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Pat   Listen
adjective
Pat  adj.  Exactly suitable; fit; convenient; timely. "Pat allusion."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Pat" Quotes from Famous Books



... having lived, in spite of the obituaries the news-sheets hand out like a Sunday School mam at prize time. Say, here, it's no use fooling ourselves. Life's one great big thing that don't take shape by reason of our acts. What's the civilisation we love to pat ourselves on the back for? I'll tell you. It's just a thing we've invented, like—wireless telegraphy, or soap, or steam-heat; and it hands us a cloak to cover up the evil that man and woman'll never quit doing. Before we made civilisation a feller got up on to ...
— The Man in the Twilight • Ridgwell Cullum

... treat the author very handsome if we could get hold of a good piece with a big emotional part for the wife ... and although I'm her husband ... in the sight of God, anyway ... I will say this for her, Mac, there's not another woman on the stage ... Ellen Terry, Mrs. Pat or Sarah Bernhardt herself ... can hold a candle to Dolly for emotional parts. Of course, there'd have to be a comic part for me, too, but you needn't worry much about that. I always make up my own ...
— The Foolish Lovers • St. John G. Ervine

... get them off? Then, filled with morbid curiosity, they strained their ears and listened. Again—this time nearer, much nearer—came that cry, dismal, protracted, nerve-racking. Nor was that all, for they could now discern the pat-pat, pat-pat of footsteps—long, soft, loping footsteps, as of huge furry paws or naked human feet. However, they could see nothing—nothing but blackness, intensified by the feeble flickering of the ...
— Werwolves • Elliott O'Donnell

... aside his newspaper and paced slowly up and down the room, his slippered feet falling with an emphatic pat on the carpet. His wife sat near the window, watching the swallows cutting black circles in the dusky air. Eva was seated at the piano, half turned from it, while with one hand she felt about to touch the nerve of some half-forgotten tune. McElwin dropped down ...
— Old Ebenezer • Opie Read

... large trees. The branches seem to pat the house lovingly and to protect the children when the sun is too hot or the ...
— Seven O'Clock Stories • Robert Gordon Anderson

... smiling a satisfied smile. Peter looked down at that down-turned head, also with a satisfied smile. Then there was another long silence. Incidentally it is to be noted that Peter still held the hand given him some time before. To use a poker term, Peter was standing "pat," and wished no change. Once or twice the little hand had hinted that it had been held long enough, but Peter did not think so, and the hand had concluded that it was safest to let well alone. If ...
— The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him • Paul Leicester Ford

... ill with fever, could hardly drag himself from his state-room to give necessary orders, and lay upon the bed or sofa, in fast-increased distress, though glad to bid Nino good-day, to kiss his cheek, and pat his hand. Still, the strong man grew weaker, till he could no longer draw from beneath the pillow his daily friend, the Bible, though his mind was yet clear to follow his wife's voice, as she read aloud the morning and evening chapter. But alas for the brave, stout seaman! ...
— Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. II • Margaret Fuller Ossoli

... I have," replied the fisherman, "and it's time for Pat to cut and run!" and so saying, his knife severed the rope, and with a Kilkenny grin, he sprang to his tiller, put his little craft before the wind, and bowled away from us, with some fifteen fathoms of ...
— Redburn. His First Voyage • Herman Melville

... corner in Counts and I seem destined to worry along with merely an American husband, I don't intend to throw away the spoons with the dish-water! But having to fuss so with that hair is a nuisance, especially at night, when I am so tired that my pillow seems to bark like a dog for me to come and pat it. ...
— The Prairie Wife • Arthur Stringer

... mail of mine was too easily known, and so soon as I got out into the street, the beggar men began to shout and crawl towards me. And then others looked, and ran, and then more, till there was a crowd of men of the levy pressing round me, stretching hands to pat me and the like. ...
— A Thane of Wessex • Charles W. Whistler

... Sketch. Some sketches, like Tom Nawn's "Pat and the Geni," and his other "Pat" offerings, so long a famous vaudeville feature, are merely character sketches. Like the near-short-story character-sketch, the vaudeville sketch often gives an admirable exposition of character, without showing any change in the character's ...
— Writing for Vaudeville • Brett Page

... the cold bit a hundred times worse for the lack of snow in the woods, and the bare ground made the pat of my moccasins sound louder than I liked; but on the other hand I should leave no track back to my waiting horse, if I had to clear out without getting Hutton. The thought made me grin, for I had ...
— The La Chance Mine Mystery • Susan Carleton Jones

... Pat Gregg was leaving the saloon; he was on his horse, but he sat the saddle slanting, and his head was turned to give the farewell word to several figures who bulged through the door of the saloon. For that reason, as well as because of the fumes in his brain, he did ...
— Way of the Lawless • Max Brand

... a dog lying on the steps of the opposite house. His attitude might induce passers-by and casual observers to believe him to belong to the people who live there, and to accord to him a certain standing position. I have seen visitors pat him, under the impression that they were doing an act of courtesy to his master, he lending himself to the fraud by hypocritical contortions of the body. But his attitude is one of deceit and simulation. He has neither master nor habitation. He ...
— Urban Sketches • Bret Harte

... crumb of comfort, balm in Gilead. V. relieve, ease, alleviate, mitigate, palliate, soothe; salve; soften, soften down; foment, stupe^, poultice; assuage, allay. cheer, comfort, console; enliven; encourage, bear up, pat on the back, give comfort, set at ease; gladden the heart, cheer the heart; inspirit, invigorate. remedy; cure &c (restore) 660; refresh; pour balm into, pour oil on. smooth the ruffled brow of care, temper the wind to the shorn lamb, lay the flattering unction to one's soul. disburden &c ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... consecrated helmet. Laidlaw, however, scratching it minutely out, found it covered with a layer of pitch inside, and then said, "Ay, the truth is, sir, it is neither mair nor less than a piece of a tar pat that some o' the farmers hae been buisting their sheep out o', i' the auld kirk langsyne." Sir Walter's shaggy eyebrows dipped deep over his eyes, and suppressing a smile, he turned and strode away as fast as he could, saying, that "We had just rode all the way to see ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 14, Issue 383, August 1, 1829 • Various

... began to think that their friends were tired of them, and were plotting to put them out of the way. Gano's men stated, however, that shots were first fired at them from some quarter. My Adjutant, Captain Pat Thorpe, as gallant a man as ever breathed, came to me after this affair was over, with a serious complaint against Gano. Thorpe always dressed with some taste, and great brilliancy, and on this occasion ...
— History of Morgan's Cavalry • Basil W. Duke

... sit a great deal on the piazza. Cyril's a good boy; he wa'n't nine when his father died; and he's been like a man helping me. There never was a boy had such willing little feet. And he'd set right there on the steps and pat my slipper and say what he'd git me when he got to earning money; and he's got me every last thing, foolish and all, that he said. There's that black satin gown, a sin and a shame for a plain body like me, but he would git it. ...
— Different Girls • Various

... plough-handle. The Divine Teacher set us the example of making vital truths intelligible by illustrations, when he spoke so often in parables, and sometimes recalled historical incidents. All congregations relish incidents and stories, when they are "pat" to the purpose, and serious enough for God's house, and help to drive the truth into the hearts of the audience During my early ministry I delivered a discourse to young men at Saratoga Springs, and closed it with a solemn story of a man who died of remorse at the exposure of his crime. The Hon. ...
— Recollections of a Long Life - An Autobiography • Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

... he can still deliver it. It is a powerful, well-thought-out piece of work, such as only a very able man could produce. But it has no SPECIAL QUALITY of its own—none of the little touches that used to make an old stager like myself want to pat Shand on the shoulder. [The COMTESSE's mouth twitches, but MAGGIE declines to notice it.] He pounds on manfully enough, but, if I may say so, with a wooden leg. It is as good, I dare say, as the rest of them could have done; but they start with such inherited ...
— What Every Woman Knows • James M. Barrie

... to answer and, as I continued to play the dumb idiot, her impatience grew. Her brows—very dark brown they were, almost black against the pallor of her face—drew together and her foot began to pat the faded carpet. "I am ...
— Kent Knowles: Quahaug • Joseph C. Lincoln

... Pat!—he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy: my cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam.—O, these eclipses do portend these divisions! fa, ...
— The Tragedy of King Lear • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... Charles sent away a glass and a plate, frowning at the girl who waited; there must have been a speck or a flaw in them. The viands were as pretty as the dishes, the lamb chops were fragile; the bread was delicious, but cut in transparent slices, and the butter pat was nearly stamped through with its bouquet of flowers. This was all the feast except sponge cake, which felt like muslin in the fingers; I could have squeezed the whole of it into my mouth. Still hungry, ...
— The Morgesons • Elizabeth Stoddard

... pleaded for a friendly word. Generally Tode would have responded to the mute appeal, but now he felt so miserable himself, that he longed to make somebody or something else miserable too, so instead of a pat, he gave the dog a kick that sent it limping off with a yelp of pain and remonstrance. He had made another creature as miserable as himself, but somehow it didn't seem to lessen his own wretchedness. Indeed, he couldn't ...
— The Bishop's Shadow • I. T. Thurston

... Mike: "Pat, I'm asthounded at yer ignorance of gogerfy! Thim little fish grow in the Atla-antic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Injun Ocean, the Airctic Ocean, an'—oh, in all them oceans. An' the big fish, such as the whale, the halleybut, the shairk, an' all o' thim, ...
— The Stars & Stripes, Vol 1, No 1, February 8, 1918, - The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919 • American Expeditionary Forces

... it is, boys," he whispered, as he gave Waggie a mournful pat; "if we don't want to be buried in an Atlanta graveyard ...
— Chasing an Iron Horse - Or, A Boy's Adventures in the Civil War • Edward Robins

... Hardee's and Pat Cleburne's command went into position in front of us. We left them alone till Stanley could come up on our left, and swing around, so as to cut off their retreat, when we would bag every one of them. But Stanley was as slow as he always was, and did not come ...
— Andersonville, complete • John McElroy

... caused expectations as to the future to blossom, which made the hardships of the present go down. He had, amongst his points of superiority to the Duke of Mayenne, a marvellous gift of promptitude and vivacity, and far beyond the average. We have seen him, a thousand times in his life, make pat replies without hearing the purport of a request, and forestall questions without committing himself. The Duke of Mayenne was incommoded by his great bodily bulk, which could not support the burden either of arms or of fatigue duty. ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... off pat," said Denny, laughingly, and he pointed to a figure which was approaching the house. It was a man riding a stout pony. When he came within about two hundred yards of the house he stopped, took a leisurely look, and then waved a ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896 • Various

... A sharp pat on the stone window frame beside him, after the bullet had snipped off the tip of his left ear, caused Mr. Marquand to draw back suddenly. He stalked about the floor, holding a handkerchief to the wounded ear, "talking in dashes and asterisks," ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico • Frank Gee Patchin

... 'Why, if I begin to pull it out, and it pains you, you will kill me with a pat of ...
— Tales Of The Punjab • Flora Annie Steel

... had no business there; and he barked so loudly that tramps and idle people thought it best to go away. He always welcomed the gardener and the servants, and especially his master, whenever they came to see him; so that every one about the place would give a pat or a word to the friendly dog ...
— Woodside - or, Look, Listen, and Learn. • Caroline Hadley

... Treasury notes," says The Weekly Dispatch, "has been exaggerated." Whenever we see a germ on one of our notes we pat it on the back and tell it to ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, July 21, 1920 • Various

... friendly bramble-bush on the edge of the Old Pasture and panted for breath, while his heart went pit-a-pat, pit-a- pat, as if it would thump its way right through his sides. Peter had had a terrible fright. There were long tears in his coat, and he smarted and ached dreadfully where the cruel claws of Hooty the Owl had torn him. And there he was in a strange place, ...
— Mrs. Peter Rabbit • Thornton W. Burgess

... nut butter to lb., pinch salt, hot water. Pat oatmeal in basin, melt fat in fairly hot water, and mix in quickly to make a stiff dough. Knead to thickness required. Bake on hot girdle, and toast ...
— Reform Cookery Book (4th edition) - Up-To-Date Health Cookery for the Twentieth Century. • Mrs. Mill

... Pat, the Adventurer The Briar Bush Maid A Fine Gentleman The Wild Adventure Castle Perilous The Squire's Sweetheart The Most Charming Family The Admirable Simmons The Playground My Love's But a Lassie Phillipa's ...
— Berry And Co. • Dornford Yates

... railroad men get fond of their particular engine, though they can't pat and stroke it, as sailors do of their ship. Speculate upon that form of human love. I take it there is nothing which, being the object of a man's occupation, may not be made also that of his affection, pride, and solicitude, too. Were we—people in ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble

... would not allow him to tamper with so chaste a bud! My hand reached for a stone to throw at him when happened the second thing. There came a gentle pat upon the woodland floor, and from a tree overhead dropped down another living plant like to the one above yet not exactly similar, a male, my instincts told me, in full solitary blossom like her above, cinctured with leaves, and supported by half a score of thick white roots that worked, as I looked, ...
— Gulliver of Mars • Edwin L. Arnold

... Explain-alls, and the "Personal Impressions" of war correspondents and of Privates X, Y, and Z. Several times during Anthony's visit his grandfather's secretary, Edward Shuttleworth, the one-time "Accomplished Gin-physician" of "Pat's Place" in Hoboken, now shod with righteous indignation, would appear with an extra. The old man attacked each paper with untiring fury, tearing out those columns which appeared to him of sufficient pregnancy for preservation ...
— The Beautiful and Damned • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... ninety-eight," he replied, "I remember a 'beautiful bit of a story,' as Pat would say, which occurred that autumn; its hero was a brother officer, a particular friend of mine—it may serve to keep ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. XX. No. 557., Saturday, July 14, 1832 • Various

... be disappointed lots of times before you hit on a treasure, and then if you were all by yourself you would get down in the mouth. Now, I should be able to keep you going, pat you on the back when you felt sick, help you to fight Indians and wild beasts, and be useful in all ...
— The Treasure of the Incas • G. A. Henty

... have been a cheer. Somebody had arranged a wreath of lilac and snowy viburnum, and fastened it around Roger's forehead; and he seemed to wear it consciously and proudly. Many a hand was stretched forth to pat and stroke the noble animal, and everybody smiled when he laid his head caressingly over the neck ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor

... lof," her father said aloud, with a smile of tidy pride, and a pat upon her back; "no call to look at all ashamed, my dear. To my mind, captain, though I may be wrong, however, but to my mind, this little maid may stan' upright in the presence of downright ...
— Mary Anerley • R. D. Blackmore

... houses, whence Friends are likely to be taken also." Therefore I hastened hither to help thee, Dorcas, bringing Prudence with me, partly because I love thee, and thou art mine own dear friend, but also because it was my Father's command. If I can be of service to thee, perhaps he will pat my head when he returns out of gaol and say, as he doth sometimes, "I knew I could trust ...
— A Book of Quaker Saints • Lucy Violet Hodgkin

... my lamb," said her hostess, "and you'll find the loaf, and a piece of honeycomb, and some raspberries. I'll bring a pat of butter and some milk from the dairy, where it's all cool ...
— Queen Hildegarde • Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

... flung down the portmanteau. "You've got my name pat enough, lad, I see; but I reckoned you'd have ...
— Trent's Trust and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... I deserved," said he, reaching out to pat her hand caressingly. "When I get a good job, I'll stay in nights and study hard like you want me ...
— The Definite Object - A Romance of New York • Jeffery Farnol

... pleasant to have your friend Mr. Smith pat you patronisingly on the back, and say, "My dear fellow, when ...
— Daisy's Necklace - And What Came of It • Thomas Bailey Aldrich

... the porter, peeped out at the strange iron-clad visitor and the great black war-horse, streaked and wet with the sweat of the journey, flecked and dappled with flakes of foam. A few words passed between them, and then the little window was closed again; and within, the shuffling pat of the sandalled feet sounded fainter and fainter, as Brother Benedict bore the message from Baron Conrad to Abbot Otto, and the mail-clad figure was left alone, sitting there as ...
— Otto of the Silver Hand • Howard Pyle

... you not seen the angel of salvation Appear sublime; with wise and solemn rap To teach the doubtful rabble where to clap?— 175 The rabble knows not where our dramas shine; But where the cane goes pat—by G— that's fine! ...
— Essays on Taste • John Gilbert Cooper, John Armstrong, Ralph Cohen

... and curry powder. By the hilarious reception given to this explanation he knew that he must have made a gaffe. So he asked one of the more erudite bores to give him the names of the best books about Japan. He would "mug it up," and get some answers off pat to the leading questions. The erudite one promptly lent him some volumes by Lafcadio Hearn and Pierre Loti's Madame Chrysantheme. He read the novel first of all. Rather spicy, ...
— Kimono • John Paris

... years the Campus was practically in the country, and only gradually did the dwellings of the townspeople rise in the neighborhood. Aside from the University there was nothing east of State Street, except an old burying ground and one dwelling, occupied by the ubiquitous Pat Kelly, whose freedom of the agricultural privileges of the Campus made him quite as important a financial factor of the community as the members of the ...
— The University of Michigan • Wilfred Shaw

... flash and the loud report of a gun, which very promptly woke him and made the old jarvey sit up too, and pull his horse up. Immediately two heads popped up over the hedge, had a good look at the major, and then one of the men said, "Begorra, Pat, we've shot at the wrong man again," and promptly disappeared. "Now, don't you think, my friends, that it's time I ...
— The Chronicles of a Gay Gordon • Jose Maria Gordon

... head to humming, and he began to pat his leg. Then he spied Jud. "Hey, there! Beelzebub," he roared, ...
— Dwellers in the Hills • Melville Davisson Post

... the lady, bridling; 'an' you might have axed a person's lave before ye tossed me cap that way. Here, Pat, come down an' see yer cousin just arrived from ...
— Cedar Creek - From the Shanty to the Settlement • Elizabeth Hely Walshe

... is: See, see, I haue beene begging sixteene yeares in Court (Am yet a Courtier beggerly) nor could Come pat betwixt too early, and too late For any suit of pounds: and you, (oh fate) A very fresh Fish heere; fye, fye, fye vpon This compel'd fortune: haue your mouth fild vp, ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... soft he is!" thought Kate. "How I should like to pat him. I wonder when he'll find whatever it is that he's looking for! ...
— What Might Have Been Expected • Frank R. Stockton

... invisible-green coat which he wore on his back, and his gray vest, and solemn gold spectacles; and though he always felt remarkably slimy when we touched him, yet, as he would sit still and allow us to stroke his head and pat his back, we concluded his social feelings might be warm, notwithstanding a cold exterior. Who knew, after all, but he might be a beautiful young prince, enchanted there till the princess should come ...
— Queer Little Folks • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... and carrying in his hand a pot of the pretty white flowers that the Norman peasant folk call Christmas roses. Seeing him, Brother Stephen told Gabriel that he must go and help the brothers trim the Abbey church for the joyous service of the morrow; and so with another affectionate little pat, he went out to do his part in arranging the holiday greens and garlands and tall wax candles, while Gabriel hurried off to his ...
— Gabriel and the Hour Book • Evaleen Stein

... salmon, drain it, take off the skin, and mask it with a Genoese sauce, to which add a spoonful of the water in which the salmon has been boiled, and at the last add a pat of fresh butter and a ...
— The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste: - Containing Over Two Hundred Recipes For Italian Dishes • Mrs. W. G. Waters

... worked away bravely, and never shirked nor complained, although Pat put many a hard or disagreeable job upon him, and chores grew more and more distasteful. His only comfort was the knowledge that Mrs. Moss and the Squire were satisfied with him, his only pleasure the lessons he learned while driving the cows, and recited in the evening when the three children ...
— St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 4, February 1878 • Various

... philosophy." The scene afforded, at least to many there present, as much amusement as astonishment. That a nephew of a county member should be publicly attacked before a large number of people and be compelled to hear them "war-r-r-ned" not to buy an egg or a pat of butter from his tenants would be incredible anywhere else than in Ireland at this moment. But people are growing accustomed to ...
— Disturbed Ireland - Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81. • Bernard H. Becker

... carriage, and looked a good deal alarmed as he saw me turn to meet Tiger and pat the ...
— Medoline Selwyn's Work • Mrs. J. J. Colter

... very pleasant," said Mrs. Boardman. "Now pat the pillow, this way, Maude, before you put it in its place, so. I did not have any lessons nor any books to read, and I had no time to bring my patchwork or knitting, and so the time hung very heavy on my hands. I helped about the work when there was anything that a little girl ...
— Ruby at School • Minnie E. Paull

... homeward, he orders out his horses, and rejoicingly beholds them snorting before his face: those that Orithyia's self gave to grace Pilumnus, such as would excel the snows in whiteness and the gales in speed. The eager charioteers stand round and pat their chests with clapping hollowed hands, and comb their tressed manes. Himself next he girds on his shoulders the corslet stiff with gold and pale mountain-bronze, and buckles on the sword and shield and scarlet-plumed [90-124]helmet-spikes: that sword the divine ...
— The Aeneid of Virgil • Virgil

... mine tafern," said the landlord, putting his abundant charge into his pocket. "Chay-Te, he always stops here. He coes all ofer te countries, Chay-Te toes. His headt ist pat." ...
— Old Caravan Days • Mary Hartwell Catherwood

... person exceedingly like a pig: but not like every pig: not in the least like the Devon pigs of those days, which, I am sorry to say, were no more shapely than the true Irish greyhound who pays Pat's "rint" for him; or than the lanky monsters who wallow in German rivulets, while the village swineherd, beneath a shady lime, forgets his fleas in the melody of a Jew's harp—strange mud-colored creatures, four feet high and four inches thick, which look as if they had ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley

... midst of the discussion, a stockman named Pat Kelly, who was incidentally the Democratic boss of Michigan, rose in his seat. "Can any gentleman inform me," he inquired, "why the business of this meeting should be held up by the talk of a broken-down ...
— Roosevelt in the Bad Lands • Hermann Hagedorn

... see it, let's say—if that doesn't sound too conceited from a tenderfoot," supplemented the nephew, and laid his hand upon her shoulder with a gentle little pat. "Folks, I don't want to seem too exuberantly sure of myself, but—" he waved a carefully-kept hand eloquently at the luxuriance around him, "—I'm all fussed up over this place, honest. I thought I was coming ...
— The Ranch at the Wolverine • B. M. Bower

... he vanted vas to fight the King o' Proosia's guard, day by day, year in, year out, until 'e 'ad worked out the whole regiment of 'em—and the smallest of 'em six foot long. There's not more'n a few of you could 'it a dint in a pat o' butter, and if you gets a smack or two it's all over vith you. Vich among you could get up again after such a vipe as the Eytalian Gondoleery cove gave ...
— Rodney Stone • Arthur Conan Doyle

... you would come oftener Kathie. It seems like the old days to have you here," replied Grace with a loving pat. ...
— The Right Knock - A Story • Helen Van-Anderson

... will keep getting in the way until you can't get anything done? That is how it was with me those few days before the wedding; so much so that when Wednesday dawned everything was topsy-turvy and I had a very strong desire to run away. But I always did hate a "piker," so I stood pat. Well, I had most of the dinner cooked, but it kept me hustling to get the house into anything like decent order before the old dog barked, and I knew my moments of liberty were limited. It was ...
— Letters of a Woman Homesteader • Elinore Pruitt Stewart

... great-grandfather and his cousin came over from Ireland and landed in New York, they heard a parrot talking. It said, "A beggar and a clodhopper; a beggar and a clodhopper." They had never heard of a parrot before. The great-grandfather said to his cousin, "Pat, Pat, what kind of a world have we got into? Aven the burds of the woods are making fun ...
— Trials and Triumphs of Faith • Mary Cole

... out the wash Upon the line to dry. She wint to take it in at night, But stopped to have a cry. The sleeves av two red flannel shirts, That once were worn by Pat, Were chewed off almost to the neck. O'Grady's goat ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two • Various

... to her own apartments, she found Lulu still in high good-humor, laughing and romping with the babe, allowing it to pat her cheeks and pull ...
— The Two Elsies - A Sequel to Elsie at Nantucket, Book 10 • Martha Finley

... Pat would say, by the same token couldn't they just as well fight a pack of Frenchies as a tribe of niggers? Bah! You're all wrong. It's quite like enough that yon brig may have been fitted out for a privateer, though I rather think she wouldn't ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn

... got it too unsparingly, some cautions came with it which were worth the stripes he had to smart under. One noble writer Spelling treated with rudeness, probably from some accidental pique, or equally insignificant reason. I myself, one of the three survivors before referred to, escaped with a love-pat, as the youngest son of the Muse. Longfellow gets a brief nod of acknowledgment. Bailey, an American writer, "who made long since a happy snatch at fame," which must have been snatched away from him by envious time, for I cannot ...
— A Mortal Antipathy • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... pat of bare feet on the deck, a dull sort of shuffling as though people were arranging themselves. And then people outside the awning began to sing. It was a strange song, not at all like any music you or I have ever heard. It had ...
— The Magic World • Edith Nesbit

... bulwark Miss Asenath who could not get pillows for herself, and so the latter was almost buried in them. Miss Asenath passed one of her many over to Arethusa, who sat on it obediently. Then the gentle creature on the couch rewarded her with a pat; by this conveying her loving intelligence of just how much the sitting on the hot, stuffy protection Miss Letitia insisted upon was hated, and her recognition of the magnanimity of doing so with murmuring. But it was Miss Asenath's way ...
— The Heart of Arethusa • Francis Barton Fox

... woman, child, beast and bird, And every thing that doth approach my sight, Are forced to fall if Bremo once but frown. Come, cudgel, come, my partner in my spoils, For here I see this day it will not be; But when it falls that I encounter any, One pat sufficeth for to work my will. What, comes not one? then let's begone; A time will serve when we shall ...
— 2. Mucedorus • William Shakespeare [Apocrypha]

... and remember what they were, admire the softening influence of years upon these whilom destroyers of man- and woman-kind. Their scales are so soft that any knight with a moderate power of thrust can strike them: their claws, once strong enough to tear out a thousand eyes, only fall with a feeble pat that scarce raises the skin: their tongues, from their toothless old gums, dart a venom which is rather disagreeable than deadly. See them trailing their languid tails, and crawling home to their caverns at roosting-time! How weak are ...
— The Virginians • William Makepeace Thackeray

... And stuck them full of poisoned darts And long green thorns that stabbed and stung: He'd watch until we tried to speak, Then thrust inside his pasty cheek His long, white, slimy tongue: And smile at everything we said; And sometimes pat us on the head, And say that we were very young: He was a cousin of the man Who said that there ...
— Collected Poems - Volume One (of 2) • Alfred Noyes

... last, with Marylyn watching them from a window, and Dallas walking alongside for a few rods to say good-by and to pat Shadrach's bony, white flanks encouragingly. Morning was stealing up the dun east, yet overhead the stars were shining. And their near radiance, reflected upon the snow, coupled with the light of the slowly growing dawn, made it possible for ...
— The Plow-Woman • Eleanor Gates

... the natural order of things or events, and do not put the cart before the horse: as, "The scribes taught and studied the Law of Moses."—"They can neither return to nor leave their houses."—"He tumbled, head over heels, into the water."—"'Pat, how did you carry that quarter of beef?' 'Why, I thrust it through a stick, and ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown

... sleep, but could not for Jersey mosquitoes had entered their bedroom. Earnest effort drove the mosquitoes out, and the light was again extinguished. Soon Mike saw a luminous insect, a big fire-fly approaching. Quickly he roused his companion saying, 'Pat, wake up! Quick! Let's be going! It's no use trying to get more sleep here, there comes another Jersey mosquito hunting us ...
— The Harris-Ingram Experiment • Charles E. Bolton

... left undone, my dear sir—nothing whatever. There are twenty washed men at the street door for you to shake hands with; and six children in arms that you're to pat on the head, and inquire the age of; be particular about the children, my dear sir,—it has always a great effect, that ...
— The Law and Lawyers of Pickwick - A Lecture • Frank Lockwood

... and Bock was not a large dog. He growled again, and I felt worse than before. I imagined that I heard stealthy sounds in the bushes, and once Peg snorted as though frightened. I put my hand down to pat Bock, and found that his neck was all bristly, like a fighting cock. He uttered a queer half growl, half whine, which gave me a chill. Some one must be prowling about the van, but in the falling rain I could ...
— Parnassus on Wheels • Christopher Morley

... good soul you are not to sneer at me, but to pat me on the back. I have the greatest doubt whether I am not going to do, in publishing my paper, a most ridiculous thing. It would annoy me much, but only for Murray's sake, if the publication were ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II • Francis Darwin

... tender leaves of the dandelion, wash and lay in ice water for half an hour. Drain, shake dry and pat still drier between the folds of a napkin. Turn into a chilled bowl, cover with a French dressing, turn the greens over and over in this and send at once to ...
— Stevenson Memorial Cook Book • Various

... suffragan to the bishop of London. He was then already beneficed, receiving a royal ratification of his estate as parson of Llanvarchell in the diocese of St Asaph on the 20th of March 1391/92 (Cal. Pat. Rolls). In the Hall-book, marked 1393/94, but really for 1394/95, Chicheley's name does not appear. He had then left Oxford and gone up to London to practise as an advocate in the principal ecclesiastical court, the court of arches. His rise was rapid. ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" • Various

... reeked incense; by night a thousand candles guttered under the dark arches, sorely afflicting small, weary eyelids; yet Lola sat it out like a small thoroughbred, earning thereby the priest's kindly pat ...
— The Spinner's Book of Fiction • Various

... pleased, gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Ha, ha! we gentlemen, you see (for the Ardworths are very well born, very), we gentlemen understand each other! Between you and me, I never liked the law, never thought a man of birth should belong ...
— Lucretia, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... know better than that. The women have been talking about it for the last three days. I had her name quite pat yesterday, but I've forgot it now. Hasn't got a tanner; has she?" And the Honourable John had now seated ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... gazing, she turned and looked down at him; a little blankly at first, as though she had just waked from sleep or from abstraction too deep for instant recovery. Then she smiled and changed her position, putting up both hands to pat and pull her hair into neatness; and with the movement she ceased to be a brooding goddess of the mountain tops, and became again the girl who had perversely taken the telephone away from him, the girl who had ...
— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower

... the room.) Bless my soul, Pedersen, you look like a pat of melting butter! (PEDERSEN goes out. ROSEN turns to LEONARDA.) Have you been playing father confessor so early in the morning, and on such a fine day too? That is too bad.—By the way, have you ...
— Three Comedies • Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson

... before, and jumped out of the window. His friend ran to the window and exclaimed, "Are ye kilt, Mike?" Picking himself up and looking himself over by the light of the street lamp, he replied, "No, not kilt, Pat, but I fear I ...
— Men, Women, and Gods - And Other Lectures • Helen H. Gardener

... I was forced from my Sheelah to part, She said (while the sorrow was big at her heart) "Oh, remember your Sheelah when far, far away, And be kind, my dear Pat, to our ...
— The Dog's Book of Verse • Various

... try to bear it, for she was an impetuous, self-willed child, without much control over herself. She jumped out of bed, and stole to the door. A light was just disappearing on the ceiling, as if someone was carrying a candle down stairs; what could it mean? Lucy scampered, pit-pat, with her bare feet along the passage, and came to the top of the stairs in time to peep over and discover Rose silently opening the door of the hall, a large dark cloak hung over her arm, and her head and neck covered ...
— The Pigeon Pie • Charlotte M. Yonge

... "Hello Pat!" called Cronin, as his superintendent came to the 'phone. "I am detained at Bellevue, so that I can't be there when Van Cleft comes down. Let him Third Degree that little Jane from the garage. Keep them two men apart, too—oh, that's all right, ...
— The Voice on the Wire • Eustace Hale Ball

... Then she would pat me on the arm and smooth my dress, as much as to assure me that she had a good opinion of me, the distance between ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens

... my task—I found my power of writing considerably increased; my pen hurried rapidly over the paper—my brain was in a wonderfully teeming state; many scenes and visions which I had not thought of before were evolved, and, as fast as evolved, written down; they seemed to be more pat to my purpose, and more natural to my history, than many others which I had imagined before, and which I made now give place to these newer creations: by about midnight I had added thirty fresh pages to my Life ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... Price $1.00. A Stag handle, brass lining, german silver bolsters and shield. Large polished cutting blade, screw driver, can-opener and leather boring tool (U. S. Pat. 6-10-02.) ...
— Boy Scouts Handbook - The First Edition, 1911 • Boy Scouts of America

... the judges need not be lawyers. A trial was an informal affair. The judge would line up both the parties at the rail. One side would tell their story, the other side would interrupt and finally get a chance to tell theirs. The judge would figuratively pat them on the head, decide the case, and tell them to ...
— The Man in Court • Frederic DeWitt Wells

... a scream. "There it comes! Oh, it will kill us!" she exclaimed. Reginald immediately called out, "Faithful! Faithful!" and the seemingly savage tigress came fawning up to him. Then turning round, he pointed at the pursuing foes, and a pat on Faithful's head made her leap on towards them. The moment they caught sight of her, as she flew at them snarling fiercely, they turned round and scampered up the hill faster than they had descended. Reginald hereupon—fearing that some ...
— The Young Rajah • W.H.G. Kingston

... York. The message, as I recall it, was as follows: "They [meaning the Republican managers] are trying to induce Hughes to claim the election, but he is unwilling to make an announcement and is asking for further returns. You boys stand pat. Returns that are now coming in are worrying them. Don't be swept off your feet by claims from Republican headquarters. I ...
— Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him • Joseph P. Tumulty

... That's what he looks like. I am glad he is my godfather. Dear Uncle Pat, do tell me all ...
— Melchior's Dream and Other Tales • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... her winter-apple face wrinkled in a smile of utter confidence, leaned nearer Sheila to pat her hand. The girl seized the wrinkled claw suddenly and pressed it with both of hers—pressed it gratefully and ...
— Sheila of Big Wreck Cove - A Story of Cape Cod • James A. Cooper

... down pat," chuckled the other, satisfied that what Frank said must be exactly so; for he did not make a practice of ...
— The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point - or The Golden Cup Mystery • Quincy Allen

... scouts, and dethroned Machpealota (old Red Cloud) turned over the government of the great Sioux nation, Ogallallas and all, to his more reliable rival, Sintegaliska,—Spotted Tail,—Van surveyed the ceremony of abdication from between my legs, and had the honor of receiving an especial pat and an admiring "Washtay" from the new chieftain and lord of the loyal Sioux. His highness Spotted Tail was pleased to say that he wouldn't mind swapping four of his ponies for Van, and made some further remarks which my limited knowledge of ...
— Starlight Ranch - and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier • Charles King

... onything but perfecly reasonable, and gies never a grain o' trouble! I canna doobt she'd be a great help til ye, and that ilka minute ye saw fit to lat her bide. But she's jist huntit wi' the idea that she pat the bairnie doon, and left him, and kens na whaur.—Verily, mem, she's are o' the lambs o' the Lord's ...
— Salted With Fire • George MacDonald

... be considered the first jar to the status quo, as established by the Treaty of Berlin, to be followed in quick succession by other similar shocks, which were presently to culminate in its complete upset and the present war. Turkey herself had broken the compact to remain quiescent, to stand pat. With the exception of the union of Eastern Rumelia with Bulgaria, there had been no ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) - Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers • Various

... introduction. It was wonderful how agile they all were, and how dexterously they avoided treading on her brother Benjamin, who lay unconcernedly in the centre of the floor, taking assiduous notes in a little copy-book for incorporation in a great novel, while Mrs. Henry Goldsmith stooped down to pat ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... talked to his bailiff Kitty fed her rooks. They cawed, and flew to her hand for the scraps of meat. The coachman came to speak about oats and straw. They went to the stables. Kitty adored horses, and it amused John to see her pat them, and her vivacity and light-heartedness rather ...
— Celibates • George Moore

... cakes. They revered him as a foreign gentleman of saintly amiability and incomprehensible preferences; and he was held in equal regard at the next green-grocer's where he spent every morning five centessimi for a bunch of radishes and ten for a little pat of butter to eat with his bread and coffee; he could not yet accustom himself to mere bread and coffee for breakfast, though he conformed as completely as he could to the Italian way of living. He respected the abstemiousness of the race; he held ...
— Indian Summer • William D. Howells

... of this sentence is remarkable:—"Jeo ou nul autre en moun noun purchace absolucion ou de Apostoile ou de autre souerein." (Rot. Pat., 22 Edward ...
— A Forgotten Hero - Not for Him • Emily Sarah Holt

... promise, and very much liked. Unfortunately he had acquired the habit of drinking, and his friends could see that the habit was growing on him. These friends determined to make an effort to save him, and to do this they drew up a pledge to abstain from all alcoholic drinks. They asked Pat to join them in signing the pledge, and he consented. He had been so long out of the habit of using plain water as a beverage that he resorted to soda-water as a substitute. After a few days this began ...
— Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete • Ulysses S. Grant

... encouragingly, and the tired animal seemed suddenly to make up its mind. Ignoring the water, it came straight to Sandy, uttered a harsh whine, catching at the leather tassel on the cowman's worn leather chaparejos, tugging feebly. As Sandy stooped to pat its head, powdered with the alkali dust that covered its coat, the collie released its hold and collapsed on one side, panting, utterly exhausted, with glazing ...
— Rimrock Trail • J. Allan Dunn

... Angeles. Some folks believe in him, and some don't. They say he struck a big stream for them over at San Luis. I don't go much on what people say, anyway; I size a man up, and depend on that. I like the way the professor talks. I don't understand all of it, but he seems to have things pretty pat. Don't you ...
— The Wizard's Daughter and Other Stories • Margaret Collier Graham

... so it is, CHARLIE, old hoyster. The music is twangly, I own, And if I've a fancy myself, 'taint hexactly the Great Xylophone; But the speeches of musical scratch-backs the dancers keep time with so pat, In that fairy-like Carnival Bally, fetched POLLY, ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 103, August 27, 1892 • Various

... the flour, with two knives. Add salt and moisten it to a dough with cold water. (Ice water is not essential but is desirable in summer.) Toss on a floured board and roll out. Fold to make three layers and put the butter between the layers. Turn half way round, pat, and roll out. Cut off the sides of it and roll into shape for the plate. Roll the center for the upper crust, cutting slits in it to let out steam. Fold the upper crust under the edge of the lower crust. Bake in a moderately hot oven 40-50 minutes. Pastry may be used immediately or chilled before ...
— Food and Health • Anonymous

... she could take her leave, She had to puff up her monstrous sleeve. Then a little dab here and a wee pat there. And a touch or two to her hindmost hair, Then around the room with the utmost care She thoughtfully circulated. Then she seized her gloves and a chamoiskin, Some breath perfume and a long stickpin, A bonbon box and a cloak and some Eau-de-cologne and chewing-gum, ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For • Various

... this murder of his own kind by the pat phrase "survival of the fittest." But man is not a solitary animal, he is a herd animal, and within the herd nature's definition of fitness does not apply. The herd is a refuge against the law of tooth and fang. ...
— White Shadows in the South Seas • Frederick O'Brien

... Pat went to his mistress: "My lady, your mare In harness, goes well as a dray-horse, I swear: I tried, as you're thinking to sell her, or let her, For coming on thus, she'll go ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 267, August 4, 1827 • Various

... in our midst. While each new fit lasts the enthusiasm of good people is quite impressive in its intensity; all the old hackneyed signatures appear by scores in the newspapers, and "Pro Bono Publico," "Audi Alteram Partem," "X.Y.Z.," "Paterfamilias," "An Inquirer," have their theories quite pat and ready. Picturesque writers pile horror on horror, and strive, with the delightful emulation of their class, to outdo each other; far-fetched accounts of oppression, robbery, injustice, are framed, and the more drastic reformers invariably ...
— Side Lights • James Runciman

... Dashfort, sir, it belongs to," answered the servant, in rather a surly English tone; and turning to a boy who was lounging at the door, "Pat, bid them bring out the horses, for my ladies is in a hurry to ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. 6 • Maria Edgeworth

... knee to make sure of me, and then trotted over to sniff Schillingschen. The professor stooped down to pat him, rubbed his ear a moment to get the dog's confidence, and then seized him suddenly by both hind legs. I saw what he ...
— The Ivory Trail • Talbot Mundy

... hand to Hollister's face. He did not shrink while those soft fingers went exploring the devastation wrought by the exploding shell. They touched caressingly the scarred and vivid flesh. And they finished with a gentle pat on his cheek and a momentary, ...
— The Hidden Places • Bertrand W. Sinclair

... not had a thorough trial, or whose defects time and experience might remedy. For mistaken experiments can be discontinued; and great as is the danger in incautious radicalism, the danger in "standing pat" is greater. ...
— Problems of Conduct • Durant Drake

... stood as follows: General Pat Cleburn's Division on right of Stewart, with Breckenridge's on the extreme right of the infantry, under the command of Lieutenant General D.H. Hill, with Cheatham's Division of Folk's Corps to the left ...
— History of Kershaw's Brigade • D. Augustus Dickert

... orators, of a "Satanic" Government that has reduced Indians to "slavery," never hesitated to question the poor "untouchables" closely and good-humouredly, not merely about the particular matter at issue, but about the condition of their crops or the health of their village, and sometimes gave a friendly pat on the back to the youngsters who accompanied their elders, whilst the Brahman stood by in stony and ...
— India, Old and New • Sir Valentine Chirol

... just leaving the library when a soft pit-pat, pit-pat at our heels caused me to turn. The quiet, disturbing footfalls were made by a beautiful blue Angora cat, which was accompanied by George, the pug, who had made his presence known at the dinner table. Both Sultan, the cat, and George proved to be the most interesting of animals ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 25, January 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... went into the other room; and just as Anna-Felicitas was reappearing with the teapot followed by Anna-Rose with a tray of cakes, Mr. Ridding, who was sitting up expectantly and giving his tie a little pat of adjustment, perceived bearing down upon him that ...
— Christopher and Columbus • Countess Elizabeth Von Arnim

... essential for our present purpose to give a detailed list of these Vowels; more especially as every Reader will readily recall them; as I, in pIn; E, in pEt; A in pAt; o, in not; u, in but; O, in stOne, ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 6, No 5, November 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... first time they saw a locomotive with a train of cars. As the majestic fire-horse, with all its grace and polish, moved up to a station, stopped, and snorted, as its mighty power was curbed, then slowly gathered up its forces again and moved swiftly on—"be jabers," says Pat, "there's muscle for you. What are we beside that giant?" They watched it intently till out of sight, seemingly with real envy, as if oppressed with a feeling of weakness and poverty before this unknown power; but rallying at last, one says to the other: "No matter, ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... stories and short dialogues in the comic papers—they make ye laff,' sez he, 'but laffin' isn't no sign o' deep morril purpose,' sez he, 'and it ain't genteel and refined. Abraham Linkin with his pat anecdotes ruined our standin' with dignified nashuns,' sez he. 'We cultivated publishers is sick o' hearin' furrin' nashuns roarin' over funny 'Merrikan stories; we're goin' to show 'em that, even ef we haven't classes and titles and sich, we kin be dull. ...
— New Burlesques • Bret Harte

... man's chief aims, Let's hire a slave to tell us people's names, To jog us on the side, and make us reach, At risk of tumbling down, a hand to each: "This rules the Fabian, that the Veline clan; Just as he likes, he seats or ousts his man:" Observe their ages, have your greeting pat, And duly ...
— The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry • Horace

... land:—"We regret to state that, on the night of Thursday (last week), a barbarous murder was committed at a village near Woodford, in this county. The unfortunate object of the assassin's vengeance was a man named Pat Hill. Two persons came into his house, and brought him out of his bed to a place about forty yards distant, and there inflicted no less than forty-two bayonet wounds on his person, besides a fracture of the skull. His wife, hearing ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... she would members of her own circle. Mandy, being old at the business, possessed herself of the high-held hand presented; but Johnnie only looked at it in astonishment, uncertain whether Miss Lydia meant to shake hands or pat her on the head. Yet when she did finally divine what was intended, the quality of her apologetic smile ought to have ...
— The Power and the Glory • Grace MacGowan Cooke



Words linked to "Pat" :   plausible, stand pat, fondle, pit-a-pat, strike, pitty-pat, caress, chuck, tap, touch, touching



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