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Stir   Listen
noun
Stir  n.  
1.
The act or result of stirring; agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements. "Why all these words, this clamor, and this stir?" "Consider, after so much stir about genus and species, how few words we have yet settled definitions of."
2.
Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar. "Being advertised of some stirs raised by his unnatural sons in England."
3.
Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Stir" Quotes from Famous Books



... Ifrit took up the Gobbo bridegroom and set him head downwards and feet upwards in the slit of the privy, [FN422] and said to him, "I will leave thee here but I shall be on the look-out for thee till sunrise; and, if thou stir before then, I will seize thee by the feet and dash out thy brains against the wall: so look out for thy life!" Thus far concerning the Hunchback, but as regards Badr al-Din Hasan of Bassorah he left the Gobbo and the Ifrit ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 • Richard F. Burton

... he'd gone around to the hardware store and bought it," drawled George soberly with a wink at Grant. He loved to stir up his companions, and none of them more so than his tall friend, John, who almost invariably rose to any bait ...
— The Go Ahead Boys and the Treasure Cave • Ross Kay

... the moment when the guards are awakened and discover that their prisoner has escaped. It is an animated scene illustrating the simple words of the gospel narrative: "Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter." A man with a torch tells by his gesture that something extraordinary has happened, and the one whom he arouses shows by his face and his uplifted hand how startled he is; the light from the torch is too dazzling ...
— Raphael - A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures And A Portrait Of The - Painter With Introduction And Interpretation • Estelle M. Hurll

... say de ole feller watch all night, So you need n't be scare, Marie, For he 'll never stir from de rocky cave W'ere door only open beneat' de wave, Till Bruno come back to hees lonely grave— An' de devil he ...
— The Voyageur and Other Poems • William Henry Drummond

... clown (who wants but something to be a reasonable man) grew so in love with the wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes, till he ...
— Shakespeare and Music - With Illustrations from the Music of the 16th and 17th centuries • Edward W. Naylor

... Flood, who should be alive in the land except the Gods that made it—the Gods to whom his village prayed nightly—the Gods who were in all men's mouths and about all men's ways? He could not raise his head or stir a finger for the trance that held him, and Peroo was ...
— Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II • Rudyard Kipling

... wine-glass, watching the play of sunlight through the ruddy amber of the wine, and considering the extraordinarily odd position of a man sitting at table, by the merest chance, almost, with a father who was not aware that he had begotten him. A question from his lordship came to stir him partially from the reverie into which ...
— The Lion's Skin • Rafael Sabatini

... the air Around me palpitate and burn, All heaven dissolves in gold, and earth Quivers with new-found joy. Floating on waves of harmony I hear A stir of kisses, and a sweep of wings; Mine eyelids close—"What pageant nears?" "'Tis Love that ...
— Legends, Tales and Poems • Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

... and Millais and Alma Tadema and other academicians dead and living. There would sometimes be a strange passivity on his worn face, an impassive, almost Red Indian look. And then again he would stir into a curious, arch, malevolent laugh, for all the world like a debauched old tom-cat. His narration was like this: either simple, bare, stoical, with a touch of nobility; or else satiric, malicious, with ...
— The Lost Girl • D. H. Lawrence

... all, because then his life appears the most useless business conceivable; but it is almost a worse thing to get to depend upon success—and it is undeniably pleasant to be a personage, to cause a little stir when you enter a room, to find that people know all about you and like meeting you, and saying they have met you. I never had any of that: and I have sometimes found myself with successful writers who made me ...
— Father Payne • Arthur Christopher Benson

... have done. I am confident, had I been damn'd in hell, And should have heard of this, it would have put me Into a cold sweat. In, in; I 'll go sleep. Till I know who [loves] my sister, I 'll not stir: That known, I 'll find scorpions to string my whips, And fix her in ...
— The Duchess of Malfi • John Webster

... James Ivor knew what he was talking about, since, as far as John could see, the khaki army lay outspread on the turf. These men were too much exhausted and too much dulled to danger to stir merely because the cannon were blazing. It took the sharp orders of their officers to move them. Shells from the German guns began to fall along the fringe of the troops, ...
— The Forest of Swords - A Story of Paris and the Marne • Joseph A. Altsheler

... your speedy promotion, Terence," said Jack; "the last letter I had from Admiral Triton, he told me that he had seen Lord Derrynane, who had promised that he would stir heaven and earth, and such bowels of compassion as the Lords of the Admiralty might possess, to obtain it, so that I've little doubt that you will ere long hear that you've ...
— The Three Commanders • W.H.G. Kingston

... the understanding that they were not to see each other again till they met on board the boat. All arrangements were made. But Felix was determined that he would not stir in the matter unless Didon brought him the full sum of L250; and he almost thought, and indeed hoped, that she would not. Either she would be suspected at the bank and apprehended, or she would run off with the money on her own account when she got it;—or the cheque would ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope

... vale, and plain, The quiet dead shall stir the earth And rise, reborn, in thy new birth— Thou ...
— Lorraine - A romance • Robert W. Chambers

... She did not see; She felt his eyes that would not stir, She looked upon her babe, and he So ...
— Poems by Jean Ingelow, In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Jean Ingelow

... August and the 20th of September. Take a sharp shovel or shovels, and cut off and remove the tops with half an inch of the surface of the earth; then take a plough of the largest size, with a sharp coulter and a double team, and plough a furrow outward, beam-deep, around the edge of the bed; stir the earth with forks, and carefully pick out all the roots, removing the earth from the bottom of the furrow; then plough another furrow beam-deep, as before, and pick over and remove the earth in the same manner; thus proceeding until the ...
— The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom • P. L. Simmonds

... present strength and future hope, attendant upon that incessant toil which lasts from day to day, and from month to month; that toil which is too often protracted until the silence of midnight, and resumed with the first stir of morning. How marvellously would his ardent zeal for other men's souls, diminish after a short probation, and how enlightened and comprehensive would his views of the real object and meaning of the institution of the ...
— Sunday Under Three Heads • Charles Dickens

... the hall parted them from the dwelling-house: despite distance and partition, I heard the sudden stir of numbers, a whole division ...
— Villette • Charlotte Bronte

... the jungle—and Muztagh found it wonderful past all dreams. The mist on his skin was the same cool joy he had expected. There were sounds, too, that set his great muscles aquiver. He heard the sound that the bamboos make—the little click-click of the stems in the wind—the soft rustle and stir of many leafy tendrils entwining and touching together, and the whisper of the wind over the jungle grass. And he knew because it was his heritage, what every single one ...
— O Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919 • Various

... and deserted as Stefan went to the door and looked to right and left. The neighborhood was one of the last in the city to stir itself. If Stefan felt any anxiety regarding his master, there was no expression in his face to mark it. He was stolid and imperturbable; would have remained so probably had Ellerey been carried up the street dead on a shutter. He grunted now and then, walked half a dozen paces from the door and ...
— Princess Maritza • Percy Brebner

... Abbey is to me a symbol and a sacrament. Pitt and Fox, Warren Hastings and Macaulay, they can afford to be near to each other in the Abbey; for they understand each other now elsewhere; and the Romish Abbot's bones do not stir in their grave beside the bones of the Protestant Divine whom he, it may be, would have burned ...
— Lectures Delivered in America in 1874 • Charles Kingsley

... under the red sunrise into the east, and fade, vast, solemn, and restful, a cool land of shadow, when the first pale stars came out. Then she longed for the jingle of the bridles and the drumming of the hoofs, and felt once more the rush of the gallop stir her blood. But this was what she would not show, and her eyes twinkled a ...
— The Cattle-Baron's Daughter • Harold Bindloss

... weeks I've been here? You give me a mental cramp. Why, I thought you and I had these hills to ourselves; instead we're threatened on every side, and yet I haven't seen a soul on my tramps. Where do they keep themselves? What has this Burke Lawson done, to stir the people?" ...
— The Man Thou Gavest • Harriet T. Comstock

... that bar Wilkes not only avowed himself the author of the publication, but claimed the thanks of his country for having exposed Weymouth's "bloody scroll." It was immediately resolved by the commons that he was guilty of a seditious libel, calculated "to inflame and stir up the minds of his majesty's subjects to sedition, and to a total subversion of all good order and legal government." This was on the 2nd of February, and on the following day Lord Barrington moved, "That John Wilkes, Esq., ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... register, and his new boots creaking jauntily over the flagstones of the empty church, he went to the altar. A moment later he peeped out thence and beckoned to Levin. Thought, till then locked up, began to stir in Levin's head, but he made haste to drive it away. "It will come right somehow," he thought, and went towards the altar-rails. He went up the steps, and turning to the right saw the priest. The priest, a little old man with a scanty grizzled beard and weary, good-natured ...
— Anna Karenina • Leo Tolstoy

... do so, he would succeed only after having surmounted great difficulties, and removed the greatest obstacles. But he would always be at swords' point: the friars would play him so many tricks; they would seek so many occasions of dispute with him; and they would stir up so many things against him, that in the end he would be forced to go away. Thus do those fathers remain masters of the land, and they are more absolute in the Philippines than ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol 28 of 55) • Various

... so if you doubt it—" I turned to search the shelf. "Don't stir!" he cried. "We'll do without it: I now remember all about it; I wrote the ...
— Phantasmagoria and Other Poems • Lewis Carroll

... did the work so well and so joyfully together that Jehan Daas himself, when the summer came and he was better again, had no need to stir out, but could sit in the doorway in the sun and see them go forth through the garden wicket, and then doze and dream and pray a little, and then awake again as the clock tolled three and watch for their return. And on their ...
— Stories By English Authors: Germany • Various

... about rewards and sufferings in a future state, seem to imagine that most will be happy, and that in the delightful fields, chasing the game, or reposing themselves with their families; but the poor, frozen sinners cannot stir one step towards that sunny region. Nevertheless, their misery has an end; it is longer or shorter, according to the degree of their guilt; and, after its expiation, they are permitted to become inhabitants of ...
— The Book of Religions • John Hayward

... burned Varney's fingers, went out and dropped into the water. He said nothing. Neither did Peter. The man in the boat did not stir. So went by a second of profound stillness. Then a ...
— Captivating Mary Carstairs • Henry Sydnor Harrison

... at all surprised," said Mr. Cook. "If they think we have our hands full with Germany those bandits may stir up a fuss and then troops would have ...
— Bob Cook and the German Spy • Tomlinson, Paul Greene

... squalid, thin, heartless, and homeless, they were; but now, ruddy in the river breeze, neat and clean, alert with energy, happy in their wooden home, with a kind captain and smart officers to teach them, life and stir around, fair prospects ahead, and a British seaman's honest livelihood to be earned instead of the miserable puling beggardom of the streets, or the horrid company of the prison cell; which, that they should lie in the path of any child of our land, adrift on the rough ...
— The Voyage Alone in the Yawl "Rob Roy" • John MacGregor

... no fault of mine! Every day of your life you will feel some new distrust, some growing fear of me, and you will be doing me the vilest injustice all the time. On my faith as a Christian, on my honor as a man, if you stir a step further in this matter, there is an end to your happiness for the rest of your life! Think seriously of what I have said to you; you will have time to reflect. I am going to tell my friend that our plans for the Mediterranean ...
— The Law and the Lady • Wilkie Collins

... you are accused of, since of them I can learn nothing except through your confession. Thus it is my duty still to doubt your guilt. But I cannot be ignorant of what you are accused of: this is a public matter, and has reached my ears; for, as you may imagine, madame, your affairs have made a great stir, and there are few people who know nothing ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... to stop. Then there came a cautious rap on the door, followed by the hasty retreat of the person knocking. It caused Mr. Ransom to stir slightly, but did not affect the lawyer. Suddenly the former rose with every evidence of renewed agitation. This drew Mr. Harper from ...
— The Chief Legatee • Anna Katharine Green

... grapefruit and other fruits served with cream. Jellies, puddings, custards, porridges, preserves and boiled eggs are always eaten with spoons. Also, of course, soup, bouillon, coffee and tea. In the case of the three latter beverages, however; the spoon is used only to stir them once or twice and to taste them to see that they are of the desired temperature. It is never allowed to stand in the cup while the beverage is being drunk. Nor is it permissible to draw up a spoonful of soup or coffee and blow upon it; one must wait ...
— Book of Etiquette • Lillian Eichler

... his AEthiopicks acquaints us, that the Motion of the Gods differs from that of Mortals, as the former do not stir their Feet, nor proceed Step by Step, but slide o'er the Surface of the Earth by an uniform Swimming of the whole Body. The Reader may observe with how Poetical a Description Milton has attributed the same kind of Motion to the Angels who were ...
— The Spectator, Volume 2. • Addison and Steele

... as we have said, Athos had sworn not to stir a foot to equip himself—went out early in the morning, and returned late at night. They wandered about the streets, looking at the pavement as if to see whether the passengers had not left a purse behind them. They might have been ...
— The Three Musketeers • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... behind his master in drawing back, by a grip in his clothes, the other to the floor, where he was glad to lie without offering further resistance to the grim and growling conqueror standing over him. The third, in the mean while, not daring to stir lest a worse fate should befall him, standing as he was directly before the muzzle of Woodburn's pistol, and seeing the situation of his comrades, immediately submitted; when all, giving up their concealed arms, now quietly ...
— The Rangers - [Subtitle: The Tory's Daughter] • D. P. Thompson

... reaching the intellect through the presentation of simple ideas, and at others through the agitating influence of emotions; sometimes awakening the sensibilities through the reflexes of ideas, and sometimes through a direct appeal. A truth may be nakedly expressed so as to stir the intellect alone; or it may be expressed in terms which, without disturbing its clearness, may appeal to our sensibility by their harmony or energy. It is not possible to distinguish the combined influences of clearness, movement, and harmony, so as to assign to each ...
— The Principles of Success in Literature • George Henry Lewes

... open you could; as they're not;" returned the widow, not offering to stir; "but ever since SKAMMERHORN, starting up with a howl, said 'Here he comes again, red-hot!' and tried to jump out of the window, I've never opened them for any single man, and never shall. I couldn't bear it, DIBBLE, to see one of your ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 2, No. 29, October 15, 1870 • Various

... the pale green ribbon with a lightly stamped pattern fall upon the page he was reading and laid the book on the small table at his side. He then took Kirsha by the hand, drew him close, and looked attentively at him, with a slight stir in his eyes; then ...
— The Created Legend • Feodor Sologub

... sprang from his seat and stood listening for the summons to be repeated; and as he listened he became conscious of another noise besides the brawling of the river and the ringing in his feverish ears. It was like the stir of horses and the creaking of harness, as though a carriage with an impatient team had been brought up upon the road before the courtyard gate. At such an hour, upon this rough and dangerous pass, the supposition ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 6 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Hannibal was called back. He crossed the African Sea and tried to organise the defences of his home-city. In the year 202 at the battle of Zama, the Carthaginians were defeated. Hannibal fled to Tyre. From there he went to Asia Minor to stir up the Syrians and the Macedonians against Rome. He accomplished very little but his activities among these Asiatic powers gave the Romans an excuse to carry their warfare into the territory of the east and annex the greater ...
— The Story of Mankind • Hendrik van Loon

... fancy, with which thematic material of no marked apparent inherent value is treated. The pastorale is fresh and suggestive. The ordinary pastorale is a bore. There is the familiar recipe: take an oboe the size of an egg, stir it with a flute, add a little piano, throw in a handful of muted strings, and let the whole gently simmer in a 9-8 stew-pan. But Mr. Whiting has treated his landscape and animal kingdom with rare discretion. The music gave pleasure; ...
— Contemporary American Composers • Rupert Hughes

... behold and fear! What a change of flesh is here! Think how many royal bones Sleep beneath this heap of stones! Here they lie had realms and lands, Who now want strength to stir their hands. Here from their pulpits sealed with dust They preach, 'In greatness is no trust.' Here is an acre sown indeed With the richest, royall'st seed That the earth did e'er suck in, Since the first man died for ...
— Lyra Heroica - A Book of Verse for Boys • Various

... the slanderous thoughts of evil minds. They stir up their own murkiness; but they fail ...
— The White Ladies of Worcester - A Romance of the Twelfth Century • Florence L. Barclay

... retreat, but each of the tramps held him by the arm, so that he could not stir. As his legs were still bound, kicking was likewise ...
— The Rover Boys out West • Arthur M. Winfield

... did not stir Katherine as it had appeared to stir Bruce, nor even in the milder degree it had stirred Doctor West. She was interested in the water-works only in so far as it concerned her father, and the Clarion's proposal had no apparent bearing ...
— Counsel for the Defense • Leroy Scott

... the mellow fire-light. How would that dear face look when she told him what she had done? Convinced him that great things were before him now? Would it not be that his determination not to fail her would stir fires which, even in his most ...
— The Glory Of The Conquered • Susan Glaspell

... other third, he spent part in Switzerland, dressed in a neat gray Norfolk suit with knickerbockers, and the rest with clerical friends of the scholastic type. It was a very solemn thought to him how great were his responsibilities, and what a privilege it was to live in the whirl and stir of one of ...
— None Other Gods • Robert Hugh Benson

... that my speech had told, and as I sat down there was a stir in the vast crowd. My client's face was flushed, and the wife's somber veil was thrown back, revealing her large eyes ...
— Idle Hour Stories • Eugenia Dunlap Potts

... bombardment of the thirteenth, was well informed and proceeded straight to the arsenal and naval workshops. More than a dozen bombs fell. Strangely enough none of these caused material loss, and there were no casualties. Dwellings were set afire in other quarters of the city. The stir that followed brought England to the realization that better weather was dawning and with it an imminent peril. Efforts were redoubled to ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume IV (of 8) • Francis J. (Francis Joseph) Reynolds, Allen L. (Allen Leon)

... happiness which might have been his, while the falcon by his side was dreaming also. Suddenly he started up on his perch, shook his bells, and looked eagerly at his master as if to say, "Ser Federigo, shall we not go a-hunting?" But his master's thoughts were far away, and he did not stir. Presently he looked up in amazement. Peeping through the trellis he saw a lovely child, a boy with golden tresses and large wondering eyes. Without a glance at the man, the child walked straight up to the bird and said coaxingly, "Beautiful falcon, ...
— The Children's Longfellow - Told in Prose • Doris Hayman

... With me 'tis different. In the curtain'd night, A Form comes shrieking on me, With such an edg'd and preternatural cry 'T would stir the blood of clustering bats from sleep, Tear their hook'd wings from out the mildew'd eaves, And drive them circling forth— I tell ye that I fight with him until The sweat like blood puts out my burning eyes. Call you ...
— Cromwell • Alfred B. Richards

... the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several ...
— Gulliver's Travels - into several remote nations of the world • Jonathan Swift

... the Jungle night Was fanning the flame you had set alight. For these things have power to stir the blood And compel us all to their own chance mood. And to love or not we are no more free Than a ripple to rise ...
— India's Love Lyrics • Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (AKA Laurence Hope), et al.

... have made in the State was up through a thick spicy forest of these trees to the top of the highest summit of the Troy Range, about ninety miles to the south of Hamilton. The day was full of perfect Indian-summer sunshine, calm and bracing. Jays and Clarke crows made a pleasant stir in the foothill pines and junipers; grasshoppers danced in the hazy light, and rattled on the wing in pure glee, reviving suddenly from the torpor of a frosty October night to exuberant summer joy. The squirrels were working industriously among the falling nuts; ripe willows and aspens ...
— Steep Trails • John Muir

... heart stir in its place, and presently his cheeks flushed with the old longing for an adventure. It was not much to invade a young girl's deserted chamber, but it would amuse a wakeful hour, and tell him some little matters he wanted to ...
— Elsie Venner • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... it till afterwards. The battalion has just returned to-day from the trenches for a week or so before we return to them to take over part of the line. Where we are going is, I believe, a fairly nice peaceful spot. I shall try and stir them up if I have half a chance. What happens in trenches is: that if the Germans get nasty and shell us, or send a few bombs from trench mortars, we try to make ourselves nastier still and send over twice as many. Then the Germans get nastier still, till both sides have got thoroughly bad tempered ...
— Letters from France • Isaac Alexander Mack

... never been so much in her element for years. She delighted in life, stir, youth, and business; she liked to direct people—and, fortunately, Sara was one who could take even interference sweetly. So she arranged shopping tours, made engagements with dressmakers and milliners, and matched silk and lace ...
— Sara, a Princess • Fannie E. Newberry

... them lay a panorama which might well stir the blood, the finest looking soldiers in the world ...
— Rodney, the Ranger - With Daniel Morgan on Trail and Battlefield • John V. Lane

... too overcome to stir for a while. At length, however, he tottered off down the trail, oblivious as to what direction he was taking, animated only by a sort of madness—horror of trees—an insane necessity to see open ground, get into it, and ...
— The Flaming Jewel • Robert W. Chambers

... illness were all put away. Her mother's bedroom lay cold in an unsmiling order. The ticking of the clock emphasized the inexorable silence of the house. Once Lucy Ann thought she heard a little rustle and stir. It seemed the most natural thing in the world, coming from the bedroom, where one movement of the clothes had always been enough to summon her with flying feet. She caught her breath, and held it, to listen. She was ready, undisturbed, for any sign. But ...
— Tiverton Tales • Alice Brown

... usually filled the dining-room at meal times had distinct gaps in it, and during these silences the clatter of the knives upon plates became audible. The first roll of thunder and the first heavy drop striking the pane caused a little stir. ...
— The Voyage Out • Virginia Woolf

... Jaf. By heav'n, you stir not! I must be heard; I must have leave to speak. Thou hast disgrac'd me, Pierre, by a vile blow: Had not a dagger done thee nobler justice? But use me as thou wilt, thou canst not wrong me, For I am fallen beneath the basest injuries: Yet look upon me with an eye of mercy, With ...
— Venice Preserved - A Tragedy • Thomas Otway

... at the chamber's arrogating to itself an authority over his ministers, forbade them to stir. The deputies, finding they did not come, considered their delay as a contempt for the nation. Some, to whom contempt both of the Emperor and of constitutional principles was already familiar, moved, that the ministers ...
— Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815, Vol. II • Pierre Antoine Edouard Fleury de Chaboulon

... widening the distance between himself and John Brown, and a feeling of anger was beginning to stir in his small breast against Betty for trying to mix him up in ...
— An Australian Lassie • Lilian Turner

... of witches, who used the very same way of afflicting persons, by conveying pins into them, and crooked as these pins were, with needles and nails. And his opinion was that the devil in such cases did work upon the bodies of men and women as on a natural foundation, to stir up and excite such humours superabounding in their bodies to a great excess, whereby he did in an extraordinary manner afflict them with such distempers as their bodies were most subject to, as particularly ...
— Religion & Sex - Studies in the Pathology of Religious Development • Chapman Cohen

... a good deal reconciled to life by this migration of mine,' wrote Langham. 'Now that my enforced duties to them are all done with, my fellow-creatures seem to me much more decent fellows than before. The great stir of London, in which, unless I please, I have no part whatever, attracts me more than I could have thought possible. No one in these noisy streets has any rightful claim upon me. I have cut away at one stroke lectures, and Boards of Studies, and tutors' ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... store, and she bought each one of them a great big handsome hat, with feathers and ribbons and flowers all over 'em. Nobody has seen 'em yet, but all three on 'em are going to wear 'em to church next Sunday, and won't there be a stir? Nobody'll ...
— Quincy Adams Sawyer and Mason's Corner Folks - A Picture of New England Home Life • Charles Felton Pidgin

... be in such a state," Aaron continued, "that nothing appeals to them except some material benefit; a pipe of tobacco or a mug of beer will stir them more than any dream of freedom. Oh! it's sad to see them, often. I used to go to the gates at the shipbuilding yard and watch them come out. Ten years about does for a man there. It's ...
— A People's Man • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... healthy rivalry between us. No, no, you will do bear-leader to the youngster, and keep Sher Singh and the Rani from scratching each other's eyes out, and I'll knock down some more robber castles in Darwan, and demand your help when I stir up a more vicious hornets' nest than ordinary. By the bye, when there was mortar and all kinds of mess about, I took the opportunity of bringing up a little more gold from the treasury—ten thousand rupees' worth or so, as nearly as I could guess—and building it into this wall here," he indicated ...
— The Path to Honour • Sydney C. Grier

... difficult to declare, and the common people are almost wholly unable to understand. Certainly such highly abstract terms convey little distinct meaning. It will be found upon examination, that the word "Infinite," to stir in any degree the depths of our nature, must be combined with some quality with which we are familiar. Infinite love, infinite justice, infinite purity, are things which we can in some degree understand and appreciate; but the point which we understand best is not the "Infinite," but the ...
— Thoughts on a Revelation • Samuel John Jerram

... put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of umber smirch my face; The like do you; so shall we pass along And never stir assailants ...
— A History of English Prose Fiction • Bayard Tuckerman

... fir-plantation? Well, I like it, outside and inside. I need no saw-edge of mountain peaks to stir up my imagination with the sense of the sublime, while I can watch the saw-edge of those fir peaks against the red sunset. They are my Alps; little ones it may be: but after all, as I asked before, what is size? A phantom of our ...
— Prose Idylls • Charles Kingsley

... she wuz; leas'ways, Brer Fox, he hanker atter 'er, en likewise Brer Rabbit, he hanker atter 'er. Ole King Deer look lak he sorter lean todes Brer Fox, kaze ter a settle man like him, hit seem lak dat Brer Fox kin stir 'roun' en keep de pot a-b'ilin', mo' speshually bein's he de bigges'. Hit go on dis a-way twel hardly a day pass dat one er de yuther er dem creeturs don't go sparklin' 'roun' King Deer daughter, en it got so atter w'ile dat all day long Brer Rabbit en Brer ...
— Nights With Uncle Remus - Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation • Joel Chandler Harris

... is composed of them, and nothing is depopulated and dead. Their naked being is force, and their indestructible predicates are perception, desire, tendency to develop. While they lie dormant, their potential capacities all inwrapped, they constitute what we entitle matter. When, by the rising stir of their inherent longing, they leave their passive state and reach a condition of obscure consciousness, they become animals. Finally, they so far unwind their bonds and evolve their facultative potencies as to attain the rank of rational minds in the ...
— The Destiny of the Soul - A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life • William Rounseville Alger

... bothered like this I can actually feel the roots of my hair wiggling as if it were trying to stand up, like the bristles on a pig. The women in this neighborhood have been my best friends till now, and if I can't think of some way to stir up their sympathy I shall ...
— The Desired Woman • Will N. Harben

... the spirit of commercial exploration began to stir in other ports than Salem. Out from New York sailed the ship Empress of China in 1784 for the first direct voyage to Canton, to make the acquaintance of a vast nation absolutely unknown to the people of the United States, nor had one in a million of the industrious and ...
— The Old Merchant Marine - A Chronicle of American Ships and Sailors, Volume 36 in - the Chronicles Of America Series • Ralph D. Paine

... next his, precisely as big and airy as his own? There's a door between, and when it's open they can see each other. When I left Jord the door was open, and he was staring in at Aleck, who was still sleeping off the anesthetic, and a big tear was running down Jord's cheek. He can't stir himself, but that doesn't seem to bother him any. He's going to suffer a lot of pain with his back, but he'll suffer ten times more looking at that bandaged shoulder ...
— Red Pepper's Patients - With an Account of Anne Linton's Case in Particular • Grace S. Richmond

... dew, and every breath of the heavy air acting with increased power on their surfaces. The boarders were stationed, orders were given for the most profound silence, and as the ship drew nearer to the light, even the officers were commanded not to stir. Ludlow stationed himself in the mizen channels, to cun the ship; and his directions were repeated to the quarter-master, in a ...
— The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas • James Fenimore Cooper

... not Mr. Smith shall purify himself—and he can do so, if he will, right nobly—the world must be purified of his style of poetry, if men are ever, as he hopes, to "set his age to music;" much more if they are once more to stir the hearts of the many by Tyrtaean strains, such as may be needed before our hairs are gray. The "poetry of doubt," however pretty, would stand us in little stead if we were threatened with a second Armada. It will ...
— Literary and General Lectures and Essays • Charles Kingsley

... "there's nothing violent in a revolution! Where do you get your argument for gentleness, Holly? That's what bothers me. You can stir up a bunch of Mexicans quicker than a barrel of mezcal ...
— Starr, of the Desert • B. M Bower

... help him across the wave, But what are a couple of women with only a man to save? What are a couple of women? well, more than three craven men Who stood by the shore with chattering teeth, refusing to stir—and then Off went the women's shawls, sir; in a second they're torn and rent, Then knotting them into a rope of love, straight into ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two • Various

... narrowed. He could not trust his men; and Leopold did not stir. The basis of the scheme had crumbled. Whether within the frontier or beyond it, success implied an Austrian invasion. Bouille's plan, from its inception, had no other meaning; and it was executed under conditions which placed Lewis more completely ...
— Lectures on the French Revolution • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

... his cries while on the prowl, came to him, and were distinctly seen to gambol around him with as much familiarity and affection as if they considered him quite one of themselves. They only left him on the approach of morning, when movement and stir again arose in the village. This boy did not survive long. He never spoke, nor did a single ray of human intelligence ever shed its refining ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... hue and cry near our house. I ran out to see what it was: the noise and stir was nothing less than an attempt of a slave to escape. The poor fellow was surrounded by a mass of men and boys, all anxious to seize him and deliver him to his master, to obtain ...
— Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2 • James Richardson

... gardens or on the terrace. On returning, he found it impossible to use his eyes to any good purpose in the obscurity among the trees. He waited a while, listening intently. No sound was audible: there was not even air enough to stir the leaves. ...
— I Say No • Wilkie Collins

... sceptic or a deist, as his own dying apology attests. He says: "God will not suffer this land, where the Gospel has of late flourished more than in any part of the world, to become a slave of the world. He will not suffer it to be made a land of graven images; He will stir up witnesses of the truth, and in His own time spirit His people to stand up for His cause, and deliver them. I lived in this belief, and am now about to die in it. I know my Redeemer liveth; and as He hath in a great ...
— Excellent Women • Various

... the want that can find no utterance beyond the feeble motion of the hand or beseeching glance of the eye—these are offices that demand no self-questionings, no casuistry, no assent to propositions, no weighing of consequences. Within the four walls where the stir and glare of the world are shut out, and every voice is subdued—where a human being lies prostrate, thrown on the tender mercies of his fellow, the moral relation of man to man is reduced to its utmost clearness and simplicity: bigotry cannot confuse it, theory cannot ...
— Scenes of Clerical Life • George Eliot

... muttered Rosa, with a comic grimace, and not offering to stir in the direction of ...
— At Last • Marion Harland

... examined by the House of Commons, was in Jamaica, when the Assembly passed their famous consolidated laws, and he told the House, that "he had often heard from people there, that it was passed because of the stir in England about the slave trade;" and he added, "that slaves continued to be as ill treated there since the passing of that act as before." Mr. Cook, another of the evidences examined, was long resident in the same island, and, ...
— Thoughts On The Necessity Of Improving The Condition Of The Slaves • Thomas Clarkson

... he do?" demanded Marty, becoming impatient at the expressman's leisurely tale, while Aunt 'Mira got up and began to stir about the kitchen, clearing the supper table. She often confessed to Janice that it gave her legs "the twidgets" to listen to one ...
— The Mission of Janice Day • Helen Beecher Long

... were so universal at such an appalling offence, that not a finger was raised to arrest the criminal. Priests and congregation were alike paralyzed, so that he would have found no difficulty in making his escape. Ho did not stir, however; he had come to the church determined to execute what he considered a sacred duty, and to abide the consequences. After a time, he was apprehended. The inquisitor demanded if he repented of what he had done. ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... I read some "revelations" which made a great stir in the country. The writer was accused of publishing obscenities, but what struck me most in his work was its absolute display of ignorance. The poor, innocent man had listened to stories which were told in the ...
— The Chequers - Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in - a Loafer's Diary • James Runciman

... hand, if the wound has been only slight, and is not likely in the end to cripple the animal, the wolves will not stir from—the spot. This extraordinary sagacity often tells the hunter whether it is worth his while to follow the game he has shot at; but in any case he is likely to arrive late, if the wolves set out before him, as a dozen of them will devour the largest ...
— Popular Adventure Tales • Mayne Reid

... very good fun, as far as the daily and nightly stir of these strutters and fretters go; and, if the concern could be brought to pay a shilling in the pound, would do much credit to the management. Mr. —— has an accepted tragedy * * * * *, whose first scene is in his sleep (I don't mean the author's). It was ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. III - With His Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore

... "Stir the leaves up with your feet!" said Mrs. Partridge, "then if there are any brown bugs under them you will be able to ...
— Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin • Ben Field

... guards' bugle-call. You, there, hasten to the gate! Throw up the portcullis and drop the drawbridge! Stir yourselves, or even now you may suffer for your master's sins! It has ...
— The Refugees • Arthur Conan Doyle

... themselves. They do all this with a view to recover their soldiers; but being contaminated by guilt, and charmed by the gains arising from the plundered property, as that act was shared in by many, and being tempted by the fear of punishment, they began to form plans of war and stir up the other states by embassies. Although Caesar was aware of this proceeding, yet he addresses the ambassadors with as much mildness as he can: "That he did not think worse of the state on account of the ignorance ...
— "De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries • Caius Julius Caesar

... taken up, if not wasted, in France. In looking over the names of the sixteen, who were to have been examined by the committee of privy council, if there had been time, one had died, and eight, who were sea-faring people, were out of the kingdom. It was time therefore to stir immediately in this business. Happily, on looking over my letters, which I found on my arrival in England, the names of several had been handed to me, with the places of their abode, who could give me information on the subject of our question. All these I visited with the utmost ...
— The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808) • Thomas Clarkson

... evening call, and they all sat talking awhile. Then Lloyd took her place at the harp and sang the songs that Betty loved best, till the moon rose high enough to send a flood of silvery light between the tall white pillars. There was a little stir around the hall door, and Lloyd, seeing the colored servants, who had gathered there to listen, step back respectfully, gave a signalling nod. The old minister, who had just arrived by the side door, came out ...
— Mary Ware's Promised Land • Annie Fellows Johnston

... "I know more about old Rome than you do, and I tell you, child, that you do not stir out a step without me; so if you must go, I must go too,—and like enough it's for my soul's health. I suppose it is," she added, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 54, April, 1862 • Various

... fabric of a dream. These ideals are simply those laws, transfigured into their spiritual substances. Whatever in our blindness we may persuade ourselves elsewhere, over the Bible we recognize the true character of the visions which so strangely stir us. This is the power of the Bible. Christian seemed to Mr. Worldly Wiseman a fool. But he saw the heavenly city, and trudged along, sure that time would prove him in the right. Christian carried in his hand this Book. With this Book in ...
— The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible • R. Heber Newton

... idea of it, though, till that day he met Dr. Hornblower at the Everetts'. After that he was dreadfully blue; you know he wouldn't stir out anywhere, ...
— In Blue Creek Canon • Anna Chapin Ray

... stir even to feel for a place to plant his hands, but remained motionless for some moments. Then there was a dull splash echoed from the barrier rock which shut-in the cove, and the rushing sound of wings, as the startled birds rose in clouds from ...
— Cormorant Crag - A Tale of the Smuggling Days • George Manville Fenn

... of things—I can't tell you half of them. And it kills all the rats, and m—oh dear!" cried Al-ice in a sad tone, "I've made it mad a-gain!" For the Mouse swam off from her as fast as it could go, and made quite a stir in the pool ...
— Alice in Wonderland - Retold in Words of One Syllable • J.C. Gorham

... the R.A. catalogue, and the publishers' R.A. special numbers, I went one step further. I parodied "Art Patrons." At that time there was a great stir in art circles in consequence of the authorities of the National Gallery dallying with Mr. Tate's offer of his pictures to the nation; so to emulate him, and Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Watts, and other public benefactors in the world of art, I sent the following ...
— The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol 2 (of 2) • Harry Furniss

... Edmund Burke to have been a spokesman of consummate political wisdom are apt to regard the busy stir of doctrinaires, who scream for closer political junction of the British peoples, even as Burke regarded the hurry of some of the same kidney in his time. Resolute to bind the thirteen colonies forever to England, they proceeded to offend, outrage, and drive those colonies ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... were just wakened, were surly, and swore that they would not stir; that whoever she was, she might weather out the night, for that, till daybreak, they couldn't get alongside of her. Godfrey instantly jumped into a boat, declaring he would go out directly at all hazards.—Mr. Percy with as much intrepidity, but, as became his ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth

... Scenes, we shifted Passions, and that so, Who only came to see, turned Actors too. How didst thou sway the Theatre! make us feele The Players wounds were true, and their swords, steele! Nay, stranger yet, how often did I knows When the Spectators ran to save the blow? Frozen with griefe we could not stir away Untill the Epilogue told us 'twas a Play. What shall I doe? all Commendations end, In saying only thou wert BEAUMONTS Friend? Give me thy spirit quickely, for I swell, And like a raveing Prophetesse cannot tell ...
— The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in Ten Volumes - Volume I. • Beaumont and Fletcher

... for months the girl felt the youth and sense of fun stir in her. Then he spoke—irrepressibly, as if he could not ...
— The Halo • Bettina von Hutten

... with intense earnestness, seemed to stir Edna's mind, rousing it from its bitter apathy of hopeless remorse and grief; a faint light ...
— Our Bessie • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... sleep, and, as was presently proved, the army had had all the rest that was its due that night. For even as Jack and Durland made their way back to their own headquarters, the bugles began to blow, and the sleeping ranks began to stir ...
— The Boy Scout Automobilists - or, Jack Danby in the Woods • Robert Maitland

... stir till she had seen Edward put into the ambulance, and made as comfortable for his ride home as circumstances would permit. Then, as the vehicle moved slowly off, she ...
— Elsie's Kith and Kin • Martha Finley

... passengers were made to jump overboard, without even going through the formality of walking the plank; while the remainder manned the capstan-bars. The chain-cable tightened, the capstan creaked, and the paddles dashed round; but we did not stir an inch till the natives, who had been so unceremoniously turned overboard, began to apply the pressure from without, when, amidst shouts and yells, and curses in a dozen different languages, we slid along the surface of the bank until we reached a deeper channel. ...
— Chambers' Edinburgh Journal - Volume XVII., No 423, New Series. February 7th, 1852 • Various

... my eyes to the King. The gold of his divinity was fallen, his splendour quenched; but life's dark scrutiny from his face was gone. He made no stir at our light, slumbered untreasoned on. The lids of his Queen were lightlier sealed, only withheld beauty as a cloud the sky it hides. His courtiers flattered more elusively, being sincerely mute, and only a little red dust was all the ...
— Henry Brocken - His Travels and Adventures in the Rich, Strange, Scarce-Imaginable Regions of Romance • Walter J. de la Mare

... French soldiers will not give us the change for this false Napoleon in rebellion, in atrocities, in massacres, in outrages, in treason. If he should attempt roguery it would miscarry. Not a regiment would stir. Besides, why should he make such an attempt? Doubtless he has his suspicious side, but why suppose him an absolute villain? Such extreme outrages are beyond him; he is incapable of them physically, why judge him capable of them morally? Has he not pledged honor? Has he not said, "No one in Europe ...
— The History of a Crime - The Testimony of an Eye-Witness • Victor Hugo

... an anxious share in the proceedings against the Queen. "We fell upon the general situation of things," relates a confidential friend of his Grace, "which the Duke allowed was almost as bad as could be; nor could he see the remedy, if the upper and middle ranks would not stir. But all," he continued, with some sadness as well as indignation, "seem struck with panic—ourselves and all; and if the country is lost, it will be through our own cowardice. Everything," said he—"audacity and insolence on one side, and tameness on ours. We go to the House seemingly on ...
— Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1) - From the Original Family Documents • Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

... the Poles we reserve our opinion till the return of Dr. Hayes's expedition. But we think they have little to hope from any future attempt at revolution, especially with such insufficient weapons as their axes, which, though they keep up a constant stir about them, have been long superseded by the improvements of modern military science. We think our correspondent hasty in admitting that "each object has a particular reflecting surface of its own." A little inquiry among ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 6, Issue 35, September, 1860 • Various

... returned from Babylon who started the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem in the year B.C. 520, just sixty years after the old temple of Solomon was burned by the soldiers of Nebuchadrezzar. There were two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, who did much to stir up the people to this work. Some of their words are preserved in the Old Testament books which bear their names. These men may have been returned exiles. The new building was erected on the same old foundation and ...
— Hebrew Life and Times • Harold B. Hunting

... him tenderly, and kissed him. She was sad to wake him. After a few moments, she kissed him again. But he did not stir. The darling, he was so deep in sleep! What a shame to take him out of it. She let him lie a little longer. But he must ...
— Women in Love • D. H. Lawrence

... a stir of excitement and a sudden craning of necks in the direction indicated by the attorney's glance, where three men had sprung forward in obedience ...
— That Mainwaring Affair • Maynard Barbour

... during our stay at the Emperor's residence in Moscow; but Napoleon seemed much dejected when he appeared at them, for the music of the saloons made no impression on his harassed mind, and the only kind that ever seemed to stir his soul was that of the camp before and after ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... of rum, two quarts of hot water, tea- cup of sugar, and a lemon; grate in nutmeg, stir thoroughly and ...
— The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, Part 1 • Charles Farrar Browne

... that bore him along. The light and hope and strength of the new-born day were stirring, mounting, swelling—even in the heart of the sad lover; in every HONEST heart more or less, whether young or old, feeble or strong, the new summer day stirs, and will stir while the sun has heat enough for men to live on the earth. Surely the live God is not absent from the symbol of his glory! The light and the hope are not there without him! When strength wakes in my heart, shall I be the slave to imagine ...
— Warlock o' Glenwarlock • George MacDonald

... for the nights; with the first twitter of the birds my babies begin to stir. Through the mists of dispersing sleep, their chatter blends with the warblings that fill the morning air, or with the swallows' noisy debates—little cries of joy or woe, which make their way to my heart rather than my ears. While Nais struggles ...
— Letters of Two Brides • Honore de Balzac

... phrase. "It's growing risky for me to sleep too much in the open night air. At my age folks must favor themselves, and I'd like a bed to-night, if it is a tavern bed, and a set, table, if the vittles are tavern vittles. And we can stir out early." ...
— Old Caravan Days • Mary Hartwell Catherwood

... to the oil, let it simmer over a slow fire for three hours; strain it, and add the rosin and white-lead; keep it gently warmed, and stir it until the rosin is dissolved. Apply it with ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN

... does. And I like her tremendously. That's how I am going to help you. Leave it to me, Wick. Let me write her all the letters I want to. Let me tell her about the stir you are making up here, about the Judge cottoning to you, and the Governor asking you to dinner. In short, let me dramatize you, Wick; I'll write her a play in five acts with you for the hero. All you have to do is to ease up on your letters and keep out ...
— A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill • Alice Hegan Rice

... little round her husband, and his round her, and their young cheeks touched as they listened and peered down into the gloom of the narrow street. Suddenly there was a stir below, and the sound of other feet coming quickly from the Piazza del Gesu; and though the serenade was not half finished, another choir and other instruments struck up a chorus, loud and high, almost completely ...
— Stradella • F(rancis) Marion Crawford

... in a vessel and set it over the fire until it heats. (Do not let it boil.) Add one teaspoonful of powdered alum, then stir in the mixture of flour and cold water. Continue stirring until it thickens to a good consistency. Remove it from the fire and add one teaspoonful of oil of cloves or peppermint. Pour it into an air-tight jar and when it is cool screw on ...
— Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools • Virginia McGaw

... woman is in extremities of gladness. She must wake up that stir-up trouble youngster and hug him and make proclamation that he is his mamma's own precious treasure. I was about to ask questions, but I looked at Mr. Little Bear, and my eye caught the sight of something in his belt. 'Now go to bed, ma'am,' says I, 'and this gadabout youngster likewise, ...
— Rolling Stones • O. Henry

... and then he chanced to look into her face, and he caught again that piercing gaze which made the blood leap into his cheeks, and the strange and terrible emotions to stir in him. He turned his eyes away again, and his knees were trembling as he passed on ...
— Samuel the Seeker • Upton Sinclair



Words linked to "Stir" :   go down on, quicken, wank, animate, anathemise, stimulate, hoo-hah, provoke, excite, jerk off, elate, churn, displace, enliven, titillate, she-bop, to-do, fright, touch, lift up, kerfuffle, tumult, agitate, create, kindle, agitation, ado, paddle, sex, fuel, work, pick up, din, anathemize, splash, hoo-ha, uplift, impress, call down, disturbance, shake, damn, whet, affright, stir fry, conjure, electricity, fire, disruption, sensitise, strike, hustle, enkindle, scare, raise, repel, rumpus, gross out, vibrate, invite, affect, arouse, move, disgust, shift, put forward, maledict, bustle, invigorate, bring up, bless, bedamn, imprecate, invoke, get, commotion, blow, suck, revolt, evoke, fuss, shake up, wind up, ruckus, hurly burly, fuck off



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