Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Mend   Listen
verb
Mend  v. t.  (past & past part. mended; pres. part. mending)  
1.
To repair, as anything that is torn, broken, defaced, decayed, or the like; to restore from partial decay, injury, or defacement; to patch up; to put in shape or order again; to re-create; as, to mend a garment or a machine.
2.
To alter for the better; to set right; to reform; hence, to quicken; as, to mend one's manners or pace. "The best service they could do the state was to mend the lives of the persons who composed it."
3.
To help, to advance, to further; to add to. "Though in some lands the grass is but short, yet it mends garden herbs and fruit." "You mend the jewel by the wearing it."
Synonyms: To improve; help; better; emend; amend; correct; rectify; reform.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Mend" Quotes from Famous Books



... this unexpected sight, then came slowly a little nearer. Then he heard the man warning the children not to come so near the fire. This he was doing in Sami's own language, exactly as all the people in Zweisimmen had spoken. This gave courage to Sami; he came along quite near, and watched the man mend a hole in an ...
— What Sami Sings with the Birds • Johanna Spyri

... am glad to say that most of them have begun to change their tune lately, thanks to Mr. Bull's luck being on the mend. Thomas Atkins did not make a very good start, certainly; but as time went on he learnt a number of new tricks, and the violent exercise which he had to take put him into excellent training. Moreover, some cousins of the ...
— The Casual Ward - academic and other oddments • A. D. Godley

... and shall I sit at home idle mending nets while my father travels over the whole country-side carrying weights too heavy for him to bear? Not so! To-morrow I go forth, and my father shall take his seat by the fire, and shall mend the nets.' ...
— The Red Romance Book • Various

... doing nothing in particular. But now that Mr. Forster, to whom the education of the country owes so much, has announced his conversion to the right faith, I begin to hope that, sooner or later, things will mend. ...
— Science & Education • Thomas H. Huxley

... so!" sighed the nurse. "Your lot is no doubt a hard one. He—Orion—of course is out of the question; but I often ask myself whether you might not mend matters with the others. If you had not made it too hard for them, child, they must have loved you; they could not have helped it; but ever since you have been in the house you have only felt miserable and wished that they would let you go your own way, and they—well they have done ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... was no need of remaining any longer in the swamp, they started to leave. Johnny said he would go back and take the two skiffs out, towing one behind him. Later on he could come and mend the new boat by fetching a plank to replace the one that had been staved in by striking a log ...
— Afloat - or, Adventures on Watery Trails • Alan Douglas

... continued to say more heartening things about ultimate victory. And he played blind optimist against the cold, comfortless fact that the Canadian Army was wasting and the reserves were not marching up to mend it. ...
— The Masques of Ottawa • Domino

... encourage him. That made him mad to meet with real success; but it was the turn of another 'young gent,' as the man called him, and Harold had to stand by, with his penny in his hand, burning with impatience, and fancying he could mend each shot of that young gent, and another, and another, and another, who all thrust in to claim their rights before him. His turn came at last; and so short and straight was the gallery, that he really did hit once the side of the star, and once ...
— Friarswood Post-Office • Charlotte M. Yonge

... it is to one who has himself waited long for promotion. "So if ever I come," he continues, "as I hope and trust to do this time next year, it must be in my own coat, and not the Queen's." Certainly in his own coat, and not in the Queen's, must Thackeray do anything by which he could mend his fortune or make his reputation. There never was a man less ...
— Thackeray • Anthony Trollope

... and swa, after sumthingis spokin to the lordis, which I know not, he departed, in the feare of God, and made a blessed end; whilk the rest of the lordis, that tho't thame to his hiert, and lytle reguardit him, shall not mak so blised ane end, unles they mend thair maneris. ...
— Minstrelsy of the Scottish border (3rd ed) (1 of 3) • Walter Scott

... Nic did mend rapidly in the rest and quiet of his old home, where one day Captain Lawrence, newly returned from a long voyage, came to see his old friend, and heard ...
— Nic Revel - A White Slave's Adventures in Alligator Land • George Manville Fenn

... utmost vigilance was observed. The garrison laboured to mend the breaches, and complete the preparations for defence. Provisions were again stored up, and they awaited ...
— With Clive in India - Or, The Beginnings of an Empire • G. A. Henty

... cure where I was more of one mind with my rector than I am here, and not decried or ridiculed on account of every scheme for good that I might propose. Parish-work here is shamefully neglected, but Mr. Birkett will not let me do anything to mend it." ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science - Vol. XVII, No. 102. June, 1876. • Various

... fairly together in Baltimore yet, and when they do, it is probable they may not be fond of laying things before you so fully as I have done. Some of us are of very sanguine complexions, and are too apt to flatter ourselves, that things are not so bad as they appear to be, or that they will soon mend, &c. Now my notion is, that you, gentlemen commissioners, should be fairly and fully informed of the true state of affairs, that you may make a proper use of that knowledge, keeping secret what ought to be so, and ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. I • Various

... a critical survey of the room, and in cracked tones grated out—'Aw wonder how yah can faishion to stand thear i' idleness un war, when all on 'ems goan out! Bud yah're a nowt, and it's no use talking—yah'll niver mend o'yer ill ways, but goa raight to t' divil, ...
— Wuthering Heights • Emily Bronte

... It's lucky we found it out. It's put together wrong. I guess it's made wrong. It's goin' to be a lot of trouble to us to put it right, an' we can't do much when you're all standin' in the light. We're very busy—workin' at tryin' to mend this ole ...
— More William • Richmal Crompton

... by the Juans and Pedros whose family could always count on mesquite beans, and camotes if the fields failed. There was seed to buy each year instead of raising it. There was money invested in farming machinery, and a bolt taken at will from a thresher to mend a plow or a buggy as temporarily required. The flocks of sheep on the Arizona hills were low grade. The cattle and horse outfits were south in La Partida, and the leakage was beyond reason, even in a danger zone ...
— The Treasure Trail - A Romance of the Land of Gold and Sunshine • Marah Ellis Ryan

... to establish Trade, And mend our Navigation, Let India invade, And borrow on Funds will ne'er be paid, And ...
— Quaint Gleanings from Ancient Poetry • Edmund Goldsmid

... fallen asleep, for when he roused it was to see Ashe crawl over to mend the dying fire from their store of wood. Ross, angry at himself, beat the ...
— The Time Traders • Andre Norton

... not there at all. When Rosalie for the weekly dinner at Aunt Belle's used to dress in the evening frock of Laetitia's given her for the purpose by Aunt Belle, she used, at first, to say to Miss Salmon, "There, how do I look, Gertrude? Can you see that mend in the lace?" ...
— This Freedom • A. S. M. Hutchinson

... hoping to have some shortly to eat, for as yet we could see no green thing to comfort us." Those pease saved the party; as they came up the young shoots were boiled and eaten, so their health began to mend, and they recovered from their scurvy. Eventually, after other perils, they succeeded in making ...
— Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage • Richard Hakluyt

... had taken up their needles, and were ruining their eyesight in order to mend his old shirts, Macquart, taking the best seat, would throw himself back with an air of delicious comfort, and sip and smoke like a man who relishes his laziness. This was the time when the old rogue generally railed against the wealthy for living on the sweat ...
— The Fortune of the Rougons • Emile Zola

... ill, but pick up, though still somewhat of a mossy ruin. If you would view my countenance aright, come - view it by the pale moonlight. But that is on the mend. I believe I have now a ...
— The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson - Volume 1 • Robert Louis Stevenson

... symbolism with which the poet had pretended to envelop her identity. Alas! my memory will not serve me to recall the greater part of it, or, indeed, any but a little, though that little is in truth the very kernel of the whole, and I have no copy of the ballad by me to mend my memory. But, as I say, what I do remember is the centre-jewel of ...
— The God of Love • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... to mend, His ardent love will never end; He nestles, with unconscious art, Divinely ...
— Rampolli • George MacDonald

... and proceeded to his fire; he bare upon his back a great burthen, that was twelve swine, tied together, with withies exceeding great wreathed altogether. Adown he threw the dead swine, and himself sate thereby; his fire he gan mend, and great trees laid thereon; the six swine he drew in pieces, and ever he to the woman smiled, and soon by a while he lay by the woman. But he knew not of the tiding that came to his lemman. He drew out his embers; his flesh he gan to roast; and all the six swine he gan eat ere he arose from ...
— Brut • Layamon

... while the pipe was still leaking? Everyone would say that man must be out of his mind: the plaster will fall down as often as he puts it up, and it matters not either how well he puts it up. If he wants it to stay up, he must first mend the pipe—take away the cause of its falling. Now the occasion of sin is like the leak in the pipe—in the case of sin, it will very likely cause you to fall every time. Stop up the leak, take away the occasion, and then you will not fall into ...
— Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4) - An Explanation Of The Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine • Thomas L. Kinkead

... from the rear to tell me to halt the column, as a man had slipped into a culvert and was stuck in the mud. In fishing him out the Sergeant had got stung with nettles. This made him hot. It did not mend matters when I suggested that his country was getting even with him for wearing kilts. However, we slowed up. This going was splendid practice as we would no doubt have plenty of night marching of this kind in Flanders. The men stood up to the march with their ...
— The Red Watch - With the First Canadian Division in Flanders • J. A. Currie

... handwriting, looked up in answer to her inquiries about Lost Trail. This young man, whose accent, clothes, and manner proclaimed him "from the East," whither, in all probability, he would shortly return if he did not mend his ways, disclaimed all knowledge of the place as if it were an undesirable acquaintance. But before he could deny it thrice, a man who had heard the cabalistic name was making his way towards the desk, the pride of the ...
— Judith Of The Plains • Marie Manning

... replied, not relishing the manner in which he had put the question, "you are likely enough to find that out for yourself if you don't mend some of ...
— A Busy Year at the Old Squire's • Charles Asbury Stephens

... that the breakdown was serious in character. He undertook to explain in highly technical terms the exact nature of the trouble, but his master had no turn for mechanics and small patience for listening. He gathered that it would take at least an hour to mend the mishap, perhaps even longer, and he was not minded ...
— From Place to Place • Irvin S. Cobb

... was heating the priest celebrated mass, and after he had taken the Eucharist, he adjured the person who was to be tried, and made him also take the Communion. From the time the hallowing was begun no one was allowed to mend the fire, but the iron rested on the hot embers until the last collect. It was then laid on the stapula, and the priest, having sprinkled holy water over it, recited the prayer: "The blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, descend upon this iron for ...
— The Customs of Old England • F. J. Snell

... Groesbell Ten years before he died. I knew him first When he was sent to mend my porch. A workman With saw and hammer never excelled him. Then As time went on I saw him when he came At my request to do my carpentry. I grew to know him, and by slow degrees He told me of his readings in the Bible, And gave me his interpretations. At last Aged forty-six, ...
— Toward the Gulf • Edgar Lee Masters

... Kathleen. "When I see you beginning to help your poor, exhausted mother, and running messages for that overworked slavey—I think you call her Maria—then perhaps I'll do less. And when there's some one else to mend the boys' socks, perhaps I won't offer; but until there is, the less you say about such things the better, Miss ...
— The Rebel of the School • Mrs. L. T. Meade

... said Newson. "However, I've come to mend matters rather than open arguments. Poor Susan—hers ...
— The Mayor of Casterbridge • Thomas Hardy

... a measure, to mend the rent in my conscience which I made by traveling to Baden-Baden that Sunday. We arrived in time to furbish up and get to the English church before services began. We arrived in considerable style, too, for the ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... never by any chance showing the least animation. She never played when she knew that Christophe was at home. She devoted all the time that was not consecrated to her religious duties to her household work. She used to sew, and mend, and darn, and look after the servant: she had a mania for tidiness and cleanliness. Her husband thought her a fine woman, a little odd—"like all women," he used to say—but "like all women," devoted. On that last point Christophe made certain reservations in petto: such ...
— Jean-Christophe Journey's End • Romain Rolland

... occupied. So fleeting was this stay, that it almost seemed as if it were a matter of no moment if life should happen to be abbreviated by untimely death. Whilst the girl's mind thus struggled to alleviate its pain and to mend the gaps made by the slings and arrows of poignant grief in its defences, Trivett stumbled downstairs and blundered against the pews as he approached. Then the two walked home, where Mavis resumed her lonely ...
— Sparrows - The Story of an Unprotected Girl • Horace W. C. Newte

... aware, indeed, that it might be said, that, the residuum of fixed air not being very noxious, such an addition must contribute to mend the putrid air; but, in order to obviate this objection, I once mixed the residuum of as much fixed air as I had found, by a variety of trials, to be sufficient to restore a given quantity of putrid air, with an equal quantity of that air, without ...
— Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air • Joseph Priestley

... signed his name with a flourish. "You'll see John Knox soon enough if ye don't mend your ways, Edward Brians," he said. "Now, what do ye want of me this morning?" But the two Irishmen could not let such a good joke pass unnoticed; when they had laughed over it duly, the business ...
— The End of the Rainbow • Marian Keith

... a short distance to the right of the buttonhole, leaving a long stitch underneath which can be cut off when the buttonhole is finished. A buttonhole should be completed with one thread if possible as it is difficult to mend the thread securely and neatly. Letter D for twist ...
— Textiles and Clothing • Kate Heintz Watson

... increased on me during the day, and by noon I was prostrate, neither taking interest in anything, nor allowing others, who began to fear for my life, to divert their attention. After twenty-four hours I began to mend, but still several days elapsed before I was able to devote myself to business; and then I found that, the master-mind being absent, and the King, as always, lukewarm in the pursuit, nothing had been done to detect and punish ...
— From the Memoirs of a Minister of France • Stanley Weyman

... personal, personal triumph. And then, on that, there swept over her the flood of her tenderness for him, how she longed to be good to him, to care for him, to mend and sew and cook and wash for him, to perform the humblest tasks for him, to nurse him and protect him. She knew that the end of this might be social ruin for both of them!... Ah, well, then, he would only need her the more! She was quieter now—the ...
— The Cathedral • Hugh Walpole

... We had one water-tight tin of matches. I had stowed away in a pocket, in readiness for a sunny day, a lens from one of the telescopes, but this was of no use during the voyage. The sun seldom shone upon us. The glass of the compass got broken one night, and we contrived to mend it with adhesive tape from the medicine-chest. One of the memories that comes to me from those days is of Crean singing at the tiller. He always sang while he was steering, and nobody ever discovered what the song was. It was devoid of tune and as monotonous ...
— South! • Sir Ernest Shackleton

... that smoke, which you may see worming up along the rock above the canoe," interrupted the abstracted scout. "My life on it, other eyes than ours see it, and know its meaning. Well, words will not mend the matter, and it is time ...
— The Last of the Mohicans • James Fenimore Cooper

... shut ourselves in a room up stairs, and intend not to go down till summoned to dinner. The Topic of our Conversation is, regretting the manner in which we have spent our past life. It will tend to some good, you will say, if it will make us mend in future. ...
— Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, 1782 • Lucinda Lee Orr

... Revere lived in Morristown and his home is still intact on De Hart Street, I believe. This old picture must have come from his house; or in some way, this letter found its way into someone else's hands and was used at that time for scrap paper to mend this picture. Now let's see what the ...
— Polly's Business Venture • Lillian Elizabeth Roy

... with you," announced Grace. "I must mend my blue serge dress. I stepped on it while going upstairs this morning and tore it just above the hem. I had to change it for this, and ...
— Grace Harlowe's First Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower

... weeks his life seemed to waver in the balance, but at last he began to mend. His frame, however, had been so shattered that the doctors held out little hope of his ever being anything better than a helpless cripple, so, one ...
— Fighting the Flames • R.M. Ballantyne

... (if no digression's made) is even, And free access, if we but ask, is given. Then seek to know those things which make us bless'd, And having found them, lock them in thy breast; Inquiring then the way, go on, nor slack, But mend thy pace, nor think of going back. 100 Some their whole age in these inquiries waste, And die like fools before one step they've pass'd; 'Tis strange to know the way, and not t'advance; That knowledge is far worse than ignorance. The learned teach, but what they teach, not do, And standing still ...
— Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham • Edmund Waller; John Denham

... not mend matters, if two are washed off instead of one," whispered Isabel, "go dear ...
— Isabel Leicester - A Romance • Clotilda Jennings

... you were," replied the skipper. "Kept it all to yourself, like the monkeys who won't speak for fear they might be made to work! But here's the steward with your medical fixin's; so, look to the poor boy's cut, Seth, and see if you can't mend it, while I go up and see what they are doing with the ship, which we've left to herself all ...
— Picked up at Sea - The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek • J.C. Hutcheson

... to shut it himself, and wondered why it was that Esther never did any one mortal thing efficiently or well. Good God! how irritable he felt. It was impossible to write. He must find an outlet for his impatience, rend or mend something. He began to straighten the room, but a wave of disgust came over him before the task was fairly commenced. What was the use? Tomorrow all would be bad as before. What was the use of doing anything? He sat down by the table and leaned his ...
— Victorian Short Stories of Troubled Marriages • Rudyard Kipling, Ella D'Arcy, Arthur Morrison, Arthur Conan Doyle,

... did he lock himself into his study, gorge himself with black coffee, mend innumerable pens, and write a score of times at the head of his paper (which he was careful to cut of the exact dimensions as that used by la Peyrade) the solemn words: "Report to the Members of the Municipal Council of the City of Paris," followed, on ...
— The Lesser Bourgeoisie • Honore de Balzac

... rather cold. In course of time Will Osten awoke, and called to the trapper to mend the fire, which he did, and then resumed his former occupation. Once or twice after that, one and another of the slumberers awoke, and, looking up sleepily for a few seconds, beheld the enduring ...
— Over the Rocky Mountains - Wandering Will in the Land of the Redskin • R.M. Ballantyne

... I don't pretend to live up to the spirit of my religion. There's the comforting reflection of a death-bed repentance for all Christians—it's never to late to mend, Mike!" ...
— There was a King in Egypt • Norma Lorimer

... was to run towards the house, calling his father and the mill-hands as he went. His second, and the one upon which he acted, was to mend the broken boom and capture the truant logs himself. "There is no need of troubling father, and I can do it alone better than any number of those clumsy mill-hands," he thought. "Besides, there is no time to spare; for if the ...
— Raftmates - A Story of the Great River • Kirk Munroe

... will find it, too, if you don't mend your ways," retorted the man of the medicines. "I thought at first it was the care of 'Tana that kept you awake every hour of every night; but I see it is just the same now when there are plenty to take your place; worse—for now you ...
— That Girl Montana • Marah Ellis Ryan

... no mention so far of the pains in his breast, but near the end of March he wrote that he was coming home, if the breast pains did not "mend their ways pretty considerable. I do not want to die here," he said. "I am growing more and more particular about the place." A week later brought another alarming letter, also one from Mr. Allen, who frankly stated that matters had become very serious indeed. I went to New ...
— The Boys' Life of Mark Twain • Albert Bigelow Paine

... to keep business going, it is easily lost. Dad hopes you will hang on like grim death to your inheritance. You see—the times are so abnormal, Mortimer hasn't had time to prove his abilities yet; he's just been able to hold on; and if things don't mend and he should lose out, why—if you still have your own little fortune, at least you'll not be any worse off than, you are now. Don't ...
— The Sisters-In-Law • Gertrude Atherton

... what has been said above, that though frosts advance to their utmost severity by somewhat of a regular gradation, yet thaws do not usually come on by as regular a declension of cold; but often take place immediately from intense freezing; as men in sickness often mend ...
— The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 • Gilbert White

... rejoined the little girl, laughing; "let her cry on. It'll do her good, an teach her to mend her manners, and nah ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth

... I indicated the garment over the pillow, and he wiggled. "Please don't squirm," I said coldly. "You will wear out your—lingerie, and I will have to mend them." ...
— When a Man Marries • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... almost against hope, grew better. He had a fine constitution, so that, once on the mend, he went straight forward to recovery. Soon he was pottering about downstairs. During his illness his wife had spoilt him a little. Now he wanted her to continue. He often put his band to his head, pulled down the comers of his mouth, and shammed pains ...
— Sons and Lovers • David Herbert Lawrence

... to-day. Is that so strange? I always mend the fault Of yesterday with wisdom of to-day. She ...
— Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da Rimini • George Henry Boker

... even? Truly, we scarce looked for so much honour as two visits in the twelvemonth. Why, without I err, 'tis not yet three months since we had leave to see your Lordship's crimson and silver. Pray you, walk in—you are as welcome as flowers in May, as wise as Waltom's calf, and as safe to mend as sour ale ...
— It Might Have Been - The Story of the Gunpowder Plot • Emily Sarah Holt

... the culinary art which they drew from remote family archives. One might have learned in that instructive assembly how best to keep moths out of blankets, how to make fritters of Indian corn undistinguishable from oysters, how to bring up babies by hand, how to mend a cracked teapot, how to take out grease from a brocade, how to reconcile absolute decrees with free will, how to make five yards of cloth answer the purpose of six, and how to put ...
— Quilts - Their Story and How to Make Them • Marie D. Webster

... comparison I had in my head, between my friends treatment of me, and my treatment of the servants, carried me!—But we always allowed ourselves to expatiate on such subjects, whether low or high, as might tend to enlarge our minds, or mend our management, whether notional or practical, and whether such expatiating respected our present, or might respect our probable ...
— Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson

... our hunters shot a few of these; but we had not yet reached the range of the buffalo. Once we stopped a day to recruit in a wooded bottom, where the grass was plentiful and the water pure. Now and then, too, we were halted to mend a broken tongue or an axle, or help a "stalled" waggon from its ...
— The Scalp Hunters • Mayne Reid

... know more about the law, then. I have neither solicited alms, trespassed on private property, begged food, nor committed crime in your little kingdom, my good and great three-tailed bashaw. Here is a coin to clear the law." He exhibited a silver piece. "I am sorry I cannot remain here and help you mend your ways—they seem to ...
— The Landloper - The Romance Of A Man On Foot • Holman Day

... was that, having extracted the final splinter, they promptly invalided me home. From the day I limped on board the Cumberland transport in the Tagus, leaning on two crutches, I began to mend: and within twelve months—as may hereafter be recounted—I was back again, hale and hearty, marching with no perceptible limp, on ...
— The Adventures of Harry Revel • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... in conjunction with this peculiar position, plainly told upon him. He was nervous, occasionally to the point of being inaudible, and did not mend matters by violently thumping the box at the precise moment when otherwise the conclusion of his sentence might have been heard. Some people said in their haste he was but the shadow of his former self, and that he had done well ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 29, May 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... first time for many days, and as the night was dying Tibbie fell asleep too. Hendry had been better than usual, lying quietly, Tibbie said, and the fever was gone. About three o'clock Tibbie woke and rose to mend the fire. Then she saw that Hendry ...
— A Window in Thrums • J. M. Barrie

... cried he, throwing down the bow he had been pretending to mend. 'Well, was I not right? Is she not a miracle of beauty and grace? And has she her equal in the whole world?' The ministers looked at each other, and made no reply; till at length the chamberlain, who was the bolder ...
— The Orange Fairy Book • Various

... he had ability in the matter of definition. He began calling upon the Church to reform, and demanding that priests repent. Very naturally the priests thought it absurd for Luther to try to bring the righteous to repentance. They laughed. Later they scowled. Then they called on Doctor Luther to mend his manners, and not make the Church and himself ridiculous in ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 9 - Subtitle: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers • Elbert Hubbard

... Teutsch Ritters, and least of all by their young Hochmeister, was, That the Teutsch Ritters had well deserved that terrible down-come at Tannenberg, that ignominious dismissal out of West-Preussen with kicks. Their insolence, luxury, degeneracy had gone to great lengths. Nor did that humiliation mend them at all; the reverse rather. It was deeply hidden from the young Hochmeister as from them, That probably they were now at length got to the end of their capability: and ready to be withdrawn from the scene, as soon as any good way ...
— History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. III. (of XXI.) - Frederick The Great—The Hohenzollerns In Brandenburg—1412-1718 • Thomas Carlyle

... Radisson, "call a chirurgeon to mend its toes!" and his blade cut a swath across the dandy's ...
— Heralds of Empire - Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade • Agnes C. Laut

... won't be disappointed," remarked Yellin' Kid and his vocal powers seemed to be on the mend, for he called loudly. ...
— The Boy Ranchers in Camp - or The Water Fight at Diamond X • Willard F. Baker

... and my former associates. It is large enough to hold them all. Tell them that I repent of my sins, and the sooner they do the same the better. I cannot now undo the evil I have done them. I can only furnish the means of escape, so that they may have time and opportunity to mend their ways; and, hark'ee, the sooner they leave this place the better. It will no longer be a safe ...
— Gascoyne, The Sandal Wood Trader - A Tale of the Pacific • R. M. Ballantyne

... Somerset had plenty of time, and he counted their number—fifteen. He remained so silent that the owner of this elaborate structure soon forgot the disturbance which had resulted in the breaking of his diagonal ties, and crept out from the corner to mend them. In watching the process, Somerset noticed that on the stonework behind the web sundry names and initials had been cut by explorers in years gone by. Among these antique inscriptions he observed two bright and clean ones, consisting of the words 'De Stancy' and ...
— A Laodicean • Thomas Hardy

... I feel sorry for mine. 'Taint right to keep the little feller here while you can't lift a hand to do for him, so I'm goin' to take him to my house, with my eight children, because there's luck in odd numbers, and I'll feed him up, pore little soul, and wash him and mend him, and start him to playin' with Ignatius and Aloysius, for children ought to play, and Patrick 'll come every morning and start your fire, although he is a Sergeant, and we want to help you, and ...
— Betty at Fort Blizzard • Molly Elliot Seawell

... green, swaying limbs,—the same here in the village as out in free field or forest,—the street itself seemed less dusty, less common, less impossible to pause upon for anything but to buy bread, or mend a wheel, or get a ...
— The Other Girls • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney

... burst into one of her wild fits of laughter. But those whom she had redeemed heeded it not, for they ran to her, and since they dared not touch her, or even her robe, kissed the ground on which she had stood and blessed her. Moreover from that moment they began to mend, and within a few days were changed folk. This Noie knew, for they followed up Rachel to the confines of the desert, and she saw it with her eyes. Also the fame of the deed spread among the Umkulu people who groaned under the cruel rule of the Ghost-kings, and mad ...
— The Ghost Kings • H. Rider Haggard

... Constantine," cried she, taking her place opposite to him: "my anger is not to be appeased by calling me names; you don't mend the compliment by likening me to a ...
— Thaddeus of Warsaw • Jane Porter

... she said, "that all that was over. I had thought that whatever is left of life belonged just to me—for my very own. I thought I could take it away and try to mend it." ...
— The Lighted Match • Charles Neville Buck

... some time before the great-little old fellow could compose himself to mend the fire, and draw his chair to the warm hearth. But, when he had done so, and had trimmed his lamp, he took his "Extra Special" from his pocket, and began to read—carelessly at first, and skimming up and down the columns, but with an earnest ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, Jan. 2, 1892 • Various

... and rest a minute, Becky, and tell us if you mend roads as well as ever so many other things;" called Emily, beckoning with a smile, as the girl looked ...
— A Garland for Girls • Louisa May Alcott

... 'creep under that bookcase and see whether you can find the head of that china figure I have broken. I knocked against the vase, not knowing that its place had been changed. I did not hear the head fall, but it must have rolled away. If we find it at once, we will mend the figure, for Mother will be sorry to see it damaged. Now, don't look so dazed, boy. Hurry up ...
— Chatterbox, 1906 • Various

... Late to Mend, a Matter-of-Fact Romance," published in 1856, is, like "Hard Cash," a story with a purpose, the object in this instance being to illustrate the abuses of prison discipline in England and Australia. Many of the passages describing Australian life are exceptionally vivid and imaginative, ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VII • Various

... bits," she cried breathlessly. "It would take me a whole day to mend it again, and at last I had to steal more clothes. I took Hauck's this time. And soon they were gone, too. That is just what Tara will do to a man—when ...
— The Courage of Marge O'Doone • James Oliver Curwood

... plaiting of the canes is done as unerringly by their unseeing fingers as by the men who can see, and with wonderful quickness. Occasionally the business is combined with that of basket-making, and should we follow poor old "Chairs-to-mend" home, we might discover his family busy weaving reeds and willowy branches with the same cleverness the father shows in handling ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12 • Various

... whole this was not an era to which Europe can look back with pride. The empire was a scene of anarchy. One of its wrangling rulers, Charles IV, recognizing that the lack of an established government lay at the root of all the disorder, tried to mend matters by publishing his "Golden Bull," which exactly regulated the rules and formulae to be gone through in choosing an emperor, and named the seven "electors" who were to vote. This simplified matters so far as the repeatedly contested elections ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... vouchsafed to leave for me * Some peace in life such leave of him I ne'er had ta'en: How long he pleaded for my sake on parting morn, * While down his cheeks and mine tears ran in railing rain: Allah belie me not: the garb of mine excuse * This parting rent, but I will Mend that garb again! No couch is easy to my side, nor on such wise * Aught easeth him, when all alone without me lain: Time with ill omened hand hath wrought between us two, * And made my waxing joys to wane and his to wane, And poured mere grief and woe, what time Time fain had crowned * The bowl ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

... principles of economy, surely it is better that Emma, who knows how, should mend the clothes, than that I should botch them up in any way, when I can earn more than she ...
— Magnum Bonum • Charlotte M. Yonge

... on, dear youth, the glorious path pursue Which bounteous Nature kindly smooths for you; Go, bid the seeds her hand hath sown arise, By timely culture, to their native skies; Go, and employ the poet's heavenly art, Not merely to delight, but mend the heart. Than other poets happier mayst thou prove, More blest in friendship, fortunate in love, Whilst Fame, who longs to make true merit known, Impatient waits, to claim, ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10) • John Gibson Lockhart

... can't say, but I should be glad you had it, for your family's sake, as it is an hereditary honour. Then it would mend the style of your spouse here; for the good girl is at such a loss for an epithet when she writes, that I see the constraint she lies under. It is, 'My dear gentleman, my best friend, my benefactor, my dear Mr. B.' whereas Sir William would ...
— Pamela (Vol. II.) • Samuel Richardson

... shoemaker. There was one who lived just opposite; and he immediately came to examine my shoes. He told me he could not sufficiently wonder at the badness of the work, for they were shoes I had brought from Germany. Notwithstanding this, he undertook, as he had no new ones ready, to mend them for me as well as he could. This led me to make a very agreeable acquaintance with this shoemaker; for when I expressed to him my admiration of the cavern, it pleased him greatly that in so insignificant a place as Castleton there should be anything which could inspire ...
— Travels in England in 1782 • Charles P. Moritz

... Should one be having an unhappy time at home, the Adjutant visited her people. Sometimes she discovered hardness of heart and cruelty wrecking the young life; sometimes fault on both sides. Then she acted as mediator and healer of the breach. She taught the girls to make and mend their clothes; when ill, she got them to a hospital. Always she made them feel she loved them and believed for them to be good. Her work amongst these girls would not have been unworthy of a sole responsibility, but it was one of her least noticed ...
— The Angel Adjutant of "Twice Born Men" • Minnie L. Carpenter

... also well to avoid correcting people's mistakes in conversation, however good your intentions may be; for it is easy to offend people, and difficult, if not impossible, to mend them. ...
— Counsels and Maxims - From The Essays Of Arthur Schopenhauer • Arthur Schopenhauer

... to my charge! I spake to you but now of humbler ties, Not highest, with intent that ye might know How pierced are earthly bonds by heavenly beam; Yet, speaking with lame tongue in parables, I shewed you but similitudes of things— Twilight, not day. Make question then who will; So shall I mend my teaching.' Prompt and bright As children issuing forth to holyday, Then flocked to Cuthbert's school full many a man Successive: each with simpleness of heart His doubt propounded; each his question asked, Or, careless who might hear, confessed his sins, And absolution ...
— Legends of the Saxon Saints • Aubrey de Vere

... beam turns vinegar more sour. We, wretched subjects, though to lawful sway, In this weak queen some favourite still obey: Ah! if she lend not arms, as well as rules, What can she more than tell us we are fools? Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend, A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend! Or from a judge turn pleader, to persuade The choice we make, or justify it made; Proud of an easy conquest all along, She but removes weak passions for the strong; So, when small humours gather to a ...
— Essay on Man - Moral Essays and Satires • Alexander Pope

... mythology with the original fabric. He asked Addison's advice. Addison said that the poem as it stood was a delicious little thing, and entreated Pope not to run the risk of marring what was so excellent in trying to mend it. Pope afterwards declared that this insidious counsel first opened his eyes to the baseness of ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 2 • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... native woman's bag are: A flat stone to pound roots with; earth to mix with the pounded roots; quartz, for the purpose of making spears and knives; stones for hatchets; prepared cakes of gum, to make and mend weapons and implements; kangaroo sinews to make spears and to sew with; needles made of the shin-bones of kangaroos, with which they sew their cloaks, bags, etc.; opossum hair to be spun into waist belts; shavings of kangaroo skins to polish spears, etc.; the ...
— Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 2 (of 2) • George Grey

... alone, but with two or three, that if one boat split and be lost with striking on the sholdes, they may haue another ready to take in their goods, vntil such time as they haue mended the broken boat, and if they draw the broken boat on land to mend her, it is hard to defend her in the night from the great multitude of Arabians that will come downe there to robbe you: [Sidenote: The Arabian theeues are in number like to Ants.] and in the riuers euery night, when you make fast your boat to the banckeside, ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, Volume 9 - Asia, Part 2 • Richard Hakluyt



Words linked to "Mend" :   improvement, fill, resole, sole, fixture, improve, mender, vamp, amend, touch on, point, trouble-shoot, darn, restitution, patching, maintenance, reconstruction, stitchery, restore, revamp, fiddle, patch, repoint, furbish up, upkeep, troubleshoot, break, restoration, heel



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com