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Sire   Listen
noun
Sire  n.  
1.
A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. (Obs.) "Pain and distress, sickness and ire, And melancholy that angry sire, Be of her palace senators."
2.
A tittle of respect formerly used in speaking to elders and superiors, but now only in addressing a sovereign.
3.
A father; the head of a family; the husband. "Jankin thet was our sire (i.e., husband)." "And raise his issue, like a loving sire."
4.
A creator; a maker; an author; an originator. "(He) was the sire of an immortal strain."
5.
The male parent of a beast; applied especially to horses; as, the horse had a good sire. Note: Sire is often used in composition; as in grandsire, grandfather; great-grandsire, great-grandfather.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Sire" Quotes from Famous Books



... brave: though a brother's child had been felled, the feud was unfelt by Onela. {34a} For winters this war-gear Weohstan kept, breastplate and board, till his bairn had grown earlship to earn as the old sire did: then he gave him, mid Geats, the gear of battle, portion huge, when he passed from life, fared aged forth. For the first time now with his leader-lord the liegeman young was bidden to share the shock of battle. Neither softened his ...
— Beowulf • Anonymous

... fired on the mob, they would fire on the troops, he knew that "la chose etait finie," and when he went out himself among the National Guard, to see what the effect of his presence would be, La Moriciere called out to him, "Sire, si vous allez parmi ces gens-la je ne reponds pas de votre vie. Ils vont tirer sur vous." He answered whatever might come of it he would "parler a ces braves gens"; but they surrounded him, grinning and calling out "La Reforme, ...
— Lady John Russell • Desmond MacCarthy and Agatha Russell

... who regarded him as a model nobleman. "Look at that fellow," he said to Eames, pointing to the prize bullock. Eames had joined his patron at the show after his office hours, looking on upon the living beef by gaslight. "Isn't he like his sire? He was got by Lambkin, ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... English caricaturists follow the emperor into the sanctity of his private life; they depict in their own homely but forcible fashion the astonishment of the empress at his unexpected return, and the disgust of young "Boney the Second," who not only expresses surprise that his imperial sire had forgotten his promise to "bring him some Russians to cut up," but suggests that they seem to have "cut him up" instead. These incidents are described in a satire entitled, Nap's Glorious Return; ...
— English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. - How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. • Graham Everitt

... That is so true that they proclaimed in Manila that if the archbishop proceeded with the visit, they would place him on the list as excommunicated, and would not absolve him until he should go to their convent of St. Dominic to beg absolution. I might easily have proceeded with the visit, Sire, but I preferred to be chidden as remiss, than not to have those great scandals muzzled which were represented to me to be inevitable if I went to law with these religious. And speaking with all truth, it seems to them a case of less value than that any Indian ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXI, 1624 • Various

... wi' serious face, They, round the ingle, form a circle wide; The sire turns o'er, with patriarchal grace, The big ha'bible, ance his father's pride: His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside, His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare; Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, He wales a portion with judicious care; And "Let us ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... born in Paris, the son of a French officer reputed the best swordsman in France. The son had followed closely in the footsteps of his father until, on the latter's death, he could easily claim the title of his sire. How he had left France and entered the service of John of England is not of this story. All the bearing that the life of Jules de Vac has upon the history of England hinges upon but two of his many attributes—his wonderful swordsmanship ...
— The Outlaw of Torn • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... handsome,' replied the equerry, 'but to be really happy in love something more than beauty is required. To tell the truth, sire,' he added, 'her expression seems to ...
— The Grey Fairy Book • Various

... "Sire," he said, bowing low, and with profound deference, "if I do not offer you the homage of a subject with knee and sword, it is because God, by whom kings reign, has denied you for the present the power of ascending your throne without rekindling civil war. For your safety being endangered ...
— Woodstock; or, The Cavalier • Sir Walter Scott

... irritating them and making them restless, and disturbing the peace and quiet of the community. They cause innumerable scandals, by reporting which I might enlarge this letter to great details. In fact, Sire, they are trying to make themselves masters of the spiritual and temporal. In all the provinces of these islands they live so absolute masters of all things that they do not recognize your Majesty. For they say openly in their missions that they are kings and popes. They hold the Indians ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXV, 1635-36 • Various

... is bred out of that bloody strain[18] That haunted us[19] in our familiar paths: Witness our too much memorable shame When Cressy battle fatally was struck, And all our princes captiv'd by the hand Of that black name, Edward, black prince of Wales; Whiles that his mountain sire,—on mountain standing, Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,—[20] Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him Mangle the work of nature, and deface The patterns that by Heaven and by French ...
— King Henry the Fifth - Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre • William Shakespeare

... legislatures; how to fight and overthrow competitors and extend the sphere of ownership and control; and how best to resist, and if possible to destroy, the labor unions. In brief, his education was a duplication of his father's scope of action: the methods of the sire were ...
— Great Fortunes from Railroads • Gustavus Myers

... Orion (Or, it may be, Charles his Wain) Tempts the tiny elves to try on All their little tricks again; When the earth is calmly breathing Draughts of slumber undefiled, And the sire, unused to teething, Seeks ...
— Green Bays. Verses and Parodies • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... in his appearance and economy, savage in his deportment, ferocious, illiterate, stubborn, implacable, and reserved. The English general assailed him on the side of his vanity, the only part by which he was accessible. "Sire," said he, "I present to your majesty a letter, not from the chancery, but from the heart of the queen my mistress, and written with her own hand. Had not her sex prevented her from taking so long a journey, ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... due to estrangement, but rather to the instigation of his own sire, Sir Thomas—a gentleman of the "fine old school"—who, exasperated by the, to him, incomprehensible and insupportable turn of mind developed by his heir (whom he loved well enough, notwithstanding, in his own way), had hoped, in good utilitarian ...
— The Light of Scarthey • Egerton Castle

... mother's, his eyes were raised to the portrait of the florid-visaged haughty Marquis de Condillac, where it looked down upon them from the panelled wall, and from his soul he offered up to that portrait of his dead sire an apology for the successor whom ...
— St. Martin's Summer • Rafael Sabatini

... stranger entered the aisle where the king knelt. The hair from his uncovered head flowed down over his shoulders, and his blue robe was confined by a linen girdle. With an air of majesty he walked up to the kneeling king, and said, "Sire, I am sent to warn thee not to proceed in thy present undertaking, for if thou dost it shall not fare well either with thyself or those who go with thee." He vanished then in the awe-stricken crowd. But this was not the only warning. At midnight, prior ...
— England, Picturesque and Descriptive - A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel • Joel Cook

... wished to oblige the Chevalier de Grammont, asked him, if he would make one at the masquerade, on condition of being Miss Hamilton's partner? He did not pretend to dance sufficiently well for an occasion like the present; yet he was far from refusing the offer: "Sire," said he, "of all the favours you have been pleased to show me, since my arrival, I feel this more sensibly than any other; and to convince you of my gratitude, I promise you all the good offices in my power with Miss Stewart." He said this, because they had just ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... Nickie to a portly Henry VIII. "Sire," she said, "this poor man claims king's bounty for his three sets of triplets. I humbly commend him to ...
— The Missing Link • Edward Dyson

... fantastic sire, Girt with thy guard of dotard kings,— What ages hast thou seen retire Into the dusk of alien things? What mighty news hath stormed thy shade, Of armies ...
— Highways and Byways in Surrey • Eric Parker

... prepared, And sons must bear what allotment of woe Their sires were spared. But this I refuse to believe: I know That impious deeds conspire To beget an offspring of impious deeds Too like their ugly sire. But whoso is just, though his wealth like a river Flow down, shall be scathless: his house shall rejoice In an ...
— Literary and General Lectures and Essays • Charles Kingsley

... "Your Majesty announced your arrival by a salvo of artillery; I had no time to reply to it. But, though hardly informed of your presence, I speedily discovered it by the losses which I experienced. You have taken many prisoners from me, sire, and I have taken some thousands from you in quarters where you were not personally present. I propose to your majesty to exchange them, man for man, rank for rank; and, if that proposal proves agreeable to you, point out the place where it may be possible to carry it ...
— Andreas Hofer • Lousia Muhlbach

... surpassing light Shines from the visage of the oppressed good man, When heedless of himself the scourgd saint Mourns for the oppressor. Fair the vernal mead, Fair the high grove, the sea, the sun, the stars; 15 True impress each of their creating Sire! Yet nor high grove, nor many-colour'd mead, Nor the green ocean with his thousand isles, Nor the starred azure, nor the sovran sun, E'er with such majesty of portraiture 20 Imaged the supreme beauty uncreate, As thou, meek Saviour! ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... the Leeds Mercury, and an enlightened leader of the dissenters of the west riding of York. He sustained the business reputation of the paper, after his father's decease, and raised it to a much higher place as a literary journal. Few good men have had sons so worthy of their sire. ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... A few days after, being received by the king, Louis XVIII., his Majesty, accompanying him to the door, said, "You entered here the captain of a frigate, you depart the captain of a ship of the line. Offer me no thanks; reply in the words used by Jean Bart to Louis XIV., 'Sire, ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part III. The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century • Jules Verne

... " Sire, we would that you should assemble your council; and before your council we will declare the wishes of our lords; and let this be tomorrow, if it so pleases you." And the Doge replied asking for respite till the fourth day, when he would assemble his council, so that ...
— Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople • Geoffrey de Villehardouin

... fortunate thing would be, if by the air or otherwise, as the earth was closed upon us, the Emperor could reach France, from whence he could much more certainly provide for their safety, than by remaining among them!" "Then I suppose I am in your way?" replied the Emperor, smiling. "Yes, Sire." "And you have no wish to be a prisoner of state?" Daru replied in the same tone, "that it was enough for him to be a prisoner of war." On which the Emperor remained for some time in a profound silence; then with a more serious air: "Are all the reports of my ministers burnt?" "Sire, ...
— History of the Expedition to Russia - Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812 • Count Philip de Segur

... nectar ... Here youth offers to old age the food, The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire, To whom she renders back ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1 - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook • The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.

... willing to make the supreme sacrifice in order that this world might be made safe for democracy. I deem it an honor and a privilege, and the Pacific Northwest deems it an honor and a privilege to place in nomination the worthy son of a worthy sire—Theodore Roosevelt." ...
— The Story of The American Legion • George Seay Wheat

... evil tongues,[6] Milton appealed to the Avenger, Time, If Time, the Avenger, execrates his wrongs, And makes the word "Miltonic" mean "Sublime," He deigned not to belie his soul in songs, Nor turn his very talent to a crime; He did not loathe the Sire to laud the Son, But ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron

... "Sire," said the duke to his dying brother, "you decline the sacraments of the Protestant Church, will you receive those of ...
— History of King Charles II of England • Jacob Abbott

... must go for beef, as well as several scrub springers which it would be false economy to hold. I've also got to do something about my hogs. They are neither "easy feeders" nor good bacon types. With them, too, I want a good sire, a pure-bred Yorkshire or Berkshire. And I must have cement troughs and some movable fencing, so that my young shoats may have pasture-crop. For there is money in pigs, and no undue labor, provided you ...
— The Prairie Mother • Arthur Stringer

... well for a time, but at last the prince wants to go home, so he and his wife fly from her father's palace. Agnisikha pursues them. She makes her husband invisible, while she assumes the form of a woodman. Up comes her angry sire, and asks for news of the fugitives. She replies she has seen none, her eyes being full of tears caused by the death of the Rakshasa prince Agnisikha. The slow-witted demon immediately flies home to find out whether he is really dead. Discovering that ...
— Russian Fairy Tales - A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore • W. R. S. Ralston

... with prophetic wisdom, declared that railways could never be worked profitably. The old Croydon railway is no longer used. The genius loci must look with wonder on the gigantic offspring of the little railway, which has swallowed up its own sire. Lean mules no longer crawl leisurely along the little rails with trucks of stone through Croydon, once perchance during the day, but the whistle and the rush of the locomotive are now heard all day long. Not a few loads of lime, but all London and its contents, by comparison—men, women, ...
— Railway Adventures and Anecdotes - extending over more than fifty years • Various

... and each one's horoscope held signs foretelling valorous deeds. But Aldebaran's so far out-blazed them all, with comet's trail and planets in most favourable conjunction, that from his first year it was known the Sword of Conquest should be his. This sword had passed from sire to son all down a line of kings. Not to the oldest one always, as did the throne, though now and then the lot fell so, but to the one to whom the signs all pointed as being worthiest ...
— The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware • Annie Fellows Johnston

... shepherd; I am not here, in rude guise,[77] watching the herds or the flocks. Thou knowest not, rash girl, thou knowest not from whom thou art flying, and therefore it is that thou dost fly. The Delphian land, Claros and Tenedos,[78] and the Pataraean palace pays service to me. Jupiter is my sire; by me, what shall be, what has been, and what is, is disclosed; through me, songs harmonize with the strings. My own {arrow}, indeed, is unerring; yet one there is still more unerring than my own, which has made this wound in my heart, {before} unscathed. ...
— The Metamorphoses of Ovid - Vol. I, Books I-VII • Publius Ovidius Naso

... made answer: "I have not come hither, sire, to eat and drink, but to crave of thee a boon. If thou wilt grant it me, I will do thee such service as thou mayest 5 command; and I will carry the praise of thy bounty and thy power into every land. But if thou dost refuse, ...
— Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year • E.C. Hartwell

... (day is not given), Grumkow reported something curious. "In my presence," says Wilhelmina, "and that of forty persons," for the thing was much talked about, "Grumkow said to the King one morning: 'Ah Sire, I am in despair; the poor Patroon is dead! I was lying broad awake, last night: all on a sudden, the curtains of my bed flew asunder: I saw him; he was in a shroud: he gazed fixedly at me: I tried to start up, being dreadfully taken; ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. IX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

... Sire, you will pardon me, For I am only a fool, and yet methinks You know not half the meaning of those words— The King, the King comes home from the Crusade! Thrust up your swords, heft uppermost, my lads, And shout—the King comes ...
— Collected Poems - Volume Two (of 2) • Alfred Noyes

... which might well give cause to your Majesty to take counsel with yourself, and to examine with anxious care, whether perhaps the hidden cause of past and future evils may not lie in your Majesty's own views?[36] You complain, most honoured Sire and Brother, that your policy is blamed as vacillating, and that your own person is insulted at home and abroad (a thing which has often filled me with deep grief and indignation), and you asseverate that your policy rests upon a firm basis, which ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume III (of 3), 1854-1861 • Queen of Great Britain Victoria

... be it from me to put myself forward on this auspicious occasion, but, ladies and gentlemen, if I have one ambition more than another, it is to promote the noble cause of the unfettered drama. To this I may say I have been vowed from the cradle, by a sire who was well known in the early days of the metropolis of Sydney as a pioneer in the great movement which has made the dramatic talent of Australia what it is. To-day a magnificent theatre rises on the site forever ...
— Hilda - A Story of Calcutta • Sara Jeannette Duncan

... she like? I cannot tell. I only know God loved her well. Two noble sons her gray hairs blest,— And he, their sire, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various

... "Tuncan," retorted the sire, with solemn candour, "it iss the same compliment I can return to yoursel' with interest, ...
— The Buffalo Runners - A Tale of the Red River Plains • R.M. Ballantyne

... the kyng seyde, that he ne wolde asken non other thing. And the lady answerde, sythe that I may not withdrawe zou fro zoure lewed corage, I schal zeve zou with outen wysschinge, and to alle hem that schulle com of you. Sire kyng, zee schulle have werre withouten pees, and alle weys to the 9 degree, zee schulle ben in subjeccioun to zoure enemyes; and zee schulle ben nedy of alle godes. And nevere sithen, nouther the kyng of Ermoyne, ne the contree, weren never in pees, ne thei hadden never sithen ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries - of the English Nation. v. 8 - Asia, Part I. • Richard Hakluyt

... there, sire; for he is, no doubt, a brave and accomplished knight, and would render ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, September 1878, No. 11 • Various

... in the chase," replied the Skinner quickly; "but I can tell you where one is to be found that is worth him and his sire." ...
— The Spy • James Fenimore Cooper

... swords, but not the hand that drew And struck for Liberty the dying blow; Nor him who, to his sire and country true, Fell mid the ranks of the ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 8 • Various

... "Sire," said the queen, as she advanced to meet him, "help me to persuade these noble friends that ...
— Marie Antoinette And Her Son • Louise Muhlbach

... dark And a drizzle of clearing rain, His sire flapped out of the Ark And never came back again; So I always fancy that, Ere the frail lost blue showed thin, Alone he sat upon Ararat To see a new world in, And yelped to the void from a cairn of stones The song of the ravens, ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 15, 1914 • Various

... say where I was, Sire," replied Wilton; "for during the greater part of that day I was continually changing my place. Having set out for a small town or village called High Halstow, in Kent, at an early hour in the day, I arrived there just before nightfall, ...
— The King's Highway • G. P. R. James

... feet Sent out a bitter bleating for its dam; The plaintive cry jarred on her ire; she crushed The scrolls together, made a sudden turn As if to speak, but, utterance failing her, She whirled them on to me, as who should say 'Read,' and I read—two letters—one her sire's. ...
— The Princess • Alfred Lord Tennyson

... the sun is sire Of those young planets which, with infant fire, Have late been found in regions too remote For quicklier search; and these, in time, will dote And whirl and wanton in the realms of space. For there are comets in the nightly chase Who see strange ...
— A Lover's Litanies • Eric Mackay

... the maid replied, As her light skiff approached the side, "I well believe, that ne'er before 455 Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore; But yet, as far as yesternight, Old Allan-bane foretold your plight, A gray-haired sire, whose eye intent Was on the visioned future bent. 460 He saw your steed, a dappled gray, Lie dead beneath the birchen way; Painted exact your form and mien, Your hunting suit of Lincoln green, That tasselled horn so gaily gilt, 465 That falchion's ...
— Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott

... obtained grace from the Chapter for a trial of its powers on a notable public occasion, as follows. A singular guest was expected at Auxerre. In recompense for some service rendered to the Chapter in times gone by, the Sire de Chastellux had the hereditary dignity of a canon of the church. On the day of his reception he presented himself at the entrance of the choir in surplice and amice, worn over the military habit. The old count of Chastellux was lately dead, and the heir had announced ...
— Imaginary Portraits • Walter Pater

... at an end, sire, since I have come," cried Petion, proudly. "You have now nothing more ...
— Marie Antoinette And Her Son • Louise Muhlbach

... thou canst replace a head which has been cut off?" On his admitting that he could do so, Pharaoh immediately desired to test his power. "Bring me a prisoner from prison and let him be slain." The magician, at this proposal, exclaimed: "Nay, nay, not a man, sire my master; do not command that this sin should be committed; a fine animal will suffice!" A goose was brought, "its head was cut off and the body was placed on the right side, and the head of the goose on the left side of the hall: he recited what he recited from his book of magic, the goose began ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... title, not a personal appellation. Joinville speaks of the "Grant Comnenie, et sire de Traffezzontes." ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6 • Edward Gibbon

... vous salue!" he said, "Kismet! One cannot escape it! Better to fight with you, beau sire, than with destiny! ...
— The Master-Christian • Marie Corelli

... forget the story that Agassiz was so fond of telling of the king of Prussia and Fichte. It was after the humiliation and spoliation of the kingdom by Napoleon that the monarch asked the philosopher what could be done to regain the lost position of the nation. "Found a great university, Sire," was the answer, and so it was that in the year 1810 the world-renowned University of Berlin came into being. I believe that we in this country can do better than found a national university, whose professors shall ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... (alone) sola. Single unuobla. Singe bruleti, flameti. Singular (gram.) ununombro. Singular stranga. Sinciput verto. Sinister funebra. Sink sxtonlavujo. Sink malflosi, igxi. Sinner pekulo. Sinovia (anat) sinovio. Sip trinketi. Siphon sifono. Sir sinjoro. Sire patro. Sire mosxto. Siren sireno. Sister fratino. Sister-in-law bofratino. Sit sidi. Sit on eggs sursidi. Site sido, situacio. Sitting (of assembly) kunsido. Situation situacio, sido. Situation (post) ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes

... harried all their gardens and a mighty ruin made; And all those years their harvest in utter waste he laid. Loud lamented the Valencians, for sore bested they were, Nor could find in any quarter any sort of provender; Nor could the father aid the son, nor the son aid the sire, Nor comrade comfort comrade. Gentles, 'tis hardship dire To lack for bread, and see our wives and children waste away. They saw their own affliction and no hope ...
— The Lay of the Cid • R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon

... forward and said: 'I often creep about the Princess's bedroom at night, and I have noticed that she has a ring which she treasures as the apple of her eye. All day she wears it on her finger, and at night she keeps it in her mouth. I will undertake, sire, to steal away ...
— The Yellow Fairy Book • Various

... hers to bring. Mother of Love and Mercy mild, Mother of graces undefiled. Drive back the foe, and to thy Son Lead thou our souls when life is done. All glory be to thee, O Lord, A Virgin's Son, by all adored, With Sire and Spirit, Three in One, While everlasting ...
— Our Lady Saint Mary • J. G. H. Barry

... with Lodi. The $15,001 was exacted by the owner of Lexington, because he had been laughed at for paying $15,000 for Lexington when he was old and blind, and had said he would sell his colts for more than he had paid for their sire. This race, of course, created an immense excitement. At least twenty thousand people went to see it, and everybody on the Pacific Coast from the forty-ninth parallel to the Mexican line had a bet on the result. Lodi was beaten, and as Nevada was the victor, and I knew all ...
— The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier • Charles E. Flandrau

... had such tremendous results for Europe. With an appearance of perfect loyalty he parted from Roderick, who unsuspectingly asked him to bring him some hawks from Africa when he returned. Bowing, he said: "Sire, I will bring you such hawks as never were ...
— A Short History of Spain • Mary Platt Parmele

... (yn nhir hud a lledrith) she planned a visit to the earth, and met her lover, but she was soon missed by her father, and he, suspecting her love for this young man, again came upon them, and found them conversing lovingly together. Much talk took place between the sire and his daughter, and the shepherd, waxing bold, begged and begged her father to give him his daughter in marriage. The sire, perceiving that the man was in earnest, turned to his daughter, and asked her whether it were her ...
— Welsh Folk-Lore - a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales • Elias Owen

... Humanity-serving Science, of Electric Sympathy, and Ready Rescue, of Mammon-thwarting Reform, and Misery-staying Benevolence; of all the spiritual charities and fairy graces that can bless and brighten country and hearth, Sire and citizen, master and servant, employer and employed, struggling man, suffering woman and helpless child? Punch read in their whirling forms and expressive faces the signs and promise of all the best and brightest influences of the time, happy and opportune attendants upon ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, Jan. 2, 1892 • Various

... "Sire," said D'Artagnan, "I leave you simply because I am not of the slightest service to you in anything. Ah! if I could only hold the balancing-pole while you were dancing, it would be a very ...
— Louise de la Valliere • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... Standing Army stood. It could do no more, for when it advanced pieces of sharp shale flew from the windows. To these were added from time to time showers of scalding water. We saw red heads bobbing up and down in the hut. The family of Namgay Doola were aiding their sire, and blood-curdling yells of defiance were the only answers to ...
— The Kipling Reader - Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling • Rudyard Kipling

... woman under heaven, sire," said Sutphen reverently. "One who well could have claimed the crown herself. She wished a man to lead her people in the bitter strife and waived her claims for you. It is therefore but meet that she who has wrought all this for you should ...
— Trusia - A Princess of Krovitch • Davis Brinton

... presently Softened itself, as sheathes A film the mother-eagle's eye When her bruised eaglet breathes. "You're wounded!" "Nay," the soldier's pride Touched to the quick, he said: "I'm killed, Sire!" And his chief beside, Smiling, the boy fell ...
— Browning's Shorter Poems • Robert Browning

... has your prophet, for reward of toil, Seen nests of seeming cockatrices coil: Disowned them as the unholiest of Time, Which were his offspring, born of flame on slime. Nor him, their sire, have known the filial fry: As little as Time's earliest knew the sky. Perchance among them shoots a lustrous flame At intervals, in proof of whom they came. To strengthen our foundations is the task Of this ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... been well trained by your Spanish nurses," cried Morgan resolutely, although with sneering mockery and hate in his voice, "and well you seem to know the duty owed by son to sire." ...
— Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer - A Romance of the Spanish Main • Cyrus Townsend Brady

... the gallery west the nave, But a few yards from his grave, Did you, tucked beneath his chin, to his bowing Guide the homely harmony Of the quire Who for long years strenuously - Son and sire - Caught the strains that at his fingering low or higher From your four thin threads ...
— Moments of Vision • Thomas Hardy

... Sire, where the end is the glory of God," replied Arundel, with a hypocritical assumption of piety. "And the glory of God is the service ...
— The White Rose of Langley - A Story of the Olden Time • Emily Sarah Holt

... Aramis, stepping forward, "that your conduct as a married man is highly improper. I am an abbe, and I object to these improprieties. My friends here, D'Artagnan, Athos, and Porthos, pure-minded young men, are also terribly shocked. Observe, sire, ...
— The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales • Bret Harte

... answer brings, That not a blast was from his dungeon stray'd, The Ayr was calm, and on the level brine, Sleek Panope with all her sisters play'd. It was that fatall and perfidious Bark Built in th'eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark, That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. Next Camus, reverend Sire, went footing slow, His Mantle hairy, and his Bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Like to that sanguine flower inscrib'd with woe. Ah; Who hath reft (quoth he) my dearest pledge? Last came, and last did go, The Pilot of the Galilean lake, ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy

... memory the various scenes of his life—brilliant, useless, and without results—when he was Heir-Apparent;—he thought of his two young sons, Rupert and Cyprian, who were as indifferent to him as young foals to their sire,—and anon, his mind turned more tenderly to his eldest-born, Prince Humphry, and the fair girl he had so boldly wedded,—the happy twain, who, returning homeward, would find the Throne ready for their occupancy, and a whole nation waiting to ...
— Temporal Power • Marie Corelli

... Emperour, Not really effecting what you are, A slothfull Epicure, a puling louer, That now en'e trembles at the name of warre, Obliuion all thy former acts do couer, Most willing to remoue you I will dye, The sunne of honour now is scarce a starre, Vertue at first was sire to Maiesty. ...
— Seven Minor Epics of the English Renaissance (1596-1624) • Dunstan Gale

... "Yes, Sire, it comes sneaking like a tiger through the thicket, we know not when or wherefore, but all may ...
— From Pole to Pole - A Book for Young People • Sven Anders Hedin

... Sire: All vessels sailing to Nueva Espana, since the Audiencia was established here, have taken advices to your Majesty of everything that has appeared fitting to your royal service. The orders of your royal decrees and the ordinances of the royal Council have been observed ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-1591 • Emma Helen Blair

... praise is hymn'd by loftier harps than mine; Yet one I would select from that proud throng, Partly because they blend me with his line, And partly that I did his Sire some wrong.' ...
— Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6) • Boswell

... Linus, should exceed My lofty lays, or gain the poet's meed, Though Phoebus, though Calliope inspire, And one the mother aid, and one the sire. WHARTON'S VIRGIL. ...
— A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence • Cornelius Tacitus

... minstrel, trouvere, as he was called in the north of France, was a welcome relief to the deadly monotony of the days of peace. "Seated at the hearth of the seigneur, he sang, during long evenings, the tragic adventures of the Dame de Fayel and of the Sire de Coucy, or the marvellous exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, of Renaud, and of Roland, of Charlemagne and his Twelve Peers; unless, indeed, his audience, in a livelier mood, demanded of him some sarcastic fabliau, or the fine ...
— Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1 • William Walton

... sweet king-killer, and dear divorce 'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars! Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer, Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god, That solder'st close impossibilities, And mak'st them kiss! that speak'st with every ...
— Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. • H. N. Hudson

... reasons for allowing wager of law with Y.B. 32 & 33 Ed. I., Preface, p. xxxvi., citing the old rules of pleading printed at the end of the tract entitled, Modus tenendi unum Hundredum sire Curiam de Recordo, in Rastell's Law Tracts, p. 410, E, ...
— The Common Law • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

... of an evil spirit in so far as one of those relentless demons is supposed to have exercised a malign influence on the mother. It is believed that an albino can pay nightly visits to the haunt of its demon sire. Among the Mandyas on the upper Kati'il River, I saw some 12 cases of albinism in a settlement of about 500 Mandyas. No explanation was obtained as I did not think it prudent at the time ...
— The Manbos of Mindano - Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir • John M. Garvan

... eyes, taking in every word, but uttering not one. When at last his wife showed him the child's back, he lifted his two hands, and moved them slowly up and down, as in pitiful appeal for man against man to the sire of the race. But still he said not a word. As to utterance of what lay in the deep soul of him, the old man, except sometimes to his wife, was nearly as dumb ...
— Sir Gibbie • George MacDonald

... person, took after her grand-sire Exili. She was tall and straight, of a swarthy complexion, black-haired, and intensely black-eyed. She was not uncomely of feature, nay, had been handsome, nor was her look at first sight forbidding, especially if she did not turn upon you those small basilisk eyes of hers, full ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... my darling, thy sire is a knight; Thy mother a lady so lovely and bright. The hills and the dales and the towers which you see, They all shall belong, my ...
— A History of Nursery Rhymes • Percy B. Green

... twenty-six, countersigned by the secretary Don Fernando Ruiz de Contreras—which decided me not to proceed to the execution of this without first informing your Majesty as to what has passed in this matter, and the state in which affairs are at present. I found, Sire, when I arrived in these islands and undertook the government thereof in the said year of one thousand six hundred and twenty-six, that the said encomienda was vacated, and declared so by Governor Don Fernando de Silva, because the said Don Luis Faxardo ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XXII, 1625-29 • Various

... did Sophia at first know of Bateman's existence? The lovely and delicate daughter of the Turk, doubtless, was unaware that, in the crowded dungeons of her sire, one captive of wealth, noble birth, and personal fascination, was languishing. The Annotator explains: 'She hears from an aged and garrulous attendant, her only female adviser (for her mother died while she was yet an infant), of the sorrows and sufferings of the Christian captive.' In ancient ...
— The Valet's Tragedy and Other Stories • Andrew Lang

... great progenitor of the human race a history of the Creation, in blank verse, in accordance with the Mosaic and orthodox account. Concluding his revelations without reference to the Fall, Seth would interrogate their aged sire upon what followed thence, when Adam excuses himself from the painful recital by predicting the special advent in after times of a ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 235, April 29, 1854 • Various

... them,) there are," said he, "my instructions and warrant,—see if any of you can controul me, that I have passed my injunctions." The chancellor, opening the book, put it into the king's hand, saying, "Sire, he scorneth your majesty and the council." "Nay," said Mr. Melvil, "I scorn not, but I am in good earnest." He was, in the time of this debate, frequently removed and instantly recalled, that he might not have time to consult with his friends. They ...
— Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) • John Howie

... kill that Magician, and I'll do it too, or my name's not Septimus Septimusson. But it may take years and years, and I can't be away from the Princess all that time, because she won't eat unless I feed her. You see the difficulty, Sire?' ...
— The Magic World • Edith Nesbit

... home or a-field, Stretch Thine arm over us, Strengthen and save! What though they're five to one, Forward each sire and son, Strike till the war is ...
— War Poetry of the South • Various

... beforehand as though he really saw them, carrying out this illusion to the extent of ridiculousness. It is said that at a hunt-meet a courtier incurred his royal displeasure through these incautious words: "Sire, you shot this hare from a next to impossible distance, condescend to feel how fat ...
— Tales of Aztlan • George Hartmann

... at the resemblance, and mentioning it to my friend. He broke, as was his wont, into a fond eulogium of his sire, wished he could be like him—worked himself up into another state of excitement, in which he averred "that if his father wanted him to marry, he would marry that instant. And why not Rosey? She is a dear little thing. Or why not that splendid ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray

... description, drew his sword, and would have struck the boy had not a general in attendance thrown himself between them, exclaiming: "Sire, you may kill me, but spare ...
— Historic Boyhoods • Rupert Sargent Holland

... they are at the gallop. Most of the company will take their refreshments where they are. When a man of some standing was reproached by Augustus for this rather undignified proceeding, he replied: "That is all very well for you, Sire, but your place is sure to be kept." We need not proceed further into details concerning the "events" in the Circus. It may however be worth while to add that the Romans cared nothing for the modern form of race by ...
— Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul • T. G. Tucker

... protectress replies, "I knew not that he committed that crime!" Which crime, accordingly, Turgenef expiates with one month's imprisonment in the dungeon, and two years' banishment to his estates. Only when the heir to the throne himself appeased his enraged sire was Turgenef allowed to go in peace. Once master over himself again, Turgenef hesitated no longer. He loved, indeed, his country much, but he loved freedom more; and like a bird fresh from the cage away flew Turgenef beyond the sea. The migrating ...
— Lectures on Russian Literature - Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenef, Tolstoy • Ivan Panin

... entertainments. The brave La Hire, coming to Charles one day, to talk to him on some business of importance, whilst the luxurious prince was occupied in arranging one of his parties of pleasure, was interrupted by the monarch, who asked him what he thought of his arrangement. "I think, sire," said he, "that it is impossible for any one to lose his kingdom more pleasantly than ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. XVII. No. 473., Saturday, January 29, 1831 • Various

... flower of virgin leaf, That when its sire has left the plain, Wraps up its charms in silent grief, Nor ope's them till he ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 14, No. 381 Saturday, July 18, 1829 • Various

... youth, and age need each other's companionship. How perfect is the household group which includes them all, from the infant to the white-haired sire. Homes without children! Heaven help those who have not the sunshine of innocent childhood to keep ...
— Dawn • Mrs. Harriet A. Adams

... broke out into these words: 'We are informed that you have cheated us of certain lands in Middlesex'; whereunto, having received none other than a plain and humble negation, after some little time he replied, 'How was it then? Did we give these lands to you?' Whereunto Sir Edward answered, 'Yes, Sire, your majesty was pleased to do so.' Whereupon, having paused a little while, the King put on a milder countenance, and calling him to a cupboard conferred privately with him a long time. Whereby, said this servant, I saw the King ...
— Memorials of Old London - Volume I • Various

... figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming ...
— The Advocate • Charles Heavysege

... of his soul, but got as much out of them as most men could. Skag dreamed of a better way still, even with camels. Often on train-trips, at first, he talked with old Alec Binz, whose characteristic task was to chain and unchain the hind leg of the old "gunmetal" elephant, Phedra, who bossed her sire and the little Cloud herd, as much with the flap of an ear as ...
— Son of Power • Will Levington Comfort and Zamin Ki Dost

... servants steal! Large-handed robbers your grave masters are; And kill by law! maid, to thy master's bed; Thy mistress is of the brothel! son of sixteen, Pluck the lined crutch from the old, limping sire; With it beat out his brains! piety, and fear Religion to the Gods, peace, justice, truth, Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighborhood, Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades, Decrees, observances, ...
— Shakspere, Personal Recollections • John A. Joyce

... tall as his father, but thinner, was a good son, docile, content with everything, full of admiration, respect, and deference for the wishes and opinions of his sire. ...
— A Comedy of Marriage & Other Tales • Guy De Maupassant

... fury of the elements; and expressed his belief that he must one day sink under the weight of that universal hatred with which his actions were surrounding his throne. Buonaparte led the churchman to the window, opened it, and pointing upwards, said, "Do you see yonder star?" "No, sire," replied the Cardinal. "But I see it," answered Napoleon; and abruptly ...
— The History of Napoleon Buonaparte • John Gibson Lockhart

... achievements, when woman, ay, one-half of the nation, is deprived of her rights? Has woman then been idle during the contest between "right and might"? Has she been wanting in ardor and enthusiasm? Has she not mingled her blood with that of her husband, son, and sire? Or has she been recreant in hailing the motto of liberty floating on your banners as an omen of justice, peace, and freedom to man, that at the first step she takes practically to claim the recognition of her rights, she is rewarded with the doom ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... hovel so wretched, where her squalid form may shelter itself. Then Disease, for lack of other victims, shall gnaw its own heart, and die. Then Sin, if she do not die, shall lose half her strength. Until now, the frenzy of hereditary fever has raged in the human blood, transmitted from sire to son, and rekindled in every generation, by fresh draughts of liquid flame. When that inward fire shall be extinguished, the heat of passion cannot but grow cool, and war —the drunkenness of nations—perhaps will cease. At least, there will be no war ...
— A Rill From the Town Pump (From "Twice Told Tales") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... "Ocean sire, the earth enclasping, Like a babe upon thy knee, In thy cosmic cycle grasping All that hath been, ...
— Fringilla: Some Tales In Verse • Richard Doddridge Blackmore

... Lady Mary preserved of this formal and cold-blooded sire was that when a member of the Kit-Cat Club he nominated her, then seven years old, as one of the toasts of the year. The child was sent for, and, adorned with her very finest attire, presented to the members. Her health was drunk, and her name engraved, according ...
— The Dukeries • R. Murray Gilchrist

... come, I have come from a shadowy clime, An heir of the monarch Earth's children call TIME; With years yet unborn, I have stood in the hall That was reared by our sire, awaiting his call: Last eve, as I lay on his bosom at rest, I saw slowly rise a white cloud in the west; Now through the blue ether, through regions of space, It floated up softly, with fairy-like grace, And paused 'neath ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, January 1844 - Volume 23, Number 1 • Various

... this frightful result by ransacking the district for slaves. "The civil dissensions after Kamrasi's death were favourable for the traders' schemes. The two sons, Kabba Rega and Kabka Miro, contended for the throne. The latter was royally born by sire and mother, but Kabba Rega was a son by a shepherdess of the Bahoomas. The throne belonged by inheritance to Kabka Miro, who, not wishing to cause a civil war, and thus destroy the country, challenged his brother ...
— Ismailia • Samuel W. Baker

... itself: "then Peter de Gavaston, Earl of Cornwall, bore the crown royal," followed by King Edward himself, who offered a golden pound as his oblation. The coronation oath was administered in French, in the following terms. "Sire, will you grant and keep and confirm by oath to the people of England, the laws and customs to them granted by the ancient Kings of England, your predecessors, the rights and devotions [due] to God, and especially ...
— In Convent Walls - The Story of the Despensers • Emily Sarah Holt

... haughty sire! chide, my angry dame! Set your slaves to spy; threaten me with shame; But neither sire nor dame, nor prying serf shall know, What angel nightly tracks ...
— The Three Brontes • May Sinclair

... aggravate the woes of a parent; may heaven bless my father, and forgive him as I do! My Lord, my gracious Sire, dost thou forgive thy child? Indeed, I came not hither to meet Theodore. I found him praying at this tomb, whither my mother sent me to intercede for thee, for her—dearest father, bless your child, and ...
— The Castle of Otranto • Horace Walpole

... SIRE,—Deign to heed the warning of one who, not being in your service, nor solicitous of your favours, flatters not your crimes, and yet desires to avert the danger threatening you. There is a plot to assassinate you which would by now have been executed but ...
— The Historical Nights' Entertainment • Rafael Sabatini

... hush thee, my babie, thy sire was a knight, Thy mother a lady, both lovely and bright; The woods and the glens from the tower which we see, They all are belonging, dear babie, ...
— The Posy Ring - A Book of Verse for Children • Various

... precedes his little troop by some steps; he advances even to the gate; he knocks (be not alarmed, Gentlemen, it is not a battle which I am about to describe,) he knocks with his snuff-box! "Who is there?" cried the officer of the guard. "It is the Emperor! Open!"—"Sire, my duty forbids me."—"Open—I tell you; I have no time to lose."—"But, sire, even though I should open to you, I could not. The keys are in the possession of General Marchand."—"Go, then, and fetch them."—"I am certain that he will ...
— Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men • Francois Arago



Words linked to "Sire" :   beget, get, lord, make, nobleman, root, generate, ascendent, create, male



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