew Stuart, Quesnel, Cuvillier—fell away, only to be overwhelmed in the first election at a wave of the great tribune's hand. Business was blocked, supplies were not voted, and civil servants made shift without salary as best ...
— The Canadian Dominion - A Chronicle of our Northern Neighbor • Oscar D. Skelton

... say, "but if nothing happens all of us will be in business again." The central portion of Johnstown is as completely obliterated as if it had never had foundation. The river has made its bed upon the sites of hundreds of dwellings, and a vast area of sand, mud and gravel ...
— The Johnstown Horror • James Herbert Walker

... returned from the pursuit they remonstrated with the king for exposing his life in personal conflict, seeing that he had so many valiant captains whose business it was to fight. They reminded him that the life of a prince was the life of his people, and that many a brave army was lost by the loss of its commander. They entreated him, therefore, in future to protect them with the ...
— Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada • Washington Irving

... millions of Le Clerc, the forty millions of Murat, and the thirty-six millions of Augereau; not to mention the hundred millions of Bonaparte. It is also true that Jourdan is a gambler and a debauchee, fond of cards, dice, and women; and that in Italy, except two hours in twenty-four allotted to business, he passed the remainder of his time either at the gaming-tables, or in the boudoirs of his seraglio—I say seraglio, because he kept, in the extensive house joining his palace as governor and commander, ten women-three French, three Italians, two Germans, two Irish or English girls. ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... business and landowning interests; Catholic Church; Euskal Herritarok or EH ; free labor unions (authorized in April 1977); on the extreme left, the Basque Fatherland and Liberty or ETA and the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group or GRAPO use terrorism to oppose the government; Opus Dei; ...
— The 2000 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... sidled toward the free-lunch counter. He caught a fleeting glance from the bartender's eye, and stood still, trying to look like a business man who had just dined at the Menger and was waiting for a friend who had promised to pick him up in his motor car. Curly's histrionic powers were equal to the impersonation; but his make-up ...
— Heart of the West • O. Henry

... the service together," Findlayson said to himself. "You're too good a youngster to waste on another man. Cub thou wart; assistant thou art. Personal assistant, and at Simla, thou shalt be, if any credit comes to me out of the business!" ...
— The Day's Work, Volume 1 • Rudyard Kipling

... possible and as surely as possible. A man's herd has been exposed. There is no other way than to go and examine it, and take the diseased animals away. Then he knows the animals are diseased, and his neighbors know it. That has been the business of the commissioners for the last twenty days; and the facts that they have no discretionary power whatever, and that they were entirely circumscribed in their means, and that it was hard for the farmers to lose their stock ...
— Cattle and Their Diseases • Robert Jennings

... Charles his own commission to treat with Zurich for a Protestant alliance against France, Charles himself wrote to his sister, Madame (Henriette d'Orleans). He spoke of his secret treaty with France. "You know how much secrecy is necessary for the carrying on of the business, and I assure you that nobody does, nor shall, know anything of it here, but myself and that one person more, till it be fit to be public."[1] (Is "that one person" de ...
— The Lock and Key Library/Real Life #2 • Julian Hawthorne

... number of business concerns in the country which buy the raw materials described in Chapter XXI, mix them in various proportions, and sell the product as mixed or manufactured fertilizers. If these mixtures contain ...
— The First Book of Farming • Charles L. Goodrich

... hands with the officer who brought him the last order, and, turning to his men, who were lying or sitting near by, some on their cotton bags, others on the ground, said in the coolest and most business-like manner: "Pick up your bundles, and come on!" The movement of the stormers was the signal for the whole line. A truly magnificent sight was the advance of these battalions, with their colors flying and borne sturdily toward ...
— History of the Nineteenth Army Corps • Richard Biddle Irwin

... that," the professor agreed. "We are approaching you with regard to them in an altogether different manner. Mr. Bomford is a man of business. It is our wish to ...
— The Double Life Of Mr. Alfred Burton • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... diversified primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, it faces many of the serious problems facing other underdeveloped countries, such as political instability, a top-heavy civil service, and a generally unfavorable climate for business enterprise. The development of the oil sector led rapid economic growth between 1970 and 1985. Growth came to an abrupt halt in 1986, precipitated by steep declines in the prices of major exports: coffee, cocoa, and petroleum. Export earnings were ...
— The 1995 CIA World Factbook • United States Central Intelligence Agency

... joint-stock bank is governed by a board of directors, elected by the shareholders; and managers and other officers are appointed by the board to conduct the business. Many of these banks, besides having a head establish- ment in London, have branches all over the country. Every joint-stock bank is compelled by law to publish its accounts so as to show its position, and these accounts are presented to a ...
— Everybody's Guide to Money Matters • William Cotton, F.S.A.

... face more cheerfully. There was so much to talk about, and so many questions to ask, that it would have been impossible to remain dejected and uninterested. It was not until after tea, however, that Aimee brought her "business" upon the carpet. She had thought it best not to introduce the subject during the earlier part of the evening; but when the tea-tray was removed, and they found themselves alone again, she settled down, and applied herself at once to the ...
— Vagabondia - 1884 • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... but the 'arts and mysteries of a craft' as well. The journeyman and the artisan have given way to an army of machine workers, performing over and over one small process at one machine, turning out one small part of the finished article, and knowing nothing about the business beyond their narrow and limited task." (Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, vol. ...
— THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION • ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY

... by the way, was not with us on this run, nor was he at Chester. He had business in London, which kept him longer than he expected when he left our party at Tintern. I can't say I regret him, though others may. I understand that there has been some telegraphing between him and his aunt, and that his present intention is to rejoin us at Newcastle. Rather wish he would ...
— Set in Silver • Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

... Francis fiercely, as he tightened his grasp upon my collar. "Why, I saw you come creeping along with that dark lantern, and watched you. You had no business down here, and yet I find you along with this fellow, who has no right to be in the garden ...
— Brownsmith's Boy - A Romance in a Garden • George Manville Fenn

... hear a man speak quite calmly, and like a man, yet with a plaintive tone in his voice. Ah! the old, arch spirit of the literary Laird of the Ewes had been shaken to its centre, though he was a tolerable man of business, and rather fond of attending markets, sales, ...
— Girlhood and Womanhood - The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes • Sarah Tytler

... of weeks at this base," Douglas went on, "Hay was to cross the lines one night with you accompanying him. You, unintentionally, would thus occupy the enemy planes while Hay attended to the real business of the evening. And you ...
— Astounding Stories, February, 1931 • Various

... finished all the shoes, I was compelled to remain another day in camp; the man too, who had been left in charge of the sheep had lost them all; whilst the one, therefore, was finishing his work and the other looking for his sheep, I employed myself in writing letters for Adelaide, and in arranging my business in Port Lincoln, etc. ...
— Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central • Edward John Eyre

... renew his ideas and guide his instincts otherwise than as their inner evolution would demand; and regenerative processes must strive to repair beneath the constant irreparable lapse of his substance. His business is to create and remodel those organisms in which ideals are bred. In order to have a soul to save he must perpetually form it anew; he must, so to speak, earn his own living. In this vital labour, we may ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana

... the mention of STE. GENEVIEVE—situated in the old quarter of Paris, on the other side of the Seine; and that, in opposition to the ancient place or church, so called, there was the new Ste. Genevieve—or the Pantheon. My present business is with the old establishment: or rather with the LIBRARY, hard by the old church of Ste. Genevieve. Of all interiors of libraries, this is probably the most beautiful and striking; and it is an ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... operation in the fall, preventing the graft from freezing by inverting a flower-pot over it, and then covering with straw or litter. He claims for this method—1st. That it can be performed at a time when the ground is more dry, and in better condition, and business not so pressing as in spring.—2d. That the scion and stock have more time to unite, and will form their junction completely during the winter, and will therefore start sooner, and make a more rapid growth than in spring. It certainly looks feasible ...
— The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines • George Husmann

... this person, who may be called Cindrey, "to stay at home after the Burnside business. The Burnside job was very nearly enough for me. In fact I should have quite starved on the Burnside job, if I hadn't took the fever. And the fever kept me so busy that I forgot how hungry I was. So ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend

... there shone a new assurance on his benignant, rubicund face. Prosperity had visibly liberalized and enheartened him. He shook Thorpe's hand again. "Yes, sir—it must have been all through you!" he repeated. "I got my cable three weeks ago—'Hasten to London, urgent business, expenses and liberal fee guaranteed, Rubber Consols'—that's what the cable said, that is, the first one and of course you're the man that introduced me to those rubber people. And so don't you see I owe it ...
— The Market-Place • Harold Frederic

... on that point. I ask you for nothing. What business is it of yours that I have spent or lost a few pieces of gold, provided I leave ...
— The Amulet • Hendrik Conscience

... the thing for me. I am of an active turn—I want to go into business that will occupy me all day long—business that requires some head. Even his reverence, the first man in the country, acknowledged my talents—and what is the vent ...
— It Is Never Too Late to Mend • Charles Reade

... word, this has been a fine ending to the whole business. Miss Foster, when you came out to stay with us, you imagined, I suppose, that you were coming to stay with friends? You didn't know much of us; but after the kindness my aunt and I had experienced from your friends and kinsfolk in Boston—to put it in the crudest ...
— Eleanor • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... single cloud on a sunny day When all the rest of heaven is clear, A frown upon the atmosphere, That hath no business to appear, When skies are blue ...
— Queechy • Susan Warner

... but not enough to give me a hold. However, von of the chaps said that he would show me a man vot helped in the business to-morrow ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes

... Ficoroni casket for instance was designed in the fifth century of the city by a Praenestine artist and was sold to Praeneste, but was nevertheless manufactured in Rome.(33) But as the net proceeds even of retail business flowed for the most part into the coffers of the great houses, no industrial and commercial middle-class arose to an extent corresponding to that increase. As little were the great merchants and great manufacturers marked off as a distinct class from the great ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... apparent degradation of learning a trade practically, side by side with operatives in a workshop. But my father, who had known, by his wide experience, the immense value of a technical knowledge of a trade or business as compared with general educational advantages of the second order, and who knew how much more easy it is to earn a living as a skilful artisan than as a clerk, possessing a mere general education, always urged those who ...
— Lectures and Essays • Goldwin Smith

... man—dark-complexioned, with well-cut clothes and a black moustache—and I will show you a hero; a hero a little distorted, it is true, but not much the less heroic for that. Show me a notorious breaker of male hearts and laws and—so long as she is still in business—I will show you a heroine; again a little distorted, but with more than the magnetism of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, November 17, 1920 • Various

... the full text of Letters in the proportion customary in English biography. The existing mass of his letters is enormous. But then an enormous proportion of them touch on affairs of public business, on which they shed little new light. Even when he writes in his kindest and most cordial vein to friends to whom he is most warmly attached, it is usually a letter of business. He deals freely and genially with the ...
— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley

... "This is a man's great business—to lay each man his own fault on himself before the Lord, and to expect temptation to the last day of ...
— The Hermits • Charles Kingsley

... was Lise's comment on Mr. Frear's method, and thus Janet gained the impression that her sister's feelings were not deeply involved. "If I thought he'd make good with the sprinkler I might talk business. But say, he's one of those ginks that's always tryin' to beat the bank. He's never done a day's work in his life. Last year he was passing around Foley's magazine, and before that he was with the race track that went out of business because the ministers ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... compelled to inform you that you will have to look for another assistant, as important business calls me away for an indefinite period. Do not give yourself any trouble concerning the salary which you kindly offered me. I am not in need of it, and have only been too glad to render you the little assistance ...
— That Mainwaring Affair • Maynard Barbour

... the Beauce country, sent his son to his native village in the Eure-et-Loir to be brought up by kinsfolk there. As for himself, he was a strong man, and soon learned to be resigned; he was of a saving habit by instinct in both business and family matters, and never put off the green serge apron from week's end to week's end save for a Sunday visit to the cemetery. He would hang a wreath on the arm of the black cross, and, if it was a ...
— The Aspirations of Jean Servien • Anatole France

... really enjoyed these meetings as much as the young folks, for I think there is no study more delightful, nor more useful, than that which makes us acquainted with the world and its inhabitants. As our business has been mostly on the waters, I consider that we ought not to close the subject without calling to mind the period when 'the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth,' and 'all that was in the dry land died.' Beware, my dear children, ...
— The World of Waters - A Peaceful Progress o'er the Unpathed Sea • Mrs. David Osborne

... saved by his exertions now subjected to the tyranny of one master. His speeches, indeed, for Marcellus and Ligarius, exhibit traces of inconsistency; but for the most part he retired from public business, and gave himself up to the composition of those works which, while they mitigated his political sorrows, ...
— Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) • John Henry Newman

... it was useful, and fed the Alderney cow. It was beautiful Grass there, and was counted as such, because that was its proper place. But when it put its nose into garden-walks, where it was not wanted, and had no business, then everybody called the ...
— Aunt Judy's Tales • Mrs Alfred Gatty

... Mother Meraut. She smiled as she spoke, though her lip trembled "I will you the truth, Henri, sometimes when I think of what the Germans have already done in Belgium, and may yet do in France, I feel my heart breaking in my bosom. And then I say to myself, 'Courage, Antoinette! It is our business to live bravely for the France that is to be when this madness is over. Our armies are still between us and the Boche. It is not time to ...
— The French Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins

... golden bath: Mossy-footed squirrels leap Soft as winnowing plumes of Sleep: Yaffles on a chuckle skim Low to laugh from branches dim: Up the pine, where sits the star, Rattles deep the moth-winged jar. Each has business of his own; But should you distrust a tone, Then beware. Shudder all the haunted roods, All the eyeballs under hoods Shroud you in their glare. Enter these ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... attained. He could have been owner of all the woodlands in the Lovsjoe district, had a shop at Broby, and a steamer plying Lake Loeven; he might even have been master of the ironworks at Ekeby. Naturally he found it difficult to excuse the father's careless business methods, but he kept ...
— The Emperor of Portugalia • Selma Lagerlof

... a Yankee postmaster to Talcottville to administer the postal affairs of that town. No sooner had this man taken possession than he began to be exclusive, suh, and to put on airs. The vehy fust air he put on was to build a fence in his office and compel our people to transact their business through a hole. This in itself was vehy gallin', suh, for up to that time the mail had always been dumped out on the table in the stage office and every gentleman had he'ped himself. The next thing was the closin' ...
— Colonel Carter of Cartersville • F. Hopkinson Smith

... himself. It took him and tore away from his body and his life the habiliments of his proper state and left him these. He felt sad and grim, and, try as he would—he could not help showing it for a moment. It was always his business and his intention to conceal his real feelings, but now it was not quite possible. He felt degraded, impossible, in these clothes, and he knew that he looked it. Nevertheless, he did his best to pull himself together and look unconcerned, willing, obedient, considerate ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... say——" she was beginning when she suddenly perceived that Tom was not in his own quarters. "Master Tom," she exclaimed. "What business have you in your sister's cot? What tricks to be sure—deary me, deary me! Go back to your own bed, ...
— The Boys and I • Mrs. Molesworth

... by colored men; but it has been noted that in nearly every case the element of doubt, fear and backwardness developed when the promoters were brought face to face with the problem of how to begin such a business and conduct it successfully. They found the problem a difficult one, just as all problems are difficult until they are understood. Here then is where the wealthy friends of the Negro, the Northern and Southern ...
— Twentieth Century Negro Literature - Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating - to the American Negro • Various

... time, and Lord Robert having satisfied his cravings after the pleasures of London, by occasional bachelor visits on pretence of business, the family were to remain at the Hall till after the Easter holidays, so that Mary had every expectation of the accomplishment of her hopes previous to their departure. Perhaps, in the bottom of her heart, she flattered herself that, on hearing of her safety, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. Vol. LIV. • Various

... lasted nearly three hours, including stoppages for rest, a few moments each time, and, although performed under a scorching sun on the hot sand, and comprising a series of vigorous exercises, the men stood it well, and attended strictly to their business. ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... diversified ramifications of our business (the Heliotype Printing Company) we have very often to reproduce and multiply negatives in both a direct and reversed form. Various methods for doing this have been tried, and I may here say that I am quite well aware of all the methods that have hitherto been suggested for the purpose, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 303 - October 22, 1881 • Various

... you did not expect me, I know," said that gentleman, coming forward, "but I thought I'd drop in unceremoniously with my friends, here," (turning and revealing the little group behind him,) "as I had some particular business with two of your guests, that could ...
— Clemence - The Schoolmistress of Waveland • Retta Babcock

... later Sippara surrendered to the conqueror. Gobryas, the governor of Kurdistan, was then sent to Babylon, which also opened its gates "without fighting," and Nabonidos, who had concealed himself, was taken prisoner. The daily services in the temples as well as the ordinary business of the city proceeded as usual, and on the 3rd of Marchesvan Cyrus himself arrived and proclaimed a general amnesty, which was communicated by Gobryas to "all the province of Babylon," of which he had been made the prefect. Shortly afterwards, the wife—or, ...
— Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations • Archibald Sayce

... condition in life. First, there is the heir, sustaining the name and honour of the family; then perchance the soldier, in whose career all the anxiety and solicitude of the family is centred; then the man of business, to whom they look up, trusting his advice, expecting his counsel; lastly perhaps, there is the invalid, from the very cradle trembling between life and death, drawing out all the sympathies and anxieties of each member of the family, and so uniting them all more closely, ...
— Sermons Preached at Brighton - Third Series • Frederick W. Robertson

... use of inauguration shoes appears to have been very ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how frequently the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal arrangements. It was obviously an important object in Eastern business transactions. ...
— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack

... strained every nerve to give him a suitable education. He was accordingly taught geometry, astronomy, geography, and drawing. As soon as his time of life and his education qualified him for the business he had chosen, he went to sea; he was then fourteen years old. His first voyages were from Genoa, of which city he was a native, to different ports in the Mediterranean, with which this republic traded. His ...
— Robert Kerr's General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 18 • William Stevenson

... answer, it called for an acknowledgment. It was a new favor; and, indeed, I should be worse than insensible, if I did not consider the honors you have heaped upon me with no sparing hand with becoming gratitude. But your letter arrived to me at a time when the closing of my long and last business in life, a business extremely complex, and full of difficulties and vexations of all sorts, occupied me in a manner which those who have not seen the interior as well as exterior of it cannot easily imagine. I confess that in the ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VI. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... stories told about her, of which probably the half are not true. It is said that she kept her young brother at a distance from Moscow, where she surrounded him with ministers of evil, whose business it was to encourage him in riot and dissipation, to the end that he might become a moral monster, odious and insupportable to the nation at large. Such a course had been pursued with Ivan the Terrible, and to it was ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 8 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... assess the value of an adult in our country as $1500. So, from a business standpoint and on national grounds, we regard the expenditure of a sum up to $30 as judicious, when the value of the infant to the country may be fifty times that sum. Thus the small wage earner's wife and ...
— Socialism As It Is - A Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement • William English Walling

... no idle threat was proved by the fact that a respectable statuary, carrying on business in Piccadilly, who had refused to pay black-mail, brought an action for libel in the King's Bench on the 1st of July against a man named Stockdale, publisher of the infamous production referred to, and recovered L300 ...
— English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. - How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. • Graham Everitt

... me) for a perfectly sound and kind junior partner,—one who has been well broken to harness, and who will neither shy nor balk, no matter what the provocation; the next step being to urge Himself to relinquish altogether the bondage of business care. There is no need of his continuing in it, since other people's business will always give him ample scope for his energies. He has, since his return to America, dispensed justice and mercy, chiefly mercy, ...
— Penelope's Irish Experiences • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... with him? Love is almost the only passion which cannot be called forth or turned aside at will, and though the Count di Visinara treated his wife in all respects, and ever would, with the most cautious attention, his heart was still true to Gina Montani. But now the Count had to leave home; business called him forth; and to remain away fifteen days. In those earlier times women could not accompany their lords every where, as they may in these; and when Giovanni rode away from his castle gates, the Lady Adelaide sank in solitude upon the arm of one of her costly sofas, ...
— The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852 • Various

... waiting, Mr. Barron. But that fellow, Pinches—you remember?—the new blacksmith—has been drinking for nearly a week, and went quite mad this morning. We just prevented him from killing his wife, but it was a tough business. I'll go and wash and change my coat, if you ...
— The Case of Richard Meynell • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... Damper ventured after a pause, "you don't feel like tellin' me what your business might be down at the orphanage? Not ...
— True Tilda • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... inclination for the milinery business, and at the time we introduce her to our readers she was Chief Engineer of a Millinery Shop and Boss of a ...
— The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, Part 3 • Charles Farrar Browne

... extravagant panegyrics." She was good-looking, if she was not beautiful, since the expression of her countenance showed benignity, culture, and vivacity. She had piercing dark eyes, a clear complexion, and animated features. She was in perfect health, capable of great fatigue, apt in business, sagacious, industrious, witty, learned, and fond of being surrounded with illustrious men. She was high-church in her sympathies, yet a Protestant in the breadth of her views and in the fulness of her reforms. Above all, she was patriotic and disinterested in her efforts to develop the ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume VIII • John Lord

... the son of a gun who has his knife into me!" growled Trampy, persuaded that he was the victim of an agent's jealousy, or else the stage-managers didn't understand their business. ...
— The Bill-Toppers • Andre Castaigne

... look here, honey! Don't you go to taking on about this here piece o' business! And don't you get mad long o' your husband on any woman's account, whatever you do! Come down on the woman! That's what you do. It is all her fault, not hizzen! He couldn't help himself, poor innocent creetur! Lor! honey, I don't know much about married ...
— Cruel As The Grave • Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth

... "And what business have you to come at seven and a quarter? Half-past six is your time; and, if you can't keep it, your missis shall get ...
— Elster's Folly • Mrs. Henry Wood

... in my head all day. Then came the stir in the house—Robert making fires—I knew his step—and then Betty at my bedside to ask about the breakfast. "And Bu' Sam dead too," was her quiet remark when her business was done. "I dunner if you yeardy de whoop when ...
— Letters from Port Royal - Written at the Time of the Civil War (1862-1868) • Various

... awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better, it appears to me. The matter you speak of on my account you may attend to as you say, unless you shall hear of my condition forbidding it. I say this because I fear I shall be unable to attend to any business here, and a change of scene might ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896 • Various

... "Good business!" said the brigadier, turning to his chief of staff. "Will you canter up and mark out a camp? It's a great relief to find that that ...
— On the Heels of De Wet • The Intelligence Officer

... business, when the hour was out, to be back in the porch. Mrs. Wetherell was stirring up the thick white curd, and dipping out the pale green whey, with a little wooden dish. After she had "weighed it," she mixed in salt thoroughly. ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Vol. 1, Issue 1. - A Massachusetts Magazine of Literature, History, - Biography, And State Progress • Various

... a farmer in New York who had a very large bob-tailed churn- dog by the name of Cuff. The farmer kept a large dairy and made a great deal of butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly the half of each summer day treading the endless round of the churning-machine. During the remainder of the day he had plenty of time to sleep and rest, and sit on his hips and survey the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he discovered ...
— The Writings of John Burroughs • John Burroughs

... will be pleased, and to thicken the plantation where there is something to be hidden; demands any great powers of mind, I will not inquire: perhaps a surly and sullen speculator may think such performances rather the sport than the business of human reason. But it must be at least confessed, that to embellish the form of nature is an innocent amusement; and some praise must be allowed, by the most supercilious observer, to him who does best what such multitudes are ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II • Samuel Johnson

... closed on Wednesday night. There were representatives from about twenty States, and the deepest interest was manifested through all the sessions, increasing to the end[112]. On the morning of the Convention the business committee assembled in the ante-room of Carroll Hall, to discuss resolutions, officers, etc. As Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, was present, it was decided that he should open the meeting and preside as long as his public duties would permit. This gave ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... Abraham Lincoln. He was seated, when I entered, in a low arm-chair, with his feet extended on the floor, surrounded by a large number of documents and several busy secretaries. The room bore the marks of business, and the persons in it, the President included, appeared to be much overworked and tired. Long lines of care were already deeply written on Mr. Lincoln's brow, and his strong face, full of earnestness, lighted up as ...
— The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln • Francis Fisher Browne

... is. We do not wish to encourage men to come among us and excite discontent among our slaves. We will not permit them to do it. Our safety requires that we should not. Our own citizens do not connive at the escape of slaves. None do it who have any business in our States. We are here for peace. When half a dozen States are out, whose return we wish to secure, shall we put such a clause as this into the Constitution? Do it, and a half dozen others will follow. I am not at all sure that the report ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... it?" laughed Burnett; "well, it'll salt her fast enough when we get out. Don't you fuss over what's none of your business, my dear girl; just trot along upstairs and dress dolly, and when she's dressed we'll take her ...
— The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary • Anne Warner

... in the course of the visits he paid to Boston and Portland where he spoke with great effect on several occasions. He won the confidence and esteem of statesmen and politicians by his urbanity, dignity, and capacity for business. He carried away his audiences by his exhibition of a high order of eloquence, which evoked the admiration of those who had been accustomed to hear Webster, Everett, Wendell, Philipps, Choate, and other noted masters ...
— Lord Elgin • John George Bourinot

... my neck; but never this kind of strain. It wasn't that the eyes were so awful; they hadn't the majesty of the powers of darkness. But they had—how shall I say?—a physical effect that was the equivalent of a bad smell: their look left a smear like a snail's. And I didn't see what business they had with me, anyhow—and I stared and stared, trying to find ...
— Tales Of Men And Ghosts • Edith Wharton

... pigeons, with a sharp hiss of swiftly beating wings, drop down into the trees, and flutter, cooing loudly, from bough to bough before they fell asleep. Then, after a twilight romp in and about the mouth of the burrow, the badgers took up the business of the night, and wandered away over the countryside in search of food, sometimes extending their journeys even as far as the garden of a cottage five miles distant, where Brock distinguished himself by overturning a hive and devouring every ...
— Creatures of the Night - A Book of Wild Life in Western Britain • Alfred W. Rees

... become, in some degree, Fashionable: And even a reasonable thing will not want Followers, if it be once thought the Fashion. We have seen also that Mothers, in regard of their Childrens Instruction, ought to take upon themselves, as their proper Business, a very great part in that concernment; and one would think that there were no inconsiderable number of Ladies amongst us, who might, with hopes of success, be address'd to, that they would indeavour to acquit themselves herein of their Duty. I mean all such as are unhappily Marry'd; ...
— Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous or Christian life • Lady Damaris Masham

... The coachman reflected upon what I said, and when I afterwards told him the name of the street to which I wished him to drive, he answered that he feared I was about to implicate him in some bad business; that he saw plainly enough that the good-looking young man whom I called Manon was a girl eloping from the Hospital, and that he was little disposed indeed to ruin himself for ...
— Manon Lescaut • Abbe Prevost

... time Walpole had begun to suspect imposture. He had been lately bitten in the Ossian business and had grown wary in consequence. Moreover, Chatterton had been incautious enough to show his hand in his second letter (March 30). "He informed me," said Walpole, in his history of the affair, "that he was the son of a poor widow . . . that he was clerk or apprentice ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century • Henry A. Beers

... Old Thomas Thwaite had accompanied them from Cumberland, but the rooms had been taken for them by his son, Daniel Thwaite, who was at this time foreman to a somewhat celebrated tailor who carried on his business in Wigmore Street; and he, Daniel Thwaite, had a bedroom in the house in which the Countess lodged. The arrangement was not a wise one, as reports had already been spread abroad as to the partiality of the Lady Anna for the young ...
— Lady Anna • Anthony Trollope

... says, "when it is a question of the relations of men as to what concerns business or society, ought to adopt the characteristic of that animal ...
— Common Sense - - Subtitle: How To Exercise It • Yoritomo-Tashi

... unless there's something wrong," Gerard answered, tactfully casual. "A cigarette helps, then. But everything is very right, now. You know, these races are my holidays, although they are an important business feature, too. My factory affairs keep me hard at work most of the year. Then in the intervals I am designing and having constructed a genuine racing machine of my own, much more powerful than the ninety Mercury I'm driving now. I'm not an ...
— From the Car Behind • Eleanor M. Ingram

... work, hardly talking from rapidity of exercise. Both were dressed for an expedition. She had her bonnet on, and he his yachting-hat. His sleeves were turned over at the wrists, and her gown showed its lining on her lap. At times a chance word might spring a laugh, but eating was the business of the hour, as I would have you to know it always will be where Cupid is in earnest. Tribute flowed in to them from the subject land. Neglected lies Love's penny-whistle on which they played so prettily and charmed the spheres ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... this tumultuary reconciliation, they went to the house of Mr. Necker and M. de Montmorin, with shouts of thankfulness and affection. Similar emotions of joy took place in Paris, and at this moment, the triumph of the Tiers is considered as complete. Tomorrow they will recommence business, voting by persons on all questions: and whatever difficulties may be opposed in debate by the malcontents of the Clergy and Nobility, every thing must be finally settled at the will of the Tiers. It remains ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... yourself will do all you can to render the lady's stay at Fana 'alu agreeable to her. You will find her husband, our new supercargo, a very fine fellow, easy to get on with, and a thoroughly honourable and conscientious business man.' ...
— Ridan The Devil And Other Stories - 1899 • Louis Becke

... the day which was to decide her fate arrived. The vases were all ranged, by the king's order, in his gallery of paintings at Sans Souci; and in the evening, when Frederick had finished the business of the day, he went thither to examine them. Laniska and some others were permitted to accompany him: no one spoke, whilst Frederick was comparing the ...
— Tales And Novels, Volume 1 • Maria Edgeworth

... should like to have the pleasure of witnessing your meeting with Mr. Merriman. The nights are warm, and you will, I am sure, be quite comfortable till the morning, when no doubt a passing boat will take you off and convey you back to your business at Cossimbazar." ...
— In Clive's Command - A Story of the Fight for India • Herbert Strang

... reading a page of Condillac; only his methods were different, more modern. He was an adroit courtier, a great hypocrite, and nothing more; he had no special aptitude for affairs, and no intellect, but he knew how to manage his own business successfully; no one could get the better of him there, and, to be sure, that's the ...
— Fathers and Children • Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

... the public good requiring that the session of the Senate for executive business should be continued, and that the members thereof should convene on Tuesday, the 17th day of July instant, you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in Philadelphia, on that day, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to receive and deliberate ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, - Vol. 2, Part 3, Andrew Jackson, 1st term • Edited by James D. Richardson

... instinctively lifted up his voice in appeal to his rights as head of the family. A smile which he caught passing between Paul and his mother, a fresh proof of their joint share in this discreditable business, completed his exasperation. He shouted and raved, threatening to make a public protest, to write to the papers, to brand them both, mother and son, 'in his history.' This last was his most appalling threat. When he had said of some historical character, 'I have branded ...
— The Immortal - Or, One Of The "Forty." (L'immortel) - 1877 • Alphonse Daudet

... would not be complete without some account of his life subsequent to the dissolution of the great army of volunteers. Willard Glazier's conduct as a soldier formed an earnest of his future good citizenship—his devotion to duty at the front, a foreshadow of his enterprise and success in the business of life. ...
— Sword and Pen - Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier • John Algernon Owens

... not deviate into intersection before you return to the country,—after that same nonsuit[38], whereof the papers have told us,—but, as you must be much occupied, I won't be affronted, should your time and business militate ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. III - With His Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore

... can be kept around this place," was his strange reply. "Might I ask, Miss Mary, of what nature is the subject?" And seeing that she hesitated he added, first looking cautiously over his shoulder, "Is it anything, for instance, to do wi' Mr. Woodward? Or, say, the conduct of the business?" ...
— Mary Minds Her Business • George Weston

... pioneers, who, astonished at this apparition, stopped fifty paces from the bastion: "Gentlemen, a few friends and myself are about to breakfast in this bastion. Now, you know nothing is more disagreeable than being disturbed when one is at breakfast. We request you, then, if you really have business here, to wait till we have finished or repast, or to come again a short time hence, unless; unless, which would be far better, you form the salutary resolution to quit the side of the rebels, and come and drink with us to the health of ...
— The Three Musketeers • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... blown its last; The rattling showers rose on the blast; The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed; Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellowed: That night, a child might understand The deil had business on his hand. ...
— Playful Poems • Henry Morley

... scarcely have been surprised if one of the men who looked at her casually in the street had suddenly halted and asked her to marry him. It came on her with something like assurance that that was the only business these men were there for, she could not discover any other reason or excuse for their existence, and if some man had been thus adventurous Mary Makebelieve would have been sadly perplexed to find an answer: she might, indeed, have replied, ...
— Mary, Mary • James Stephens

... "MR. PRESIDENT:—The pressure of business in the Senate during the last few days of the session prevented my attendance at the meeting of the Border-State members, called to consider your proposition in reference to gradual emancipation ...
— The Great Conspiracy, Complete • John Alexander Logan

... I have but one business more with life. It is to arraign the fair and traiterous author of all my misfortunes. Start not at the black catalogue. Flinch not from the detail of infernal mischief. The mind that knows how to perpetrate an action, should know ...
— Italian Letters, Vols. I and II • William Godwin

... and gentle rain began, such a rain that to those who were out of doors it was nothing troublesome, and to the country greatly profitable, and pleasant unto all; and it lasted all that night, and all the day following, till the holy business of the translation was accomplished, and then it ceased. Now it was found that this rain had fallen at the same time and in the same manner, both in the country below Burgos, and also in Bureva, albeit that it rarely hath happened for ...
— Chronicle Of The Cid • Various

... man-eaters, and a race of people in Africa whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders: these travellers' stories would so enchain the attention of Desdemona, that if she were called off at any time by household affairs, she would despatch with all haste that business, and return, and with a greedy ear devour Othello's discourse. And once he took advantage of a pliant hour, and drew from her a prayer, that he would tell her the whole story of his life at large, of which she had heard so much, but only by parts: to which he consented, and beguiled ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb



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