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Double-quick   Listen
noun
Double-quick  n.  Double-quick time, step, or march. Note: Double-quick time requires 165 steps, each 33 inches in length, to be taken in one minute. The number of steps may be increased up to 180 per minute.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Double-quick" Quotes from Famous Books



... the last grenadier Stepped into the boat from the end of our pier; They found that our hills were not easy to climb, And the order came, "Countermarch, double-quick time!" ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... sight of the fort, they saw that it was deserted. No flag floated over its walls. On the double-quick, Washington led his troops into it, and not a Frenchman or Indian was found. The wooden buildings were burned to ashes, together with such baggage and other material as the occupants could not carry away in boats. Not a cannon, gun, or cartridge remained. Washington ...
— From Farm House to the White House • William M. Thayer

... lady,' said I: 'pack off the impudent fellow double-quick! And if it may be, and if your good heart allows it, help him a little on the way ...
— St Ives • Robert Louis Stevenson

... said; "I wonder whether you are speaking the truth? If I thought you weren't, I would put a bullet through your head, in double-quick time." ...
— A Final Reckoning - A Tale of Bush Life in Australia • G. A. Henty

... do. Hakkut has defied us, and, unless he is punished for it, the native respect for American authority in these islands will soon be less than nothing. What are we going to do? There is nothing that we can do but send the strongest column of men that we can spare up into the mountains on the double-quick. We've got to root out that brown scoundrel, and send him and his band running as fast as they can go, or else we shall be forced to admit to the natives that the claim of the American nation to govern Mindanao ...
— Uncle Sam's Boys in the Philippines - or, Following the Flag against the Moros • H. Irving Hancock

... ashore and don't know what it is until you've been at the firing front or in one of these blessed ocean brooms. That chap across the way found a mine in his kite, and we had to cut the hawser in double-quick time, and get far enough away from it before we pegged a bullet ...
— Some Naval Yarns • Mordaunt Hall

... double-quick time," was the reply, "for I don't relish getting up so early, and you can take it off ...
— Paul Prescott's Charge • Horatio Alger

... serpent, appears to possess the faculty of swallowing to a very considerable extent. Knowing brokers, if consulted, would not have sung to unwary clients the popular ditty "Keep your Aarons," but would have recommended them, being in, to be out again in double-quick time, if there were any chance of an immediate though small ready-money profit to be made, before one could ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 103, August 20, 1892 • Various

... Cheon at the helm, every one was of necessity enthusiastic. The Vealer was quartered in double-quick time, and the first fitful rays of sunlight found their way to the Creek crossing to light up an advancing forest of boughs and mistletoe clumps that moved forward on ...
— We of the Never-Never • Jeanie "Mrs. Aeneas" Gunn

... prince rose to the occasion, and directed several of his nobles to forcibly drag the Earl of March from the apartments of the guilty pair, and in 1330 he became the Earl of Double-Quick March—a sort of forced March—towards the gibbet, where he was last seen trying to stand on the English climate. The queen was kept in close confinement during the rest of her life, and the morning papers ...
— Comic History of England • Bill Nye

... picked up my first one yet; and here you're walking away from me double-quick. Guess ...
— In Camp on the Big Sunflower • Lawrence J. Leslie

... attention of others besides Gordon Keith. Just at this juncture a stout policeman turned the curve at a double-quick. ...
— Gordon Keith • Thomas Nelson Page

... surprised to find that it was morning, but tumbled out of his cot in double-quick time, and soon the cheerful notes of reveille were ringing out over the camp, on which the sun's rays were now streaming down in that luminary's cheerful ...
— The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol • Howard Payson

... another instant I was up, and was putting on my stockings when Miriam ran in, in her nightgown. The children were roused and dressed quickly, and it did not take us many instants to prepare,—the report of two shots, and the tramp of soldiers, cries of "Double-quick," and sound as of cannon moving, rather hastening our movements. Armoirs, bureaus, and everything else were thrown open, and Miriam and I hastily packed our sacks with any articles that came to hand, having previously taken the precaution to put on everything fresh ...
— A Confederate Girl's Diary • Sarah Morgan Dawson

... stand at your work—all those hours! —is there ever a moment then for putting up a word in Jesus' ear—Jesus, Who died for sinners? Why, no, how should there be indeed? If you don't keep a sharp eye on your work the overlooker 'ull know the reason why in double-quick time!... But there comes a break, perhaps, for one reason or another. Does the Lord get it? What a thing to ask, to be sure! Why, there are other spinners close by, waiting for rovings, or leaving off for "baggin," and a bit of ...
— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... lines with all possible speed, and left the rest of the army to shift for themselves; they, therefore, retreated [or scampered] in small detached parties, some of whom had exonerated themselves of their arms and equipments. Thus did they travel [at double-quick] towards their headquarters from two or three to a dozen; and were, in compassion for their sufferings, succoured by those very people whose houses, a day or two previous, they had ransacked ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 2 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Edgerton Ryerson

... on the hills; they could not see what. Just then the order came down the line to advance at a double-quick and support the batteries. They moved forward at a run and passed beyond the shelter of the ridge. Instantly they were in the line of fire from the Prussian batteries, whose white puffs of smoke were ...
— "A Soldier Of The Empire" - 1891 • Thomas Nelson Page

... had diminished to a few rods, and still a grave-like silence wrapped the redoubt. At the last moment had the hearts of the patriots failed? Did the near approach of the red-coats deprive them of their courage? By the double-quick, forward march!" rang out from the British lines. A sudden rush, and one deafening volley! Was it lightning from heaven that struck down every man in their first rank? Was it the earthquake's shock that left those long lines of dead heaped like grass before the mower's scythe? ...
— Ten Great Events in History • James Johonnot

... all left the gymnasium with its prisoners, and Sawed-Off locked the door firmly behind him. Then they went at a double-quick for Moore's restaurant and the waiting banquet, which, they suspected, was by this ...
— The Dozen from Lakerim • Rupert Hughes

... prosecute some of my poor young men for breach of promise; but we stand no nonsense of that kind in the gallant Sucking Pidgeons. So, trot off, old man, and take your decoy-duck with you, or I think its extremely likely you'll be tost in a blanket. Do you hear?—go for your broken-hearted Desdemona, and double-quick out of the yard. I'll teach a set of lawyers to come playing the Jew to my young men. They shall jilt every girl in England if they think proper, and serve them right too—and no pitiful green-bag rascal shall trouble them about such ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 - Vol. 53, January, 1843 • Various

... the enemy's shells burst in most unpleasant proximity. Then our regiment and the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth New York were ordered out to the support of General Weitzel on our right. We marched on the double-quick down through the woods, when we were ordered by General Grover to advance to the front and carry the earthworks. We were informed that there were hardly any Rebels there. Major Burt of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth, who was in command, was ...
— The Twenty-fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion • George P. Bissell

... yez pardon, miss—all this time the strikers were pluggin' at us, an' bullets flyin' like fun. 'Drop your muskets,' says the captain, when we had done; 'fall in along those rails. Pick them up, and double-quick for the shed door,' says he, just as if he was on parade. Then we saw what he was afther, and double-quick we went. Begobs, that door went down as if it was paper. He was the first in. 'Stand back,' says he, 'till Oi see what's ...
— The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him • Paul Leicester Ford

... revolver from his holster and, spurring on the guide, encouraged the men to a double-quick. Wilson kept by his side. They ran through the silent streets like phantom ghouls in a deserted city. Every window was tight shut and every door double-barred. The rumor had spread fast and entered the city an hour before them. They made a great rattling as they ...
— The Web of the Golden Spider • Frederick Orin Bartlett

... moving off on the double-quick, Merwyn left his squad and said to Carpenter: "I am a citizen, and I stipulated that I should fight as I chose. I choose to ...
— An Original Belle • E. P. Roe

... traps were hauled in double-quick time and they made a bee-line for Sprowl's Cove. Spurling and Throppy came in at noon on the Barracouta. Jim's brows knitted when he ...
— Jim Spurling, Fisherman - or Making Good • Albert Walter Tolman

... each other, and then with one accord they rushed after the carriage and held on behind. Down the dusty road went the smart carriage, and after it, at double-quick time, ran the twinkling legs of the Lamb's brothers ...
— Five Children and It • E. Nesbit

... people would catch them, and if they went back, the angry man and farmer would be after them. As they stood discussing which way to go, it was decided for them, for the animal keeper on his horse turned into the lane behind them and drove them to the circus in double-quick time with ...
— Billy Whiskers - The Autobiography of a Goat • Frances Trego Montgomery

... with his regiment, having commenced the action upon our left wing, the whole line, at the centre and on the right, advancing in double-quick time, rung the war-cry, "Remember the Alamo!" received the enemy's fire, and advanced within point-blank shot before a piece was fired from our lines. Our line advanced without a halt, until they ...
— Southern Literature From 1579-1895 • Louise Manly

... near when the major ordered the final charge, and Captain de Peyster formed his line and led it forward at a double-quick. The mountaineers held more than half the hilltop now, and this forlorn hope was to try to drive them down the farther slopes. On it went, and I could see the men pitch and tumble out of the line until at bayonet-reach of the riflemen there were ...
— The Master of Appleby • Francis Lynde

... deafening yells. It seemed inevitable that they would make the capture, when Captain Claflin gave the order to cease firing, and Captain Samuel Robbins with his company, K of the First Colorado, arose from the ground like ghosts, delivering a galling fire, charged bayonets, and on the double-quick put the ...
— The Old Santa Fe Trail - The Story of a Great Highway • Henry Inman

... to receive it when taken myself. On issuing from the podesta with Sheeny's portmanteau and my sword in my hand, I was a little disgusted and annoyed to see our own men in a pretty good column retreating at double-quick, and about four hundred yards beyond me, up the hill leading to the fort; while on my left hand, and at only a hundred yards, a troop of the Queenite lancers ...
— Burlesques • William Makepeace Thackeray

... and the whole body, having accomplished its object in disarming the sea face of the town, fell back upon their boats lying along the mole. Most had already re-embarked when the Mexicans, led by Santa Anna in person, charged from the gate and down the mole at double-quick. Admiral Baudin himself was still on shore, waiting to see the last man off. Though scarcely expecting this gallant return from a force that had been so badly worsted and was much inferior in numbers, the French were not unprepared. A six-pound ...
— Admiral Farragut • A. T. Mahan

... our camp, and it is not for you, the mate, or anybody else to come here and dictate to us. If you try that, we'll send you off in double-quick order." ...
— The Rover Boys on Land and Sea - The Crusoes of Seven Islands • Arthur M. Winfield

... The firing grew heavier and heavier, and seemed to be coming nearer and nearer. The lonely hills and woods around rang with the whoops and yells of the unseen savages. Not able to restrain his impatience till his aide came back, Braddock ordered his main division to come up at double-quick; and, taking with him his two remaining aides and a small guard of light-horse, galloped up to the scene of action. Here what was his rage and mortification to find his doughty regulars, of whom he had boasted so much, ...
— The Farmer Boy, and How He Became Commander-In-Chief • Morrison Heady

... Brother Boche. But this message jerked my thoughts on to a new road. There might be other things in the war than straightforward fighting. Why on earth should the Foreign Office want to see an obscure Major of the New Army, and want to see him in double-quick time? ...
— Greenmantle • John Buchan

... assault, as it is known that before the advance was made, he was stationed with several bands of music and a batterv about five hundred yards south of the Alamo, and that from this point he gave the bugle-signal for the advance. At double-quick time the columns advanced simultaneously against the little fort, one rushing through a breach which had already been made in the walls at the north, a second storming the chapel and a third ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8 • Charles H. Sylvester

... a station called Wannsee, and embarked on board a small steamer, the Princess Royal receiving the guests as they arrived on board. We then started for a trip on the lakes, but before long there came a violent squall which obliged the sailors to take down the awnings in double-quick time, and drove every one down into the cabins. It lasted about half an hour, after which it cleared up and every one reappeared on deck. In course of time we landed near Babelsberg, where carriages were waiting. I was told off to go in the first with the Princess Royal, Countess Karolyi ...
— My First Years As A Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 • Mary King Waddington

... valet dead and is suspected of that crime, too, a fellow who would be lying behind the bars now if my brother hadn't put up the money to save the family from disgrace. If we tell all we know, the police will grab you again double-quick. Yet you have the nerve to come here and make insinuations against the lady who is mourning my uncle's death. I've a good mind to 'phone for the police ...
— Tangled Trails - A Western Detective Story • William MacLeod Raine

... double-quick time I can assure you, or at any rate as fast as my stiff limbs and general condition would allow. Fortunately we had now no doubt as to our direction, since standing up through the mists of dawn with the sunbeams resting on its forest-clad crest, we could clearly ...
— The Ivory Child • H. Rider Haggard

... hope that will not be for some time yet: he had just leaped a turf-hole, and was moving on, when, at the distance of about six yards before him, he saw a fellow coming straight towards him. Bagg says that he stopped short, as suddenly as if he had heard the word halt, when marching at double-quick time. It was quite a surprise, he says, and he can't imagine how the fellow was so close upon him before he was aware. He was an immense tall fellow—Bagg thinks at least two inches taller than himself—very well ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... those exercises in which the lungs and heart are made to go at a vigorous pace are to be ranked among the most useful. The "double-quick" of the soldier contributes more in five minutes to his digestion and endurance than the ordinary drill ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 58, August, 1862 • Various

... company, and told me, whom he supposed was the member from their district, that I must marshal my friends out on the green, and he would notify the Private Secretary. I made no answer to this, but ordered the troops to charge bayonets, and we entered the White House at a double-quick. I led the way directly to GRANT'S study, and stationing my men in the doorway, I entered. He was within, cutting up an "old soger" to smoke in his pipe. After shaking bands with him, I sat down and inquired if that was a ...
— Punchinello, Vol.1, No. 12 , June 18,1870 • Various

... unlimited "commissary." Brigade manoeuvres and battalion drills were diligently practised; and, when Casey's tactics were scarcely dry from the press, Colonel Sam Quincy, with the least possible preparation on our part, "sprung" on us the new movement of "Forward on the centre to form square" at "double-quick." And, I am ashamed to say, that, practised as we were in all the tricks of field manoeuvres, we "got mixed." The right wing started without delay for Falmouth, the left wing for Acquia Creek, and the color division took a steady trot for the camp of the Tenth Maine. ...
— History of the Second Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry: Beverly Ford. • Daniel Oakey

... in the day, and, though in a certain sense spiritualized by genius, I was hungry. Mr. Iwakura, too, had a pitiful look in his black eyes; but a storm of music called us from hankering thoughts, and we all streamed, at a faster double-quick than the boys could show, into the great dining-room of one of the big houses. A splendid table was set out there, which we gathered round like a half-starved regiment on training-day. Then began such a ...
— Phemie Frost's Experiences • Ann S. Stephens

... done sixteen miles in draught, and sixteen miles in cantering back to their stable during the evening and night; then thirty-two miles in draught with me in the morning, and after a short rest were to return the same distance to their own stable, all in double-quick time. ...
— Persia Revisited • Thomas Edward Gordon

... goad His slow artillery up the Concord road, A tale which grew in wonder year by year; As every time he told it, Joe drew near To the main fight, till faded and grown gray, The original scene to bolder tints gave way; Then Joe had heard the foe's scared double-quick Beat on stove drum with one uncaptured stick, And, ere death came the lengthening tale to lop, Himself had fired, and seen a red-coat drop; Had Joe lived long enough, that scrambling fight Had squared ...
— The Humourous Poetry of the English Language • James Parton

... that Mr. Coddem had taken over a local brewery and was supplying beer at threepence per pint. But the Labour stalwarts argued that, in the first place, this would lose him the women's and temperance vote, and, in the second place, the electors would drink the brewery dry in double-quick time. All those who failed to get cheap beer would revenge themselves on the Candidate who had failed to ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, March 10th, 1920 • Various

... game-bag, retraced their steps to the fort. Their nerves were by this time worked up to such a pitch of excitement, and their minds filled with such a degree of supernatural horror, that they tripped and stumbled over stumps and branches innumerable in their double-quick march. Neither would confess to the other, however, that he was afraid. They even attempted to pass a few facetious remarks as they hurried along, but it would not do, so they relapsed into silence till they came to the hollow beside the powder-magazine. Here the doctor's ...
— The Young Fur Traders • R.M. Ballantyne

... was Parker's command to his men and it was there the war did begin. The small band of patriots were not yet in line when the red-coats appeared at the east end of the meeting-house, coming on the double-quick. Riding ahead, a British officer called out, "Disperse, you rebels! Villains, disperse!" but the little band of rebels stood their ground until a fatal volley killed eight and wounded ten. Only two of the British ...
— Two Thousand Miles On An Automobile • Arthur Jerome Eddy

... came in the comic interlude which Lionel had feared most of all—the squire's faithful henchman going through all the phases of getting drunk in double-quick stage-time; and, while those stupidities were going forward, Lionel and Miss Burgoyne were supposed to retire up the stage somewhat and look on. Well, they took up their ...
— Prince Fortunatus • William Black

... lifted with desperate effort, was like a weeping child's. So much so in its tear-wet simpleness and utter lack of any effort at concealment, that after one quick look at it Betty's hastened pulses ceased to beat at double-quick time. ...
— The Shuttle • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... watch on this weather. If you see the wind haul to the north, put a compass in your tender, take your bearing from the yacht to this blind, in case it should shut in thick, and come after us in double-quick time. You understand?" ...
— The Root of Evil • Thomas Dixon

... the fellows for any practice work," confessed Paul, "so I am not so well up in what they are doing as I ought to be. This paper of ours keeps me hopping. We want to make the first issue a bully one—so good that everybody who hasn't subscribed will want to, double-quick. The girls are working up a fine department on Red Cross, canning, and all that sort of thing. I've allowed them three pages for articles and items. Hazel Clement is at the head of it. She's a corking girl, and her mother is going to help her some. Mrs. Clement has been on all sorts of planning ...
— Paul and the Printing Press • Sara Ware Bassett

... afternoon, while many of the Mexican officers were enjoying their siesta in perfect confidence, Santa Anna himself being asleep, the word to charge passed from rank to rank along the Texan front, and in a moment the whole line advanced at double-quick time, filling the air with vengeful cries of "Remember ...
— Historical Tales, Vol. 2 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... occasion the 47th passed within a few paces of a Yankee regiment standing in line in a field and displaying their national banner. Not a musket was fired by either party; for they, being cut off from the river, were doomed to captivity, and we were going at double-quick against another force. When the engagement had ended and we were marching away, a solid shot from beyond the river ricochetted along our line and in unpleasant proximity to it. Though much of its force was spent, yet if it had struck our line it had sufficient momentum to have destroyed many lives. ...
— Reminiscences of a Rebel • Wayland Fuller Dunaway

... father say that the American marksmen, led on by a chap of the name of Washington, sent the English to the right-about in double-quick time." ...
— Isopel Berners - The History of certain doings in a Staffordshire Dingle, July, 1825 • George Borrow

... of the Sinn Feiners in kidnapping a British General, the House evidently considered that it had better hurry up with the Government of Ireland Bill. Clauses 51 to 69 were run through in double-quick time. Only on Clause 70, providing for the repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1914, did any prolonged debate arise. Captain WEDGWOOD BENN pleasantly described this as the only clause in the Bill that was not nonsense, and therefore ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, July 7th, 1920 • Various

... left off, Schouler has begun. More dramatic than Bancroft, and in consequence more compelling in interest, the history marches at a double-quick, like a charging regiment. His pictures of John Quincy Adams, Calhoun, Clay, Webster, Sumner, Douglas, Lincoln, and a host beside, vitalize those men. We live with that giant brood. I have found Schouler invigoratingly helpful. He affords knowledge and inspiration; ...
— A Hero and Some Other Folks • William A. Quayle

... Bill, git busy in a hurry. This kid ain't hed nothin' ter eat in a week. He's 'most starved. Bile yer coffee double-quick, an' git up a mess o' bacon an' flapjacks pretty dern pronto, if yer don't want me ter ...
— Ted Strong's Motor Car • Edward C. Taylor

... and soundly box the villain's ears right and left, until he saw more stars in the firmament than had ever been created. And before he could recover from the shock of the assault she picked up her basket and strode from the shop. Indignation lent her strength and speed, and she walked home in double-quick time. But once in the shelter of her own hut she sat down, threw her apron over her head, and burst into passionate tears ...
— Ishmael - In the Depths • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... man. She'd send you about your business double-quick. But you can keep your eye on her, and see she ...
— The Thin Red Line; and Blue Blood • Arthur Griffiths

... pale. "Yes! That may be all very well as far as it goes! 'Whom God has joined together, let not man put asunder' by no manner of means whatever! But them as the devil has joined together a woman may put asunder, and she will, too, in double-quick time!" ...
— Her Mother's Secret • Emma D. E. N. Southworth

... slaves To an alien foe? We bear their vile trammels? Our answer is, No! Assistance shall reach us From heaven's lucent arch: Come! seize we our muskets And "double-quick march!" ...
— Laura Secord, the heroine of 1812. - A Drama. And Other Poems. • Sarah Anne Curzon

... or play on any musical instrument, all her wickedness will run off through her throat or the tips of her fingers. How many tragedies find their peaceful catastrophe in fierce roulades and strenuous bravuras! How many murders are executed in double-quick time upon the keys which stab the air with their dagger-strokes of sound! What would our civilization be without the piano? Are not Erard and Broadwood and Chickering the true humanizers of our time? Therefore do I love to hear the all-pervading tum tum jarring the walls ...
— Elsie Venner • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... and in double-quick time our friend Imbozwi was once more fished out of a grave by the strong arms of Babemba and his soldiers, and dragged into the ...
— Allan and the Holy Flower • H. Rider Haggard

... an intermittent fire for some time, but now the advance intensified the conflict. The chief anxiety of good soldiers at such a time, as I often noticed, is to get at the enemy as soon as possible, and cease to be mere targets. Their enthusiasm now accelerated their pace to a double-quick, and was carrying them too far to the front. Birge and Molineux endeavored in vain to check their rapidity. My battalion, I think, was ...
— Lights and Shadows in Confederate Prisons - A Personal Experience, 1864-5 • Homer B. Sprague

... not be imagined. The enemy's line of battle boldly moving forward, one part of our own steadily awaiting it, and another moving against it at double-quick, while the artillery was taking up a position at a gallop and going into action. . . . Under our fire the repulse of the enemy soon became assured, and Arnold's battery arrived in time to help increase the ...
— Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2 • Joseph Warren Keifer

... she pleased to be free again! She said, "I must run double-quick; But before I go I'll manage to play, The Wicked ...
— All About the Little Small Red Hen • Anonymous

... orders should be recognised, there was the sound of tramping feet and of arms clanking; and then a body of fully one hundred soldiers came quickly from behind a house that was near by the water-side and swept down on a double-quick to where we were standing at the end of the pier. The crowd, jostled aside to make way for the passage of the soldiers, evidently regarded them with astonishment; and this astonishment rapidly changed to anger as the ...
— The Aztec Treasure-House • Thomas Allibone Janvier

... our camp, at Centreville, we heard the cannonading, and then a sharp musketry-fire. I received orders from General Tyler to send forward Ayres's battery, and very soon after another order came for me to advance with my whole brigade. We marched the three miles at the double-quick, arrived in time to relieve Richardson's brigade, which was just drawing back from the ford, worsted, and stood for half an hour or so under a fire of artillery, which killed four or five of my men. General Tyler was there in person, giving directions, and soon after he ordered us all back to ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman

... He went through it all himself. He says that I am a great help to him, as a pattern of discipline and punctuality. People are much inclined to miss meals, and then want things at odd hours, and make the work quite impossible to the cook and servants. Of course, I get all I want in double-quick time, as I try to save my man trouble; and the carpenter leaves my scuttle open when no one else gets it, quite willing to get up in his time of sleep to close it, if it comes on to blow. A maid is really a superfluity on board ship, as the men rather like being 'aux petits ...
— Letters from the Cape • Lady Duff Gordon

... up against the wild yellow of the eastern horizon jet black, and as sharp and clean-cut as those that brimmed to the brig's rail. The aspect of the sky meant wind in plenty, and before long; and I realised that unless I could contrive to shorten sail in double-quick time the task would pass beyond my power, and the canvas would have to remain set until it ...
— The Castaways • Harry Collingwood

... (the First, Eleventh, and Third) constituting the Left Wing of the army devolved upon him by virtue of his rank. He saw that the First Corps was contending against large odds and sent back for the Eleventh Corps to come up at double-quick. Upon assuming command of the Left Wing he turned over his own corps to Major-General Carl Schurz, who then gave up the command of his division to General Barlow. Howard notified General Meade of Reynolds' death, but forgot ...
— Chancellorsville and Gettysburg - Campaigns of the Civil War - VI • Abner Doubleday

... Friedrich says, 'gave birth to a mouse;'—nay it was a 'mouse' of essential vital use to Friedrich and Schwerin; a warning, That they must instantly collect themselves, men and goods; and begone one and all out of these parts, double-quick towards Neisse. Not now with the hope of besieging Neisse,—far from that;—but of getting their wide-scattered posts together thereabouts, and ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XII. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

... for the wherewithal to carry on their Christmas amusements. One o'clock on Yule morning having struck, the young men turn out in large numbers, dressed in the coarsest of garments, and, at the double-quick march, drag huge tar barrels through the town, shouting and cheering as they go, or blowing loud blasts with their 'louder horns.' The tar barrel simply consists of several—say from four to eight—tubs filled with tar and chips, placed on a platform of ...
— Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. • Sir James George Frazer

... about mid-summer, making its web on the leaf, drawing it together, and then devouring his own house. It is a small, greenish, and very active worm, who, if he "smells a rat," will drop out of his web, and descend to the ground in double-quick time. I know of no other plan, than to catch him and crush his web between the ...
— The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines • George Husmann

... cried softly, forging alongside his companion. "I'm going back and follow the other trail. If I don't find anything in a mile or so I'll return on the double-quick and overtake you!" ...
— The Gold Hunters - A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds • James Oliver Curwood

... boldness. The essential elements of their poetry will be courage, daring, and rebellion. Literature has hitherto glorified serene immobility, ecstasy, and sleep; they will extol aggressive movement, feverish insomnia, the double-quick step, the somersault, the box on the ear, the fisticuff. They declare that the world's splendour has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car, its frame adorned by great pipes, ...
— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker

... were not afraid came late in the afternoon. The clear, sweet call of a bugle came floating gaily on the air, then the long, hard roll of drums, and from their camp on the Farm the troops came on the double-quick up along the waterfront. Now thousands of strikers were running that way. From the foot of a city street across the wide open space to a pier the militia formed in two double lines, each line facing outward. Then down that street came mounted police and behind ...
— The Harbor • Ernest Poole

... crowded through the street. But all this was as nothing in comparison to the fire of the French, from the hill opposite the village, while the constant glare showed the Young Guard coming on at the double-quick, generals and colonels on horseback in the midst of the bayonets, waving their swords and cheering them on, while the twenty-four guns the Emperor had sent to support the movement thundered behind. The old wall against which I leaned shook to its foundations. In the street the ...
— The Conscript - A Story of the French war of 1813 • Emile Erckmann

... been farther pursued, had not a large body of troops—militia probably—turned out to repel the invaders. The commodore instantly landed his marines, who, firing a volley, made ready to charge. The Chinese braves, not liking their aspect, went about, and marched double-quick time into the town, where they could not be seen. Commodore Keppel proposed landing and fortifying himself in the city, and demanding a ransom; but a message from the admiral recalled him, and he had to give up his daring scheme. Most unwillingly he obeyed the mandate; ...
— Our Sailors - Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign • W.H.G. Kingston

... shot was fired as they pushed forward at double-quick in the face of a murderous artillery discharge from the terrace above. Gaining the foot of the scarp, they planted their bayonets in the earthern wall, and so mounted the rampart, those behind helping up those in front. As they sang the last stanza of their hymn, the Madonna della Scoperta ...
— Manasseh - A Romance of Transylvania • Maurus Jokai

... and see him, Thuillier, and get rid of him in double-quick," said Brigitte; "that's shorter than talking to Henri, ...
— The Lesser Bourgeoisie • Honore de Balzac

... pressing to the scene of conflict passed near the fort, on the parapet of which stood General Lyman, who, imagining the attack came from the main body of the enemy, had called in his outposts and closed the gates. As Major Putnam and his men dashed past on the double-quick, intent only upon rescuing their friends from the savages, the General ordered them to return, believing that they were needlessly exposing their lives in a vain attempt ...
— "Old Put" The Patriot • Frederick A. Ober

... commendable thing about the affair. Sometimes three or four of them worked away at a stone, rolling it along or lifting, as necessity required. Then one alone would catch up a smaller one, and convey it to the wharf at double-quick. Half their zeal, tact, and industry, in doing this wrong, would have made the candle-trade, or any other ...
— From Boyhood to Manhood • William M. Thayer

... off to the ship. It was very evident that our forbearance was mistaken for weakness, and that mischief was preparing. I accordingly took hold of one of the most refractory, and compelled him to march off at double-quick time, when they all retired to some rocky hills overlooking our camp, from which it was necessary to dislodge them. Taking Mr. Brown with me, we climbed the first hill, which made them retreat to the next. Resting ourselves for a few minutes, and taking ...
— Journals of Australian Explorations • A C and F T Gregory

... pleasure; and all three were as motionless as the furniture, had it not been for the nervous twitching of the Doge's fingers. He seemed unconscious of the passing of time; a man in a maze of absorption with his thoughts. Jack was strangely affected. His brain was marking time at the double-quick of fruitless energy. He felt the atmosphere of the room surcharged with the hostility of the unknown. He was gathering a multitude of impressions which only contributed more chaos to chaos. His sensibilities abnormally alive to every sound, he heard the outside door opened with a latch-key; he ...
— Over the Pass • Frederick Palmer

... met the enemy's tactics in kind. Choosing with a rapid eye the street from which the weakest and least accurate fire had come, he invaded it at a double-quick, abandoning the unprotected middle of the street. With rare cunning the opposing force in that direction—one of the deputies and two of the valorous volunteers— waited, concealed by beer barrels, until Calliope had passed ...
— Heart of the West • O. Henry

... embellishing some of the trees upon Don Cosme's plantation. Heaven protect us from Jarauta! The robber-priest gives but short shrift to any of his enemies; but if he could lay his hands on your humble servant, you would see hanging done in double-quick time." ...
— The Rifle Rangers • Captain Mayne Reid

... gave the word for the final charge at almost the same moment. As Jackson's army suddenly burst into view and swept forward to the assault the joyful news was shouted down the ranks: "The Valley men are here!" Thereupon Lee's men took up the double-quick with "Stonewall Jackson! Jackson! Jackson!" as their battle cry. The Federals fought right valiantly till their key-point suddenly gave way, smashed in by weight of numbers; for Lee had brought into action half as many again as Porter had, even with his reinforcements. ...
— Captains of the Civil War - A Chronicle of the Blue and the Gray, Volume 31, The - Chronicles Of America Series • William Wood

... attach to male courtship before twenty-five, fairly shaken off, he could be a gay, dashing and even a presuming lover. Just now he was unamiable—not to say wicked, and ready for any use of his glib tongue which could send the blue coat out of the house at "double-quick." ...
— Shoulder-Straps - A Novel of New York and the Army, 1862 • Henry Morford

... They all want to be marshals of France. Take old Giroudeau's word for it, and turn right about, in double-quick time, and go and pick up nails in the gutter like that good fellow yonder; you can tell by the look of him that he has been in the army.—Isn't it a shame that an old soldier who has walked into the jaws of death hundreds of times should be picking up old iron in the streets ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... makes one slip we shall go skating down to the bottom of the slope again in double-quick time. I feel a'ready as if I ought to go to ...
— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn

... if you keep on at this rate. My language is not so bad as your actions. If you don't have that girl back, and in double-quick time, too, I shall ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald

... and certainly are smoother and far more free from hair. But their weakness is pulmonary; pneumonia and pleurisy are their besetting ailments; they are easily made ill,—and easily cured, if promptly treated: childish organizations again. Guard-duty injures them more than whites, apparently; and double-quick movements, in choking dust, set them coughing badly. But then it is to be remembered that this is their sickly season, from January to March, and that their healthy season will come in summer, when ...
— Army Life in a Black Regiment • Thomas Wentworth Higginson

... their march through the valley at the double-quick. They heard the rattle of musketry and the booming of artillery more and more distinctly, and now, at a bend in the valley, the most wonderful and striking spectacle presented ...
— Andreas Hofer • Lousia Muhlbach

... pious. As I have previously shown by quotations from Irish authorities, Ireland has the true Christianity which England so sadly needs. Unhindered by England, Ireland would evangelise the world, and that in double-quick time. Every town I visit is deeply engaged in religious exercises. In Limerick it was a Triduum with some reference to Saint Monica. In Cork it was something else, which required much expenditure in blessed candles. In Galway the Confraternity of the Holy Girdle ...
— Ireland as It Is - And as It Would be Under Home Rule • Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

... me, Ali Tebelen himself would have bit the dust two days earlier. I was at the right wing, and I saw Chosrew, an old sly-boots, thinking to force our centre,—ranks closed, stiff, swift, fine movement a la Murat. Good! I take my time; then I charge, double-quick, and cut his line in two,—you understand? Ha! ha! after the affair was over, Ali ...
— A Start in Life • Honore de Balzac

... to answer at half past eleven Corporal Hasbrouck and a squad of the guard went to that post in double-quick time. ...
— Dick Prescott's First Year at West Point • H. Irving Hancock

... troops, retreating in this direction, had frightened the people greatly, by telling them that we shot men, ravished women, and destroyed property. When within three-quarters of a mile of Huttonville, we were informed that forty or fifty mounted secessionists were there. The order to double-quick was given, and the regiment entered the village on a run. As we made a turn in the road, we discovered a squad of cavalry retreating rapidly. The bridge over the river had been burned, and was still smoking. Our troops sent up a hurrah ...
— The Citizen-Soldier - or, Memoirs of a Volunteer • John Beatty

... "Double-quick—charge!" After the charge, he sat down for a moment on the stiles, looking up at the moon, and then came on toward ...
— Crittenden - A Kentucky Story of Love and War • John Fox, Jr.

... cover of the woods. Moving off by the left flank, therefore, we took a second position in an adjoining field. Finding now the enemy moving rapidly through the woods, and threatening our rear, we executed a left half-wheel; and, advancing on the double-quick to the rail fence which ran along the edge of the woods, we opened a heavy fire. From this position the enemy endeavored to force us. His fire was well directed, but the fence afforded us a slight protection. Lieutenant ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 105, July 1866 • Various

... dared hope that their movement had gone unobserved, but his hope was rudely shattered. He heard a sharp hiss: heard the Zeudian flap toward them at double-quick time. Abandoning all pretense, he sprang to his feet just as the thing reached him, its fangs gleaming wickedly in the ...
— Astounding Stories, April, 1931 • Various

... than he had hitherto been for Caroline's fading girlhood. He was glad to recollect that he had promised to pay Wynne, the magistrate, a visit that evening. Low spirits and gloomy thoughts were very much his aversion. When they attacked him he usually found means to make them march in double-quick time. The hymn followed him faintly as he crossed the fields. He hastened his customary sharp pace, that he might get beyond ...
— Shirley • Charlotte Bronte

... the bottom, every mother's son of them—as they richly deserved!" exclaimed Mendouca, with a savage curse. "And if those loafing vagabonds of mine don't bestir themselves they will follow in double-quick time! What do you think, Dugdale? Shall we ...
— The Pirate Slaver - A Story of the West African Coast • Harry Collingwood

... a moment's pause—"and double-quick for a double fare. We shall be there in a quarter of an hour," he added reassuringly as the trap-door slammed, "and you will find everything ready for you, beginning with something to eat. I, at all events, anticipated the verdict; if you ...
— The Shadow of the Rope • E. W. Hornung

... muskets, in order to fire with accuracy. A torrent of bullets was poured upon the advancing line, and the men fell fast as autumn leaves in a gale of wind. Then the whole line advanced, the Phalanx going at double-quick; their well aligned ranks, with bayonets glittering obliquely in the receding sunlight, presented a ...
— The Black Phalanx - African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the - War of 1812, and the Civil War • Joseph T. Wilson

... slang, and should have been a bachelor to this day if I hadn't seen Kitty jest as I did. You see, I'd been too busy larkin' round to get time for marryin', till a couple of years ago, when I did up the job double-quick, as I'd like to do this thunderin' slow one, hang ...
— Kitty's Class Day And Other Stories • Louisa M. Alcott

... started to speak when the thunderous tread of John Thorwald sounded in the corridor. The Prodigious Prodigy seemed approaching at double-quick time, and the youths stared at each other. However, when Thor appeared in the doorway, a letter in hand, they gazed at him in bewilderment, for his ...
— T. Haviland Hicks Senior • J. Raymond Elderdice

... whom Furlong was about to address himself, when the man said, "He would be with him in a minit," and vanished; a sort of reconnoitering party, one by one, then passed through the hall, eyeing the stranger very suspiciously, any of them to whom Furlong ventured a word scurrying off in double-quick time. For an instant he meditated a retreat, and, looking to the door, saw a heavy chain across it, the pattern of which must have been had from Newgate. He attempted to unfasten it, and as it clanked heavily, the ogre's voice from up-stairs bellowed, "Who the d——l's that opening ...
— Handy Andy, Volume One - A Tale of Irish Life, in Two Volumes • Samuel Lover

... where the Indians had fled for safety, and found them perched in a tree like two owls on their nightly roost. As soon as the Indians saw Mayall they quickly descended, and the three took up their line of march for their camp with the double-quick. The curtains of night were fondly drooping upon the hill-tops, and the stars were shooting forth in glory one by one from Heaven's blue concave as the three hunters ...
— The Forest King - Wild Hunter of the Adaca • Hervey Keyes

... canvas, and began to manoeuvre to gain the weather-gage; but she was too quick for them, and getting up to the corvette first, gave her such a dose from her broadside as must have made the Frenchmen dance to a double-quick tune. Our captain's object was to land his passengers, so of course he could not stop to see the result of the action. As we ran out of sight, all three ships were hotly engaged. "Well, if there's one man on board who will do his duty, and show what real Englishmen ...
— Will Weatherhelm - The Yarn of an Old Sailor • W.H.G. Kingston

... or down-helm had the slightest effect upon him. His mind was made up; no wavering, no playfulness, no scarishness, no looking to the right or left. Picolata was the point; 'no two ways' to Picolata; he was on the right way, and he was the horse to do it in double-quick time. The little grey had evidently thought it was too hot for any thing in his line; but as soon as he noticed any thing like game in his companion, his head went down as usual; and after a little hard running, we brushed by the old fellow, ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, January 1844 - Volume 23, Number 1 • Various

... lightly. "That's all right, scaramouch. So have I. I must get out of this toggery now double-quick. I suppose you are off in your 'rickshaw? I'll walk with you. It'll be on the way to ...
— The Lamp in the Desert • Ethel M. Dell

... prickly-heat that I'm ready to hang myself. What's the yarn about your mashing a Miss Haverley up there? Not serious, I hope? You're over-young to hang millstones round your neck, and the Colonel will turf you out of that in double-quick time ...
— Under the Deodars • Rudyard Kipling

... conjecture what sort of an animal I was. I remained mute and watched the rising tide of excitement. Before anyone could venture to touch me, I saw a band of officers in double-quick march hastening toward me with their curiously ...
— Life in a Thousand Worlds • William Shuler Harris

... that I know, to be truthful about it. Perhaps nothing; perhaps a great deal. Give orders to take on all necessary supplies—in double-quick time. I've promised the Chief we'll be ready to shove off in two hours. I'll meet you in the navigating room, and give you all ...
— Vampires of Space • Sewell Peaslee Wright

... Double-quick time! I tell you it was a hard race; and being without my gun now—only my bayonet stack in my trousers' waist-band—I was there first, and had driven my spike into the touch-hole before Lieutenant Leigh reached his; but the next moment his ...
— Begumbagh - A Tale of the Indian Mutiny • George Manville Fenn

... you will not think badly of me for my long silence. My head has scarce been on my shoulders. I had scarce recovered from a long fit of useless ill-health than I was whirled over here double-quick time and ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... has begun! People come running up the street. The Indians are hurrying back to their villages in double-quick trot. As we are not in the centre of the city, our position for the present is very safe, all the cannon being directed towards the palace. All the streets near the square are planted with cannon, and it is ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon de la Barca

... taken seriously by either was shown by the double-quick at which they went down the line, and over the half-laid tracks to where the accommodation train ...
— Lost In The Air • Roy J. Snell

... river-bank, And drilled alternately, and one was ours. Off picket duty, alike in fair or foul, With knapsacks on and bearing forty rounds, From morn till night we drilled—battalion-drill— Often at double-quick for weary hours— Bearing our burdens in the blazing sun, Till strong men staggered from the ranks and fell. Aye, many a hardy man in those hard days Was drilled and disciplined into his grave. Arose Murmurs of discontent, ...
— The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems • H. L. Gordon

... nigh starved a-waitin' for yer!" he said in a whisper. "Wot's the lay now? A double-quick change? I've got the stuff here, look!"—holding up the package he was carrying—"or a chance for me to do some fly catchin' with ...
— Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces • Thomas W. Hanshew

... of September several foraging parties belonging to the Third regiment were fired upon in the vicinity of Wood Lake. About 800 of the command were engaged in the encounter and were opposed by about an equal number of Indians. After a spirited engagement Col. Marshall, with about 400 men, made a double-quick charge upon the Sioux and succeeded in utterly routing them. Our loss was four killed and forty or fifty wounded. This was the only real battle of the war. Other Day was with the whites and took a conspicuous part in the encounter. After the battle Gen. Pope, who was in command of ...
— Reminiscences of Pioneer Days in St. Paul • Frank Moore

... him!" yelled Ritter, and made another lunge for Andy. This time he hit Andy on the shoulder. But the acrobatic youth came back at him in double-quick order, and Ritter received a blow in the chin that bowled him over into the arms of Nick Paxton. As he went over his eyes closed, and then he slid in a heap ...
— The Mystery at Putnam Hall - The School Chums' Strange Discovery • Arthur M. Winfield

... bark?—yes, I was as bad as that. I guessed from what I had been told, that the Malbrouck show must be hereaway somewhere. I smelled the lake miles off—oh, you could too if you were half the animal I am; I followed my nose and the slippery-elm between my teeth, and came at a double-quick suddenly on the fair domain. There the two sat in front of the house like turtle-doves, and as silent as a middy after his first kiss. Much as I ached to get my tooth into something filling, I wished that I had 'em under my pencil, with that royal sun making a rainbow of the lake, the ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker



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